GEMS Albarsha National School
Acceptable Al Barsha South, Dubai · British (NCfE)
- KHDA rating
- Acceptable
Meets minimum standards; may be on an improvement plan. Read the full report before enrolling. 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
- FS1 to Year 13
As registered with KHDA. Typical ages about 3 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
- British (NCfE)
KHDA lists: UK (13 Y).
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Al Barsha South, Dubai
Open in Google Maps. KHDA records the community as Al Barsha South Second.
- 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We do not publish schools' own contact details.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 52 schools in this guide currently rated Acceptable.
These comparisons are computed from the verified data in this register, not editorial opinion.
What the inspectors said
Strengths the inspectors named:
- New, focused leadership spearheading improvement - 68% of inspection areas now Good or better, up 6% on the previous cycle.
- Students’ excellent understanding of Islamic values and Emirati culture and heritage.
- Rich, vibrant Foundation Stage provision, and improved Arabic outcomes in Primary.
What they asked the school to improve:
- Only 21% of indicators yet at Very Good or Outstanding - the improvement journey is real but early.
Inclusion (students of determination): Serving Emirati families seeking a British curriculum grounded in national identity, with bilingual early years provision, Islamic values and Emirati heritage as stated priorities, and around 600 students taught by 70 teachers and 19 teaching assistants. The honest context a family needs: the school has been rated Acceptable at every KHDA inspection since 2019-20, frequent leadership changes have slowed improvement despite substantial GEMS investment and modern facilities, and inspectors noted that while behaviour is strong in Foundation Stage and Primary, a small minority of Secondary boys did not consistently meet expectations. We have not found a separate published inclusion rating in our verified sources. 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:
- What did the last KHDA report ask you to improve, and what has changed since?
- 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
- 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 GEMS Albarsha 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 Barsha South
- GEMS Dubai American Academy - Outstanding, To be updated
- Safa Community School - Outstanding, AED 54,437 to 89,440 a year
- Repton Al Barsha - Very Good, AED 53,540 to 89,774 a year
- Dhruv Global School - Acceptable, AED 18,000 to 26,400 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.