← Back to homeAl Diyafah High School L.L.C.
Dubai, UAE · est. 1982 · Private
Illustration · Dubai
Al Diyafah High School has been running in Al Nahda since 1982: it started as a nursery with two pupils, moved into a purpose-built campus in 2001, completed a secondary school in 2020, and in 2013 the same owner opened a second school in Abu Dhabi. Teaching follows the National Curriculum of England from FS1 to Year 13, and the school runs its own senior stage: it has offered A Levels since 2006, with 14 subjects across the science, commerce and humanities streams and two Pearson BTEC International Level 3 qualifications alongside them. A student may take three or four A Levels or a blended set of A Levels and BTECs. The day is short by UAE standards: FS1 and FS2 from 7:15 to 12:00, Year 1 to Year 13 until 14:30, and everyone finishes at midday on Friday. The campus is built around sport and laboratories: the air-conditioned multi-purpose Winnie D'Cunha Hall with a stage and large-scale projection, a temperature-controlled 25-metre indoor pool, outdoor tennis and basketball courts, an astroturf games area, physics, chemistry and biology laboratories, ICT rooms with intelligent panels in every classroom, a separate media room with a recording studio and a stock of instruments, and art and drama studios. Medical care is in-house: two clinics, a doctor and three resident nurses.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $3 158–5 588 a year
11 596–20 521 AED
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level
Languages of instruction
English
Registration fee
≈ $136
500 AED
About the fees The annual fee on the KHDA-approved 2026-27 scale: 11,596 dirhams for FS1 and FS2, 12,214 for Years 1 to 3, 12,578 for Years 4 to 6, 12,851 for Year 7, 14,626 for Year 8, 16,153 for Year 9 and 20,521 for Year 10. It is paid in three parts: 40 per cent by 15 August and 30 per cent each by 5 December and 5 March. On top of the fee there is a one-off 500 dirhams on admission and 10 per cent of the annual fee on confirmation of the place - that 10 per cent is credited against the first term, the admission fee is neither credited nor refunded. Every year in the third term existing pupils pay a re-registration fee of about 5 per cent of the annual fee, which is likewise credited against the next year. The school keeps the Year 11 to Year 13 row on a separate tab of the same page, and those figures were not read.
Admissions Admission runs in six steps: registration through the portal on the website, an assessment or test, the assessment fee, the offer of a place, uploading documents and payment. FS1 and FS2 applicants come in for an age-appropriate early years assessment, Year 1 and Year 2 sit a short written task, Years 3 to 10 sit an age-appropriate written assessment and then an interview with the Head of Section, and Year 12 and Year 13 applicants have an interview, with an additional AS placement test possible for those who have not been in a British-curriculum school. From Year 5 the application must include CAT4 results and the latest report card. The year group is set by calendar year of birth under the KHDA rule: FS1 for those born in 2023, then a year per group up to Year 13. For FS1 the school lists its requirements plainly: the child communicates basic needs in English, follows simple instructions, eats independently and is out of nappies. A place is held for 7 calendar days after the written offer, and a child only starts lessons after KHDA registration and the signing of the parent contract.
Stages and year groups Grades FS1 - Year 13, that is 15 year groups, ages 3 to 17 on 1 September. The stages run right through: FS1 and FS2 are the early years, Key Stages 1 and 2 the primary school, Key Stages 3 and 4 the secondary years leading to IGCSE, and the Sixth Form is Year 12 and Year 13 with AS and A2. The school day for FS1 and FS2 runs from 7:15 to 12:00 every day; for Year 1 to Year 13 from 7:15 to 14:30 Monday to Thursday and until 12:00 on Friday.
Address Gate No 7 - 7A St - Al Nahda Second, Al Nahda
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · 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. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
There is no data for this section yet.
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Campus: The campus was built for the school and extended in 2020 for the secondary stage. An air-conditioned multi-purpose sports hall, the Winnie D'Cunha Hall, with separate boys' and girls' changing rooms, a stage and large-scale projection - it doubles as the auditorium for assemblies and performances. A temperature-controlled 25-metre indoor pool, outdoor tennis and basketball courts with a high-quality surface and an astroturf multi-use games area. Physics, chemistry and biology laboratories, ICT laboratories and intelligent panels in every classroom, with BYOD on the school's Microsoft network. A separate purpose-built media room for the national curriculum, GCSE and A Level music, with a fully equipped recording studio and a range of wind, string, percussion and keyboard instruments. Art and drama studios. Two clinics.
Clubs and activities (29): Robotics · LEGO robotics · 3D modelling · Space and STEM · Internet of things · Python programming · Artificial intelligence · Football · Badminton · Karate · Art · Drama · Music · School choir · Photography · Crafts · Fashion design · Video editing · Graphic design · TEDx · GirlUP · PALS · ADMUN Model United Nations · Discussion club · Editorial team and media club · InspirED Minds · Diyafah Band school orchestra · NextGen entrepreneurs club · Astronomy club
Teaching staff
There is no data for this section yet.
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 policy
There are two fully equipped clinics on campus, with a doctor and three resident nurses on the staff, periodic check-ups and emergency transport to hospital; the nurse is available from 7:30 to 15:30 Monday to Friday and a private consultation can be arranged. The school describes its safeguarding procedures as binding on everyone who works with pupils and expects staff to notice and report changes in behaviour. Its documents section publishes an anti-bullying policy, a wellbeing policy, a transport policy and a career guidance policy, along with the DSIB inspection report for 2023-24 and the school's PISA 2025 report.
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%)85 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 data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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