DubaiSchoolGuide.com

Grammar School

Acceptable Al Garhoud, 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: Acceptable · Inclusion: Acceptable

KHDA’s separate judgements for student wellbeing and for inclusion, from the same inspection.

Year groups
FS2 to Year 13

As registered with KHDA. Typical ages about 4 to 18.

Annual fees
AED 5,120 to 7,040 a year

Varies by year group. 2026-27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.

Curriculum
British (NCfE)

KHDA lists: UK (13 Y).

School transport
Bus service available
Location
Al Garhoud, Dubai

Open in Google Maps.

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.

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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We do not publish schools' own contact details.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.

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In context

Its mid-range fee is about 88 per cent below the median for British (NCfE) schools in this guide (AED 52,500). 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

Paraphrased from the last full DSIB inspection we could verify (2023-24 cycle) and its published record - read the complete report on the official KHDA directory. These findings are from the 2023-24 cycle and are now more than two years old. Leadership, staffing and provision can change substantially in that time - see the note below on why every rating in Dubai is older than it looks.

Strengths the inspectors named:

  • Serving Dubai’s international community since 1970 - over five decades of continuous operation, making it one of the oldest schools in this register, in Al Garhoud.
  • Among the most accessible UK-curriculum options anywhere in Dubai at roughly AED 5,100 to 7,000, running through to IGCSE, AS and A Level, and drawing over 60 nationalities.
  • 1,321 students with 83 teachers on a ratio of about 1:16, and teacher turnover around 16% - moderate for the sector, and notably low for a school at this fee level.
  • Operated by Athena Education, a group delivering affordable education across Dubai and Sharjah.

What they asked the school to improve:

  • Acceptable, held with some consistency since 2016 - and Teaching for Effective Learning is rated Acceptable across all four phases, Foundation Stage through Post-16. That is honest rather than damning, but it is the central limitation and it is uniform.
  • Most teachers demonstrate secure subject knowledge and adequate planning; ‘adequate’ is the inspectors’ register, not ours.
  • One guidance counsellor and six teaching assistants for 1,321 students - thin pastoral and in-class support capacity, and a fair thing to raise.
  • Ask what the improvement plan funds this year: a decade at Acceptable is a long time for a school this well established.

Inclusion (students of determination): Acceptable in KHDA’s official Inclusion Rating Table, matching the school’s overall judgement - the bottom of the acceptable range on the measure that matters most to a family whose child needs support. The structural context is the number to weigh: one guidance counsellor and six teaching assistants across 1,321 students. That is thin capacity for in-class support however committed the staff, and it is the question to put to leaders directly. 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.

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?

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:

  • 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 Grammar 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.

Would rather do it yourself? KHDA's page for this school, linked above, carries the contact details the school has registered with the regulator. We answer requests in the order they arrive, and we will tell you if a school does not reply - which is itself worth knowing before you apply.

Other schools in Al Garhoud

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