Top Rated Schools
Outstanding & Very Good rated.
Top Rated covers the two highest inspection bands, Outstanding and Very Good, and 139 UAE schools currently hold one of them: 37 Outstanding and 102 Very Good. They are not all judged by the same authority. 66 are Dubai schools inspected by KHDA, 55 are in Abu Dhabi under ADEK, 15 are in Sharjah under SPEA and 3 are in Ras Al Khaimah under RAK DOK. Those are four separate frameworks with their own inspectors and their own reports, so a Very Good in one emirate is not a converted Very Good from another. Inspectors judge attainment and progress, teaching, student wellbeing, leadership and the curriculum over several days, and a school can lose a band as well as gain one.
A top band implies nothing about the fee. The cheapest school in this list is The Indian High School in Bur Dubai, a CBSE school founded in 1961 and rated Very Good, at AED 5,525 to AED 10,465. The dearest is North London Collegiate School Dubai at AED 91,735 to AED 143,681, which holds that same Very Good band. Their starting fees differ by about sixteen times and the inspection outcome is identical, which is the single most useful thing this list can tell a parent.
The two bands are worth keeping apart. Outstanding is the top of a six-point scale and only 37 schools in the country hold it; Very Good is the band below and covers 102, nearly three times as many. A Very Good school is not a near miss, it is the second grade of six, but the two are not interchangeable when a list mixes them. Among the longest established at the top band are Dubai English Speaking School in Oud Metha, open since 1963, and Dubai College in Al Sufouh, open since 1978.
Nor is the band tied to one curriculum. 71 of the 139 teach a British curriculum, 32 offer the IB, 19 follow CBSE and 17 are American, with French, SABIS, CISCE and the UAE Ministry of Education curriculum making up the rest. GEMS Modern Academy in Nad Al Sheba pairs an Indian CISCE base with an IB Diploma finish, holds Outstanding, and starts at AED 30,983, below most British-curriculum schools sharing its grade.
All 139 institutions
Fees at a glance
| School | Curriculum | Annual fees from | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bateen World Academy | IB | AED 54,000 | Outstanding |
| Yasmina British Academy | British | AED 49,740 | Outstanding |
| GEMS Jumeirah Primary School | British | AED 44,200 | Outstanding |
| Dubai International Academy | IB | AED 43,946 | Outstanding |
| Dubai British School Jumeirah Park | British | AED 55,350 | Outstanding |
| The Sheikh Zayed Private Academy for Boys | American | AED 45,000 | Outstanding |
| Horizon English School | British | AED 43,849 | Outstanding |
| Nord Anglia International School Dubai | British | AED 69,625 | Outstanding |
| Lycée Français International | French | AED 29,488 | Outstanding |
| Muna British Academy | British | AED 52,973 | Outstanding |
Fees shown are annual starting tuition from official school fee schedules; ratings come from KHDA, ADEK, SPEA and other regulator publications. Updated 2026.