Dubai International Academy Al Barsha
Very Good Al Barsha, Dubai · IB
- KHDA rating
- Very Good
High quality across the board, with minor areas to improve. From KHDA’s 2023-24 inspection - now more than two years old. Checked against KHDA’s directory on 14 September 2026.
- Dubai focus areas
- Wellbeing: Very good · Inclusion: Very good
KHDA’s separate judgements for student wellbeing and for inclusion, from the same inspection.
- Year groups
- Early childhood (ages 0-1) to Grade 12
As registered with KHDA. Typical ages about 0 to 18.
- Annual fees
- AED 47,807 to 84,928 a year
Varies by year group. 2026-27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
- Curriculum
- IB
KHDA lists: International Baccalaureate.
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Al Barsha, Dubai
Open in Google Maps. KHDA records the community as Al Barsha First.
- Contacting the school
- Ask us and we will ask them
We hold this school's details and put questions to it for parents - fees for a year group, whether there is a place, what happens next. KHDA's own page for the school, linked below, carries its published contact details if you would rather go direct.
Map not loaded. It comes from Google, so nothing is requested from them until you ask for it.
Pin from KHDA’s directory entry for this school. Check the entrance with the Google Maps link above before your first drop-off.
We do not publish schools' own contact details. Ask us a question below and we put it to the school; KHDA's page for this school carries its published details.
KHDA’s page for this school - every inspection report
Check travel time from your location
Opens live directions in Google Maps - real traffic from your own address beats any published estimate. School-run traffic peaks roughly 7-8am; test your route at drop-off time.
How far is this from another school? What the bus costs
If your children may end up at different schools, the distance that decides your mornings is the one between them, not from home to each.
In context
Its mid-range fee is about 2 per cent below the median for IB schools in this guide (AED 67,582). It is one of 48 schools in this guide currently rated Very Good.
Worth comparing: Brighton College Dubai (AED 50,830 to 80,780 a year) - a lower-fee option in the same area.
These comparisons are computed from the verified data in this register, not editorial opinion.
What the inspectors said
Strengths the inspectors named:
- Very Good in 2023-24 - a clear upward trajectory from consecutive Good ratings since the school opened in 2018, reached in only six years.
- One of the few Dubai schools running the complete IB continuum - Primary Years, Middle Years, Diploma and the Career-related Programme - from Pre-KG to Grade 12.
- Institutional IB expertise rare in a school of this age, drawn from the same group that runs the Outstanding-rated Dubai International Academy in Emirates Hills.
- A 23-acre campus with substantial facilities, at fees competitive for a full IB continuum school.
What they asked the school to improve:
- Teacher turnover was 31% in 2022 and had fallen to 20% by the 2023 inspection - improving, and still worth asking about in a school that is scaling.
- Additional costs sit outside tuition - stationery, trips, uniform, external examinations, meals and transport - so build the full figure before comparing schools.
- Six years old and still growing: ask which year groups are at capacity and how the upper school is being staffed.
Inclusion (students of determination): Very Good - improved from Good the year before, with inspectors recording that the inclusion lead, principal and governor are all committed. The SEN register grew from 124 students at the school’s first inspection in March 2022 to 146 two years later. A Head of Inclusion manages separate Primary and Secondary inclusion teams supporting needs from Level 1 to Level 3, with learning support assistants used mainly for English-as-an-additional-language students, who receive both in-class and online support. The fee position is explicit: in-class and pull-out support is provided at no charge, and where a student requires one-to-one support the cost is covered by parents. See the special educational needs guide for the questions to ask on a visit.
Inspector summaries are being added school by school as each report is read - 221 of 230 so far, dated per cycle, never invented. A school without a summary yet is unread, not unjudged.
Paraphrased from KHDA’s published inspection record for 2023-24. Read the dated report on KHDA’s page for this school.
Visit kit
Questions worth asking on a tour - tuned to this school’s rating and curriculum:
- Who leads inclusion here - and may we meet them before enrolling?
- How much staff turnover did you have last year, and why?
- What are actual class sizes this term - not the maximum?
- How and how often will I hear about my child’s progress?
- How long is the real waiting list for my child’s year group, and how does sibling priority work?
Saved only on this device - never uploaded, never shared.
Special educational needs? Read the inclusion guide before you visit.
What we don't know about this school
Every other page on this site tells you what we have verified. This one tells you what we have not, because a register you cannot calibrate is worth less than one you can. We do not currently hold:
- the age range it takes
- whether it is co-educational, boys or girls
- how many children are on roll
- its facilities - sports, arts, science, library
- published exam results or university destinations
- what registration, transport, uniform and meals add to the fee
- the year it opened - the figure we held was wrong on every school we checked
- an admissions email or direct line
None of it is guessed or filled in from a similar school. Ask for any of it using the form below and it moves up the queue - requests are how we decide what to collect next.
Ask this school a question - we'll do the asking
Tell us the year group, and we will ask Dubai International Academy Al Barsha what it costs, whether there is a place, and what the next step is. Then we send you what they say. Every answer we get is also checked into this school's record, so the next parent finds it already here.
Your details stay with us. We contact the school ourselves, and we do not pass your name or address to them, or to any agent, unless you ask us to. No school pays to appear in this guide, and none can pay to change what it says.
Other schools in Al Barsha
- Kings School Al Barsha - Outstanding, To be updated
- Nord Anglia International School Dubai - Outstanding, AED 69,625 to 105,288 a year
- Brighton College Dubai - Very Good, AED 50,830 to 80,780 a year
- Dubai Heights Academy - Very Good, AED 48,688 to 96,880 a year
Work at this school? Correct or update this record - checked against the source and answered within five working days. If you disagree with something we are not going to change, reply on the record and we publish your statement on this page.