The Elite English School
Acceptable Deira, Dubai · Indian (CBSE/ICSE)
- KHDA rating
- Acceptable
Meets minimum standards; may be on an improvement plan. Read the full report before enrolling. 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
- AED 4,480 to 10,186 a year
Varies by year group; confirm current fees with the school. 2026–27 fees are frozen by KHDA directive.
- Curriculum
- Indian (CBSE/ICSE)
- Established
- Founded 1992
- School transport
- Bus service available
- Location
- Deira, Dubai
District-level pin for Deira — 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
Its mid-range fee is about 49 per cent below the median for Indian (CBSE/ICSE) schools in this guide (AED 14,500). It is one of 51 schools in this guide currently rated Acceptable. As a CBSE school, its academic year runs April to March — plan relocation timing around this.
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:
- Established 1992 and CBSE from KG1 to Grade 12, with over 2,000 students in Al Wuheida, Deira — one of the more established Indian schools in that part of the city.
- Among the most affordable in this register at roughly AED 4,500 to 10,200 a year.
- Parents and former staff consistently describe a warm, welcoming, multicultural environment, and leadership states an explicit commitment to consistency in academic performance.
What they asked the school to improve:
- Acceptable in every inspection but one. The school was rated Good at its first inspection in 2010–11 and has been Acceptable ever since — so the leadership’s stated aim of consistency has been achieved, but at the bottom of the acceptable range rather than its benchmark.
- A teacher-to-student ratio of about 1:23, from 2,156 students, 95 teachers and 11 teaching assistants at the October 2023 inspection. That is high even by the standards of lower-fee Indian schools in Dubai, and it is the number to weigh against the price.
- KHDA is pressing all schools toward a Good rating; a school that has sat at Acceptable for over a decade should be asked directly what its improvement plan funds this year, and whose name is against it.
Inclusion (students of determination): 116 students on the SEN roll at the October 2023 inspection. Inspectors record that identification is accurate, but that support remains uneven — the recurring pattern in this register, where the front end of the system works and delivery in individual classrooms does not reach every child. Weigh that against the 1:23 teacher-to-student ratio: a thin adult-to-child ratio makes consistent in-class support materially harder to deliver, and that is the question to put to leaders. 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:
- 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?
- How do you handle children joining outside the April intake?
Saved only on this device — never uploaded, never shared.
Special educational needs? Read the inclusion guide before you visit.
Other schools in Deira
- Pearl Wisdom School — Good, AED 8,000 to 14,000 a year
- Arab Unity School — Acceptable, AED 6,462 to 10,808 a year
- Oxford School Dubai — Good, AED 13,000 to 24,000 a year
- Dubai Modern Education School — Acceptable, AED 8,000 to 15,000 a year
Work at this school? Correct or update this record — verified corrections are made promptly and logged publicly.