← Back to homeGEMS Westminster School - Sharjah
Sharjah, UAE · est. 2012 · Private
Illustration · Sharjah
GEMS Westminster School - Sharjah opened its doors in October 2012 in the Muweilah district and is modelled on the group's Westminster School in Dubai. The curriculum is the National Curriculum for England with IGCSE, AS and A Level examinations of the Cambridge and London boards; the stages run from FS1 at three years old to Year 13 (Grade 12). The school gives both British and American grade numbering in the same table, which helps families moving between systems. The campus is sport-heavy: an indoor four-court sports hall, a football pitch, cricket nets, four outdoor multi-games courts - two at ground level and two on the roof - an outdoor basketball court and a multi-purpose sports hall; teaching spaces are plentiful too: music and art rooms, science laboratories, ICT and electronics labs, a library and indoor and outdoor play areas. Of its support services the school describes a child protection policy under the federal "Wadeema" law, reviewed annually, and a counselling service with a guidance counsellor and a SENDCO: pupils can reach them on their own at break, by teacher referral or through their parents, with records of observation kept in the pupil's portfolio. The new admissions fee is set at 5 per cent of the annual tuition.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $3 735–7 353 a year
13 715–27 005 AED
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level
Languages of instruction
English
About the fees The annual fee in UAE dirhams under the structure approved by the Sharjah Private Education Authority, paid over three terms: 13,765 for FS1, 13,715 for FS2/KG1, 14,105 for Year 1/KG2, 16,540 for Year 2, 16,550 for Year 3, 16,655 for Year 4, 16,845 for Year 5, 16,990 for Year 6, 17,030 for Year 7, 18,815 for Year 8, 18,850 for Year 9, 21,050 for Year 10, 23,920 for Year 11, 25,145 for Year 12 and 27,005 for Year 13. The new admissions fee is 5 per cent of the annual tuition, non-refundable and non-transferable but set against the first term's fee. Fees are payable in advance, by the first day of each term; a pupil with fees outstanding is not entered for external examinations. Payment may be made in cash, by card or by cheque payable to the school - postdated cheques are not accepted - and an online payment facility opens once a child is registered. The school warns separately that all fees are subject to SPEA approval and may change, and that any increase on revision must be paid.
Admissions The school has an age table of its own, a detailed one, and the threshold is counted at 31 December of the academic year: Pre-KG/FS1 at three years old, KG1/FS2 at four, KG2/Year 1 at five, grade 1 at six, grade 2 at 7-8 years old and then a year per grade up to grade 12 at 17-18. For FS1, FS2, Year 1 and Year 2 the school requires the age criteria to be met, and children already studying at a school inside the UAE it asks to be enrolled in the next grade up; from Year 3 and above enrolment follows the child's current year of study.
Stages and year groups Grades FS1 to Year 13 (Grade 12). The stages run right through and the school describes them by key stage: Key Stage 1 is the junior section from KG1 to Grade 1, Key Stage 2 the primary section, Grades 2-5, Key Stages 3 and 4 the secondary section, Grades 6-10, and Key Stage 5 covers Grades 11 and 12, built around the AS Level programme of the UK examination board. In Key Stage 5 there is "special" Arabic for Arabs, regular Arabic for non-Arabs, Islamic studies for Muslim pupils and a Ministry of Education social studies curriculum for Arabic and non-Arabic speakers.
Address Muweilah
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeGEMS · school is part of the networkschool 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 →GEMSschool network
GEMS Education is a private school group that describes itself on its own site as one of the oldest and largest K-12 (to Grade 12 / Year 13) private education providers in the world. The site dates its start to 1959 («Our story began in 1959«, «65+ Years of Legacy«), while another page on the same site says «over 60 Years of Legacy«. School counts on the site disagree: the homepage says both «52 schools across the UAE, Qatar and Egypt« and «Choose from our list of over 47 schools«, while the Our Company page says GEMS has schools «in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Europe and North America«. Students: «200,000 students from over 176 countries« (Our Company) and «over 200,000« (homepage). On ownership the site is explicit: «GEMS Education own, operate and manage schools globally« — it both owns and manages, but does not say which schools fall into which category.
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.
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 hall
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground
Campus: An indoor four-court sports hall, an outdoor football pitch, cricket nets, four outdoor multi-games courts - two at ground level and two on the roof - an outdoor basketball court and a multi-purpose sports hall. Teaching spaces: a music room, an art room, science laboratories and other specialist rooms, ICT and electronics laboratories, a library, indoor and outdoor play areas, and administration and reception areas.
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
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has its own child protection and safeguarding policy, published in English and Arabic together with a poster for 2026-2027 and reviewed annually; it refers directly to UAE Federal Law No. 3 on children's rights ("Wadeema"). Its safeguarding portfolio covers the designated safeguard lead arrangements, safeguarding responsibilities written into job descriptions, a staff behaviour code of conduct, a safer recruitment policy, procedures for allegations against staff, the student behaviour policy and online safety; the Ministry of Education inspects the school's protection, care, guidance and support of pupils. The counselling service: a guidance counsellor and a SENDCO see pupils on a voluntary basis at break and outside teaching time, by written teacher referral or at a parent's request; after a series of sessions a follow-up meeting is held with teachers and parents, records are kept in the pupil's portfolio and are accessible only to leadership and the staff concerned, and information is shared with an external agency only with the parents' written permission. The counselling and wellbeing policies for 2025-2026 are published.
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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 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