Dubai, UAE · PrivateCollegiate International School stands in Umm Suqeim 2 in Dubai and runs two lines at once: an American one on New York State standards and the International Baccalaureate programmes. It is arranged like this: the PYP runs from pre-kindergarten to grade 5, the MYP from grade 6 to grade 8, and in the high school a leaver picks one of three routes - the US High School Diploma, Advanced Placement courses, or the IB Diploma. The school calls itself a four programme IB World School authorised for ages three to nineteen, so the stages run right through and a child does not have to move to another school at the middle or the senior stage. The school belongs to the Innoventures Education group alongside Dubai International Academy, Raffles World Academy and Raffles International School. It states its size only in round figures: more than 750 pupils and more than 70 nationalities, a hundred per cent graduation rate, and more than thirty per cent of leavers graduating with honours. The campus is a full one for a Dubai private school: two swimming pools (a separate one for the youngest), three gymnasiums and a sports hall, tennis courts, a soccer field, STEM and science laboratories, computer rooms, an art gallery and art studios, music rooms, a dance studio, libraries, a lecture hall, a cafeteria, prayer rooms and a medical clinic of its own.
Key facts
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · accreditationIB · PYP, MYP, DP, CP · authorised programmeCollege Board · authorised programmeInnoventures Education · school is part of the networkWhat stands behind each entry
An American accreditation working since 1885. For international schools it uses an approach where the visitors look first at live lessons rather than at folders of paperwork: the team works in the school for about a week. It is the only one here whose public directory honestly separates accredited schools from candidates.
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 →A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
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: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19), CP (ages 16-19, with a vocational slant). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate. CP is the final stage with a vocational slant, ages 16 to 19: some of the DP subjects plus an applied qualification. It is meant for those heading into a trade or an applied degree rather than an academic one.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 →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.
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.
Innoventures Education is a Dubai school group; its site innoventureseducation.com dates its start to 2005 («Innoventures Education was established in 2005»), gives «over 9,000 pupils from over 120 countries» and «1700+ Staff from across the globe», and speaks of management: «schools and nurseries managed by Innoventures Education», and of Raffles - «took over the management of the Raffles Schools and Nurseries» in 2010. The schools are named: Collegiate International School, Dubai International Academy (Emirates Hills, Al Barsha, Town Square), Raffles International School, Raffles World Academy, Raffles World Academy Sharjah, Raffles Starters and eight Raffles Early Childhood Centres. Figures disagree inside the network itself: the same group page, published on two of its own school sites, prints different numbers for the same schools - DIA Emirates Hills «over 2700 students from over 85 countries» on collegiate.sch.ae/innoventures-schools-cis against «over 2000 from more than 77 nationalities» on diadubai.com/innoventures-education-dia-eh, Raffles World Academy «over 1900 pupils» against «close to 1,800 students», Raffles International School «more than 1300 pupils» against «over 1400 students». Ownership is not separated from management: the only word used is «managed».
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.