← Back to homeAl Dhafra Private Schools - Al Ain
Al Ain, UAE · est. 1989 · Private
Illustration · Al Ain
Al Dhafra Private Schools - Al Ain has worked in the Manaseer area since 1989 and holds three curricula at once: the English National Curriculum from kindergarten to grade 12, the American curriculum as an option for grades 9 to 12, and the UAE Ministry of Education curriculum. It is a large school - 2,800 students and 161 certified teachers - and it claims 100 per cent university placement. The American line is built around AP and split into three pathways: General, Advanced (two AP examinations with a score of at least 3) and Elite (five AP examinations, including AP Physics C in Mechanics and in Electricity & Magnetism). AP, ACT and SAT are sat on site; EmSAT is not. Progress is tracked with MAP tests three times a year in grade 9, a mock EmSAT in grade 10 and an optional PSAT 10 for 75 dirhams. The school lists its standards by name - Common Core for English and mathematics, NGSS and AP for the sciences, CSTA for computer science, NCSS for history and geography, NBEA for business studies, ACTFL for French and extra Arabic, Shape America for physical education and WiDA for extra English. Safeguarding is set up seriously: its own child protection committee, a ten-point safeguarding commitment page, regular staff training, a pastoral team as the point of contact and a published student protection policy. There is a service for People of Determination, a gifted and talented programme, a library, a health clinic and a canteen with a published menu. What a parent needs to know: there are no fee figures on the site - they are posted as a file.
Key facts
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Arabic, French
Admissions Eligibility for new registration and re-registration arises only once a parent has cleared outstanding fees by 30 April; otherwise the place goes to the waiting list. At registration a fee of 5 per cent of tuition per student is payable, and it is set against the THIRD instalment only. If the student does not join and the parent gave no written notice in advance, the fee is not refunded.
Stages and year groups Grades kindergarten - grade 12. Four stages: kindergarten, primary, intermediate and secondary. The curricula run in parallel: the English National Curriculum from kindergarten to grade 12, the American curriculum as an option for grades 9 to 12, and the UAE Ministry of Education curriculum from kindergarten to grade 12. The American line has three pathways - General, Advanced and Elite - with requirements set out subject by subject and grade by grade.
Address Manaseer Area
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · authorised programmeCognia · 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
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Which stages - from the early years programme for three-year-olds up to A-Level - this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →CogniaCognia, formerly AdvancED
The widest-reaching American accreditation: some forty thousand schools in over a hundred countries. It accredits both individual schools and whole school systems. It also sells a paid membership with no inspection behind it, and that membership is often passed off as accreditation.
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.
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.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Went on to university
100% of leavers
Exam results The school offers AP, ACT with ACT Subject and SAT on site; EmSAT is sat elsewhere. For progress tracking: MAP tests in autumn, winter and spring in grade 9, a mock EmSAT in grade 10 and an optional PSAT 10 for 75 AED. The school publishes no examination results.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: A library, a health clinic and a canteen with a published menu. Separate services: a Gifted and Talented programme and a service for People of Determination.
Clubs and activities (10): School trips · Sport · Inter-school competitions · Eco club · Art exhibition · Science fair · Annual concerts and awards ceremony · Book fair · Music lessons · Student council
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
✓Number of teachers161
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
The school names 161 "inspiring and certified" teachers. It publishes no staff list by name, no qualifications and no pupil-teacher ratio; it does have leadership and extended leadership pages.
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 policy
✓Staff training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
There is a Child Protection Committee and a separate ten-point safeguarding commitment page: a safe environment, a culture of vigilance as everyone's responsibility, procedures to prevent and respond swiftly to abuse and neglect, targeted support for vulnerable students, teaching students themselves to recognise unsafe situations, compliance with laws and conventions, work on emotional resilience, involving parents, regular staff training and continuous review of practice. The point of contact is the pastoral team. The school publishes a Student Protection Policy as a separate document. There is a health clinic on site.
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 data90 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median82 "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 7 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