← Back to homeDubai English Speaking College
Dubai, UAE · est. 2005 · Private
Illustration · Dubai
Dubai English Speaking College is the secondary and sixth-form school of the DESS group in Academic City, opened in 2005 and taking children from 11 to 18; its students come from more than seventy different countries. Like its older sister in Oud Metha it holds an Outstanding rating on two counts - from the KHDA and from the British BSO scheme. The curriculum is the English national one: Key Stage 3 in Years 7-9, Key Stage 4 with GCSE examinations where the core is mathematics, English and science plus three option subjects out of nineteen, and Key Stage 5 with AS and A Level examinations and BTEC qualifications. The languages are Arabic at two levels - A and B - French and Spanish. The school names two things as its own. The first is sport: more than a hundred and twenty teams in rugby, netball, football and swimming with specialist directors and development programmes, plus athletics, basketball and cricket. The second is music and the performing arts: the College is the only school in the UAE to offer Rock School London vocational courses at Key Stage 5 - CAPA for creative and performing arts and MUSPRA for music practitioners - with modules in acting, dance, musical theatre, arts administration, music technology and backstage management. The performing arts department is built as a creative hub joining dance, drama and music.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $22 961–24 679 a year
84 326–90 633 AED
Programmes
Cambridge · A-Level · BTEC
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Arabic, French, Spanish
About the fees The annual fee in the 2026-27 table: 84,326 dirhams for Years 7 to 11 and 90,633 for Sixth Form. It is paid in three parts due on 31 August, 4 January and 12 April, with the first part about a third larger than the others. On top of the fee there is an acceptance fee: 5,000 dirhams for Years 7 to 10 and 7,500 for Year 12, that is for Sixth Form. It is non-refundable but is credited against the first term's fee. Charges for GCSE and GCE examinations and for external music and dance examinations are not included and are invoiced separately.
Stages and year groups Grades Year 7 from age 11 - Year 13, to age 18. The stages run straight through from Year 7 to Year 13. Key Stage 3 is Years 7-9, a broad curriculum; Key Stage 4 leads to GCSE examinations with compulsory mathematics, English and science plus three option subjects chosen from nineteen; Key Stage 5 is Years 12 and 13, with AS and A Level examinations, BTEC qualifications and the Rock School London CAPA and MUSPRA vocational courses.
Address PO Box 125814, Academic City
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
BSO · accreditationschool 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
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 →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.
BTEC
A British vocational qualification from Pearson: not an academic course with an exam at the end, but a programme of practical assignments in a particular trade, from engineering and business to art and sport.
What this means for this school. Teaching and assessment work differently from A-level: instead of written exams there is a run of practical assignments marked by the school, while Pearson checks the school itself and samples the work. British universities do accept BTEC, but not all of them and not for every course: level 3 carries the same UCAS points as A-level, and that is what a family aiming at a particular university should look at. For a child who needs the classic academic route, BTEC is not a replacement for A-level but a different path.
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 hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: A campus in Academic City. The school calls itself a leading school for sport in the UAE and keeps professional-grade facilities and health support services for it; rugby, netball, football and swimming are named, along with athletics, basketball and cricket. On the creative side there is a performing arts department joining dance, drama and music, and equipment for the Rock School London courses including music technology and backstage work. The school writes separately about continually renewing its technology and about its Digital Leaders team.
Teaching staff
There is no data for this section yet.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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 data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 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