The City School International
Good Nad Al Hamar, Dubai · British (NCfE)
- KHDA rating
- Good
Good standards in most areas. The most common rating among Dubai schools. From the 2023–24 inspection cycle — now more than two years old. KHDA has not completed a full cycle in two consecutive years, so this rating, and every rating on every other site, is older than it looks.
- Annual fees
- Fees not listed — confirm with the school
Varies by year group; confirm current fees with the school. 2026–27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
- Curriculum
- British (NCfE)
- Established
- Founded 1989
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Nad Al Hamar, Dubai
District-level pin for Nad Al Hamar — use the Google Maps link for the exact gate.
We could not verify an official website for this school, so no link is shown.
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 79 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
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 2023–24, and held consistently since 2017–18 after years at Acceptable — genuine upward momentum rather than a static rating.
- Attainment rated Very Good in English, mathematics and science at both Primary and Secondary, with above-average performance in the PIRLS international reading benchmark. For a school at this fee level those are unusually strong academic foundations.
- A complete British pathway from FS1 to Year 13 including A Levels and BTEC Diplomas — few schools at the affordable end offer both.
- Arabic from Foundation Stage and French from Year 3, which is rare at this price point, in a community of over 50 nationalities in Nad Al Hamar.
- Part of the City School group founded in Pakistan in 1978, serving a largely Pakistani community in Dubai since 1989.
What they asked the school to improve:
- Enrichment is weighted toward academics rather than the arts, and the compact campus limits extracurricular options compared with other British schools — a real constraint if your child’s life is in music, drama or sport.
- Arabic, wellbeing and inclusion provision are the named challenge areas.
- Leadership changed recently — which brings opportunity, and also means the record you are reading was earned partly under different management. Ask who is leading now and since when.
Inclusion (students of determination): Good for provision and outcomes for students of determination. The school has strengthened its assessment systems, enabling earlier identification of needs and the creation of individual education plans, with parents more involved in that process. Two published caveats matter and are precise: the quality of those plans varies, and provision is not consistently monitored across phases. 38 students were registered under SEN requirements at an earlier count. Inclusion is also named among the school’s challenge areas alongside Arabic and wellbeing — so a family whose child needs support should ask specifically how plan quality is checked, and by whom. 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 — 212 of 212 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.
Other schools in Nad Al Hamar
- Ignite School — Good, AED 28,000 to 54,000 a year
- Bright Learners Private School — Acceptable, AED 24,606 to 32,719 a year
Work at this school? Correct or update this record — verified corrections are made promptly and logged publicly.