Dubai National School
Good Al Twar, Dubai · American
- KHDA rating
- Good
Good standards in most areas. The most common rating among Dubai schools. 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: Good · Inclusion: Acceptable
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
- To be updated
This school does not publish a fee schedule we can verify. Ask us and we will get the figure for your year group.
- Curriculum
- American
KHDA lists: American.
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Al Twar, Dubai
Open in Google Maps. KHDA records the community as Al Twar 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We do not publish schools' own contact details.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
It is one of 85 schools in this guide currently rated Good.
These comparisons are computed from the verified data in this register, not editorial opinion.
What the inspectors said
Strengths the inspectors named:
- Good in 2023-24 - the Al Twar branch, opened in 2006, serving a student body just over 60% Emirati and almost entirely Arab national.
- Children in Kindergarten and students in High School achieve well in all subjects.
- Most students show respectful and considerate behaviour, with a strong understanding of Islamic values and their relevance to the UAE, and strong social responsibility and innovation skills.
- Strong health and safety standards, thorough child protection policies and effective counselling services - four counsellors on staff.
- Exceptional staffing ratios for the fee level: roughly 1:10, average class size around 21 against a KHDA recommended limit of 25, and teacher turnover at about 9%, well below the international-school average.
What they asked the school to improve:
- Teaching quality is not consistently observed - most teachers have strong subject knowledge and engage students well in the best lessons, but the standard varies.
- Enrolment has fallen substantially, from around 1,750 students in 2018 to just over 1,250 - a trend worth asking leaders about directly.
- Boys and girls are taught separately from Grade 4 onward: a defining feature to weigh, not a flaw.
Inclusion (students of determination): Inclusion is rated Acceptable at this campus, which is below the standard the regulator expects and the most important fact on this page for a family whose child needs support. Inspectors record that students of determination receive varying levels of support in lessons and that provision is less developed for those with gifts and talents, with subject leadership capability requiring strengthening and self-evaluation data not sufficiently reliable. Set against that, personal development, social responsibility and students’ understanding of Islamic values and Emirati and world cultures are commended, and the school is NEASC accredited and affordable. Note also the contrast with its Al Barsha sibling, where many Middle and High school measures reach Very Good - same name, different provision. 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?
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:
- its fees - this school has not published them
- 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
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 National School 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 Twar
- Al Salam Community School - Good, AED 22,700 to 39,100 a year
- Cambridge International School Dubai - Good, To be updated
- Deira Private School - Acceptable, AED 25,213 to 41,147 a year
- Hampton Heights International School - Not yet rated, To be updated
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.