← Back to homeDubai College
Dubai, UAE · est. 1978 · Private
Illustration · Dubai
Dubai College is the oldest British school in the emirate: it was formally constituted on 4 May 1978 with the consent of Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, to provide a modern secondary education in the British style in Dubai. It was founded by Tim Charlton, who was teaching in Sharjah in 1977, resigned his post, sold his house in England, bought a Land Rover and drove back to Dubai overland. The main thing a parent needs to know: this is a secondary school only, it begins at Year 7, and it has no primary stage at all. The school takes nobody into Year 11 or Year 13 - the GCSE and A level courses run over two years and cannot be joined halfway; for Years 8, 9 and 10 there is a separate occasional places scheme with a short application window in February. The school publishes results for both examinations. External judgements are strong: the British Schools Overseas inspection of 2024 called the curriculum outstanding, and the SAFEcic audit of 2025 called it one of the most exemplary schools for safeguarding the auditors had ever seen. The campus is a large one: a 900-seat auditorium, a lecture theatre for 160, a canteen with a cashless card and the SPACE complex, where sport and performing arts sit together.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $26 526–30 035 a year
97 415–110 305 AED
Programmes
Cambridge · A-Level
About the fees The annual fee is 97,415 dirhams for Years 7 to 11 and 110,305 dirhams for Years 12 and 13. It is payable in advance in three termly parts: 38,966, 29,224.50 and 29,224.50 in the lower years and 44,122, 33,091.50 and 33,091.50 in the senior ones. There are three terms in a year: autumn from September to December, spring from January to March and summer from April to July. On top of the fee, an annual re-registration charge of 5 per cent of the annual sum falls due at the start of the third term. All new students joining in 2026-2027 require a personal debenture. The fee can be split into monthly instalments by agreement with the bursar. The school warns plainly: if the first term's fee is not paid on time the governors may decline to admit a student, and where any other term's fee is late they may suspend the child for three days.
Admissions The school is a secondary one and begins at Year 7; applications for Year 11 and Year 13 are not considered at all, because of the two-year structure of the GCSE and A level courses. The main entry points are Year 7 and Year 12, each with its own key dates and its own way of applying. For Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10 there is a separate occasional places scheme with a narrow application window: in 2026 it was open from 2 to 25 February until 16:00 UAE time. Applications sent after the deadline are not considered and the school does not answer questions about them. There is a separate page of procedure for those coming from abroad, and a separate programme for Emirati scholarship holders.
Stages and year groups Grades Year 7 - Year 13, from age 11. The school is secondary and secondary only: it begins at Year 7 and divides into a Lower School, a Middle School and a Sixth Form. It has no primary stage, so a child arrives here from another school.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
COBIS · accreditationBSO · accreditationBSME · part of the associationschool 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
COBISCouncil of British International Schools
An association of British schools abroad with a quality inspection of its own. It has nine membership categories, and the word "accredited" appears in seven of them, although COBIS does its own inspection in one: in the rest it recognises an accreditation granted by somebody else.
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 →BSOBritish government inspection of schools overseas
A scheme of the UK Department for Education: a school abroad is inspected against the standards for independent schools in England, including safeguarding and the standards for boarding. The inspections are done by independent inspectorates approved by the department, and the inspectorates themselves are monitored annually by Ofsted. The reports are published in full on the government website.
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 →BSMEAssociation of British schools in the Middle East
One hundred and eighty schools in ten countries - Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE; more than half of the membership is in the UAE. It runs no inspections of its own at all. Instead it requires somebody else's accreditation, and the requirement is strict: a school not already accredited on joining must gain accreditation within two years and then maintain it. The inspectorates are EDT or ISI, which means the accreditation in question is the British government's BSO scheme. The organisation has withdrawn its former lighter routes in - one route remains.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to the association, and the association requires its members to hold a real accreditation: for Gulf schools that is almost always BSO. What to look at is that accreditation rather than this badge. Nor is the badge empty - there is no inspection of its own behind it, but a school is not admitted to the association without somebody else's accreditation. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →CambridgeA-Level
Programmes of the University of Cambridge: the school teaches to Cambridge syllabuses and enters its pupils for exams that Cambridge marks itself. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
What this means for this school. The papers are marked by Cambridge, not by the school, so a leaver's grade does not depend on how strict their own teachers are with them. To enter pupils for these exams a school has to be registered as a Cambridge exam centre; registration as a centre is permission to run exams rather than accreditation of the school, and it says nothing about the quality of teaching. IGCSE is taken at around Year 10 or 11 and A-Level in the final years, and it is the A-Level results that carry a pupil into British and many other universities.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results The school publishes its GCSE and A level results for 2026 in separate summaries, and separately a list of the universities its leavers go on to. The pages read carry no figures or proportions: the summaries are held in separate files.
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 hall
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The campus is divided into general, academic, creative arts and sports facilities and is shown on a map. It holds a 900-seat auditorium for whole school assemblies, the annual production and concerts, a lecture theatre seating 160, a school canteen open before school, at break and at lunch on a cashless card, and Charlton's Cafe in the SPACE complex - the sports and performing arts centre of excellence, open to sixth formers all day.
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 roomnot stated on the website
·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
Safeguarding has a section of its own, and the school runs a student services team, a positive education programme and a system of form tutors. The SAFEcic audit of 2025 called the school one of the most organised and exemplary schools for safeguarding the auditors had ever visited.
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%)82 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 "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