Raha International School, Gardens Campus
Abu Dhabi, UAE · est. 2006 · PrivateRaha International School has been running in Abu Dhabi since 2006 and occupies fourteen acres in the Raha Gardens development; it is the first school in the emirate to run the International Baccalaureate programmes in sequence from the primary stage to the diploma. It has more than two thousand pupils, more than two hundred and fifty teachers and more than ninety nationalities. The school's diploma results are strong: it states a 96 per cent pass rate and 45 points as the top score achieved by its leavers, and it offers twenty-nine subjects in the Diploma Programme. Alongside the academic diploma it prepares a career route: it is an officially approved centre for Pearson's British BTEC qualifications as part of the IBCP and holds candidate status for the CP itself. The school describes its campus as an oasis with landscaped gardens, urban farming and shared community spaces. It belongs to the Taaleem group and answers to Abu Dhabi's regulator ADEK.
Key facts
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
CIS · accreditationIB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeTaaleem · school is part of the networkWhat stands behind each entry
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 →A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
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: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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.
Taaleem is a UAE school operator; on 25 Sep 2026 its site taaleem.ae shows counters «36 Schools across the UAE», «42,271 Students», «34 Nurseries» and «4,152 Employees». Figures inside the site disagree: against those thirty-six, the About us page lists seventeen items - five Dubai British School campuses, Jebel Ali School, Jumeira Baccalaureate School, Greenfield International School, both Raha International School campuses, Uptown International School, American Academy for Girls, three Dubai Schools, Lycee Libanais Francophone Prive Meydan and a line reading «Charter Schools» - and gives no total at all. On ownership the site speaks corporately: «The holding company, Madaares Private Joint Stock Company (PJSC), owns 100% of Taaleem PJSC and Taaleem Management LLC», and it describes its own business as «investment in the development and operation of K-12 schools». Which schools it owns and which it runs under contract the site does not break down; for Dubai Schools that is stated on their own site - «All schools are operated by Taaleem».
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.