← Back to homeADNOC Schools - Sas Al Nakhl
Abu Dhabi, UAE · Private
Illustration · Abu Dhabi
ADNOC Schools is the school of the ADNOC oil company, with four campuses in the emirate of Abu Dhabi: Sas Al Nakhl in the city itself and three in the Al Dhafra Region - Ruwais, Madinat Zayed and Ghayathi. Across the four campuses there are about 6,000 students of 45 nationalities. The programme is American, following the Massachusetts Curricular Framework, together with the UAE ministry subjects of Arabic and Islamic studies; the language of instruction is English, and the school says so plainly: "English is the main language of instruction at ADNOC Schools". The stages run straight through from KG1 to grade 12: elementary, middle and high school plus a College Prep stage and a special educational needs (SEN) department, which the school calls an essential part of its work with people of determination. In the most recent evaluation by the Abu Dhabi education authority the school was rated "Good" with a classification of "Virtually Developed". Admissions open in November for the following school year and run in four steps: an online application, an entry assessment, documents and the registration fee; applications are considered on academic achievement and behaviour, and where there are no seats applicants join a waiting list that is not carried over to the next year. The school gives no discounts at all: neither for siblings nor for employees of the ADNOC Group. After lessons there are activities common to all campuses - swimming, football, basketball, jiu-jitsu, cycling, running and competitive tournaments. Of its facilities the school names a library, laboratories, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, a school clinic and a security service. The main thing a parent needs to know: the four campuses follow one programme and one admissions timetable, but their fees differ, and the gap between the most expensive Sas Al Nakhl and the cheapest Ghayathi reaches nine and a half thousand dirhams a year.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $7 818–14 821 a year
28 710–54 430 AED
Programmes
AP · American programme
Languages of instruction
English
About the fees The annual fee in the 2026-2027 table: KG1 28,710 dirhams, KG2 30,210, grade 1 31,700, grade 2 33,210, grade 3 35,580, grade 4 37,840, grade 5 40,080, grade 6 43,080, grade 7 43,820, grade 8 44,690, grade 9 45,320, grade 10 48,320, grade 11 51,320 and grade 12 54,430. This is the most expensive of the four campuses. On top of the fee: a registration charge of 5 per cent of the annual amount, books from 1,280 to 2,870 dirhams by grade and the bus at 5,000 dirhams a year. Uniform is bought separately at Magrudy's stores.
Admissions Admission runs in four steps: an online application through the website (the school accepts no paper applications), an entry assessment, submission of documents and the registration fee. Confirmation that the application has been received arrives within five working days, the assessment result within ten. KG1 takes children who have turned four by 31 August, and the school makes no exceptions; KG2 takes five-year-olds. Selection goes on previous grades and behaviour, and the admissions committee looks at seat availability in the relevant grade, aptitude and the child's social and emotional maturity. For pupils transferring from the British curriculum the school explains separately that no year needs to be repeated: the grade is set by age.
Stages and year groups Grades KG1 - grade 12. The stages run straight through: kindergarten KG1 and KG2, elementary, middle and high school, and above them a College Prep stage and the SEN department. The school week runs Monday to Friday. At Sas Al Nakhl the day for KG1-KG2 runs from 7:45 to 13:30 and for grades 1-12 from 7:45 to 14:40; on Fridays the kindergarten finishes at 11:15 and the other grades at 11:30.
Address Sas Al Nakhl, Khalifa City A
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
MSA · accreditationCollege Board · authorised programmeschool is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
MSAMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools
One of the oldest American accreditations, working since 1887 in more than a hundred countries and linked to the Office of Overseas Schools of the US State Department. It judges the school as an institution across twelve areas, including finances, governance, premises and student support.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →College BoardCollege Board, the AP programme
An American organisation that allows a school to put the letters AP on a pupil's transcript. The permission is granted course by course and tied to a particular teacher, it has to be renewed every year, and College Board reads the course syllabus before granting it.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run advanced AP courses - not the school as a whole, but one by one: by subject and by teacher. Governance, safeguarding and the primary years are not part of that check. Which subjects are actually approved is visible in the ledger. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Authorisation here runs a year at a time: the register lists the school for the 2025-2026 school year.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →AP
Advanced Placement: American advanced courses for the senior years. The exam for a course is set and marked by the College Board, not by the school. A good result is counted by American universities as a first-year course already passed, which saves a student time and money.
What this means for this school. A school does not get to call a course AP automatically: the College Board reads the course syllabus and approves it separately for every subject and every teacher, and the permission has to be renewed each year. Every approved school in the world is listed in the open AP Course Ledger, and this school's entry there stands as a line in the accreditation block above. How many courses a school is approved for, and in which subjects, the ledger does not show in its general listing. AP has no leaving certificate of its own: it sits on top of the school's main programme rather than being a separate system.
American programme
The American school programme, with the High School Diploma at the end. It usually comes together with AP courses, which the College Board stands behind, and with an American accreditation - MSA, NEASC or Cognia.
What this means for this school. The diploma is written out by the school itself: the American programme has no common leaving exam, and the content of the senior years is set by the school. Outside checking therefore rests on two things here - the accreditation of the school, and the AP exams if the school runs them.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: A campus at Sas Al Nakhl inside Abu Dhabi. Of its facilities the school names a library, laboratories, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, a school clinic and a security service; classrooms are fitted with digital equipment. There is a school bus, paid for separately.
Clubs and activities (6): Swimming · Football · Basketball · Jiu-jitsu · Cycling · Running
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The campus has a clinic: the school clinic is a separate item in the list of facilities, and a security service is named there too. The school names neither a psychologist, nor a child protection policy, nor an anti-bullying policy.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)75 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data76 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country