← Back to homeProvidence English Private School
Sharjah, UAE · Private
Illustration · Sharjah
Providence English Private School is a Cambridge school in Sharjah, and a thoroughly Cambridge one: it runs all five stages to Cambridge International programmes and calls them by their own names - Early Years, Primary, Lower Secondary, Higher Secondary with IGCSE, and Advanced Level with AS and A Level. At the end of year nine pupils sit the external Cambridge Lower Secondary Checkpoint, which is marked in Cambridge. The school has been accredited by the Council of International Schools and became, by its own account, the first school in Sharjah to hold that status. Teaching is in English; Arabic is taught to Arab and non-Arab pupils alike, French comes in as a second language from year seven, and the UAE compulsory subjects - Islamic education, social studies and moral education - are taught alongside. The school publishes its results in external international studies, which is unusual: TIMSS and the PISA-based Test for Schools have a page of their own. Life outside lessons is busy - from chess and robotics to Quran recitation competitions and subject contests run with the universities of Sharjah.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $3 782–7 711 a year
13 890–28 320 AED
Programmes
Cambridge · Early Years, Primary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE, A-Level
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Arabic, French
About the fees The annual fee rises from 13,890 dirhams in FS2 and year one to 28,320 in year thirteen: 14,985 in year two, 15,015 in year three, 16,710 in year four, 17,270 in year five, 18,715 in year six, 18,740 in year seven, 20,900 in years eight and nine, 23,340 in year ten, 24,540 in year eleven and 24,480 in year twelve. On top of the fee the school charges separately for compulsory international tests - CAT4, IBT, Progress Test, Mubakkir and others.
Admissions To register a child the school requires copies of the pupil's and the parents' passports, a copy of the pupil's Emirates ID, a birth certificate, a vaccination book and seven photographs; the admissions department names the rest. Children transferring from UAE government schools bring a school leaving certificate and their last report endorsed by the educational zone. Documents from abroad have to be attested by the ministry of education, the ministry of foreign affairs and the UAE consulate in the country of issue, and from Europe, North America and Australia a "To Whom It May Concern" letter is required in addition to the report. Documents are accepted in Arabic or English; anything else needs a certified translation.
Stages and year groups Grades FS2 - year 13, the Cambridge stages from Early Years to Advanced Level. The stages run straight through and all five carry Cambridge names. Early Years covers ages three to five and appears in the school's fee schedule as FS2. Cambridge Primary is years one to six, ages 5 to 11. Cambridge Lower Secondary is years seven to nine, from age 11, ending in the external Checkpoint in three core subjects. Cambridge Higher Secondary is years ten and eleven, ages 14 to 16, with a minimum of five IGCSE subjects. Cambridge Advanced Level, the Sixth Form, is years twelve and thirteen: AS in year twelve, A2 in year thirteen, with a minimum of two subjects as required by the UAE Ministry of Education.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · Early Years, Primary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeCIS · 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
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: Early Years (ages 3-6), Primary (ages 5-11), Lower Secondary (ages 11-14), IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). Early Years is the nursery stage, ages 3 to 6. There are no exams at the end: the stage describes what the youngest children are taught and how, and it follows the Cambridge frame rather than a national nursery programme. Primary is the primary stage, ages 5 to 11: English, mathematics and science to Cambridge syllabuses. At the end of the stage a school may run the optional Checkpoint test, which is marked in Cambridge. Lower Secondary is the middle stage, ages 11 to 14, with the same optional Checkpoint test at the end. 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 →CISCouncil of International Schools
It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything 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 →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results The school publishes its results in external international studies. TIMSS 2019: 592 in mathematics and 566 in science in year five, and 590 and 601 in year nine, which places it at the high international benchmark. TIMSS 2023: 566 in mathematics in year four. The school took part in the PISA-based Test for Schools twice, with 40 and 36 pupils.
Facilities
The school does not describe its premises on its website.
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
The school publishes an inclusion policy: it calls itself a school for diverse needs, works in partnership with parents at every step of supporting a child, and states equal opportunity regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, impairment, attainment and background.
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%)95 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 data55 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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