Philadelphia Private School
Good Muhaisnah, 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: Good
KHDA’s separate judgements for student wellbeing and for inclusion, from the same inspection.
- Year groups
- Pre-primary to Grade 12; Grade 11 to Grade 12
As registered with KHDA. Typical ages about 3 to 18.
- Annual fees
- AED 18,514 to 31,704 a year
Varies by year group. 2026-27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
- Curriculum
- American
KHDA lists: American,International Baccalaureate.
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Muhaisnah, Dubai
Open in Google Maps. KHDA records the community as Muhaisnah 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We do not publish schools' own contact details.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 26 per cent below the median for American schools in this guide (AED 33,996). It is one of 85 schools in this guide currently rated Good.
Worth comparing: Russian International School (AED 15,722 to 25,180 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
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:
- Good in 2024 - and that is a genuine breakthrough, not a plateau: this school was rated Acceptable every year from 2011 to 2023. Thirteen consecutive years at the minimum, then a move up. Very few schools in this register have made that climb.
- A US-curriculum school running KG1 to Grade 12 in Muhaisnah, with a significant part of the elementary programme built on child-initiated activity.
- Fees of roughly AED 18,500 to 31,700, with transport routes covering both Dubai and Sharjah.
What they asked the school to improve:
- A rating earned in 2024 after thirteen years at Acceptable is recent. The question to put to leaders is what specifically changed, who drove it, and whether those people are still in post.
- We have not verified enrolment, teacher numbers or detailed phase-level inspection findings from sources we trust, and have not estimated them.
- Ask what the improvement plan funds this year - holding a new rating is a different task from earning it.
Inclusion (students of determination): Good in KHDA’s directory and its published 2023-24 ratings table - matching the school’s Good overall rating, which matters, because it means the improvement that lifted this school off thirteen years at Acceptable reached its inclusion provision too. For a family whose child needs support, that gap is the thing to ask about specifically: what changed for the school as a whole, and what has changed for children who need adaptation. 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:
- 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:
- 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 Philadelphia Private 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 Muhaisnah
- Greenwood International School - Good, To be updated
- Oxford School Dubai - Good, AED 12,695 to 20,128 a year
- Russian International School - Good, AED 15,722 to 25,180 a year
- SMM High School Muhaisnah - Good, AED 14,770 to 24,177 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.