← Back to homeElite Private School
Abu Dhabi, UAE · Private
Illustration · Abu Dhabi
Elite Private School, or EPS, is an American-programme school in Mohamed Bin Zayed City, Zone 9 of Abu Dhabi, running from a pre-school group for three-year-olds to grade 12. By the school's own figures it has about 1,700 students and 105 teachers. The curriculum is the American Common Core standards aligned with the requirements of the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK); on top of it the school runs an electives programme, in-school specialist services and SAT preparation, and for grade 12 it keeps dedicated support and publishes the address of a university liaison and guidance counsellor. The school lists its facilities by number: six science laboratories, three ICT laboratories, a large gym and a semi-Olympic swimming pool; the classrooms are large and fitted with smart boards. There is a clinic of its own with a nurse who examines the children and administers medication, and a separate sports academy - physical education and swimming run as part of the curriculum. The school describes itself as having worked for thirty years.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $6 731–8 880 a year
24 720–32 610 AED
Programmes
AP · American programme
Registration fee
≈ $408
1 500 AED
About the fees The annual fee: 24,720 dirhams in the pre-school group and in both kindergarten years, 27,140 in grades 1 and 2, 27,220 in grades 3 to 5, 29,740 in grades 6 to 9 and 32,610 in grades 10 to 12. The registration fee of 1,500 dirhams is non-refundable but is applied against the term 1 balance. Textbooks, uniform and transport are not included. The year is paid in three instalments due on 1 August, 1 November and 1 February. The fee is approved by ADEK - the school refers to its approved school fees document.
Admissions An application is made through an online form, and the school confirms it by email. Then documents must be submitted and an assessment booked if places are available: for the current school year an assessment is scheduled only if a place exists, for the next year all applicants from grade 1 to grade 12 are assessed. For the kindergarten years there is no assessment at all - the school cites Abu Dhabi law. Before the assessment the school requires a copy of the child's passport, a copy of the Emirates ID, the previous year's report card, any diagnostic or psychological assessments if they exist, and a completed candidate reference form from the previous school. After acceptance the list of documents depends on where the child comes from: within Abu Dhabi - IDs, medical forms, vaccination records and study leave from a government school; from another emirate or from abroad - an attested transfer certificate, officially translated reports, medical forms, vaccination records and a translated birth certificate.
Stages and year groups Grades pre-school group from age 3 - grade 12. The stages run straight through from a pre-school group for three-year-olds and two kindergarten years to grade 12. Grade 12 has dedicated support of its own; SAT preparation runs in the senior years.
Address Mohamed Bin Zayed City, Zone 9, Abu Dhabi
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cognia · 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
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. 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 →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.
American programme
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.
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 pool
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
·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: The school lists its facilities by number: six science laboratories, three ICT laboratories, a large gym and a semi-Olympic swimming pool. The classrooms are large and fitted with smart boards. There is a school clinic and a sports academy through which physical education and swimming run. The school publishes a virtual tour of the campus.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
There are 105 teachers to some 1,700 students. The school names neither qualifications nor class sizes; separately it mentions in-school specialist services and a university liaison and guidance counsellor.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a clinic of its own: a nurse examines the children and administers medication. It names neither a child protection policy, nor security staff, nor a psychologist.
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 data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 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