← Back to homeSama International School
Abu Dhabi, UAE · Private
Illustration · Abu Dhabi
Sama International School stands in Khalifa City A in Abu Dhabi and until recently was called the Italian International School - the school has been renamed, but it states plainly that all the history and recognitions of the Italian school remain with it. Its shape is unusual: the main programme is American, following California and Common Core standards, but it is set inside an International Baccalaureate frame - the school runs the PYP and the MYP under authorisation - and teaching is trilingual in English, Arabic and Italian. The Italian strand is the thing nobody else in the emirate has: the school runs a separate Italian curriculum. A parent should know the exact status of the inspections: it holds no accreditation from either CIS or NEASC; it is a CIS member and is going through the procedures of both bodies. The career-related CP is still at candidate stage. The school describes its campus as modern, with an emphasis on sports academies, swimming and diving, a culinary school and a chess academy; the provisions named alongside lessons are inclusion, physical education and nutrition.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $8 187–14 535 a year
30 065–53 380 AED
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP · American programme
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Arabic, Italian
About the fees The school publishes its fee table already carrying a 15 per cent new-registration discount: the preschool stage 30,065 dirhams (where the discount is 30 per cent), KG1 and KG2 40,120 each, grades 1 to 5 44,115, grades 6 to 9 48,535 and grades 10 to 12 53,380. The full fee approved by the regulator ADEK is given on the same page behind a separate link. There are many discounts and they are named: 20 per cent for Fazza and Mazaya cardholders, up to 25 for the VVIP category, 20 per cent for employees of Etihad, Adnoc, Mubadala, ADRO, TAQA and Reportage Properties, and 25 per cent for partner organisations. Fees are paid on three dates - four months, four months and two. Transport costs 5,000 dirhams a year; uniform, books and external extracurricular activities are charged separately. A three-month school meal subscription costs 2,000 dirhams instead of 2,275. From grade 3 a child brings their own device.
Stages and year groups Grades pre-kindergarten - grade 12. The stages run straight through: pre-kindergarten, KG1 and KG2, then grades 1 to 12. The IB Primary Years Programme covers the lower grades and the Middle Years Programme the middle ones, with external MYP examinations in grade 10. The school runs the leaving stage as a candidate for the IB Career-related Programme.
Address Khalifa City A, South East 44, Block 10
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
NEASC · candidateIB · PYP, MYP · authorised programmeCIS · membershipschool 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
NEASCNew England Association of Schools and Colleges
An American accreditation working since 1885. For international schools it uses an approach where the visitors look first at live lessons rather than at folders of paperwork: the team works in the school for about a week. It is the only one here whose public directory honestly separates accredited schools from candidates.
What the badge means for this school. The school is a candidate for accreditation by this organisation: the route has been started but not completed. Candidacy speaks of an application made and a file accepted for consideration, not of the outcome of an inspection, and the organisations themselves usually require schools to say that it does not guarantee accreditation. The candidacy is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →IBInternational Baccalaureate
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 this status would mean. 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 school is not in the organisation's register: the status comes from the school's own words. At this school: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16). 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.
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 belongs to this organisation but has not been through its accreditation. The difference matters: membership is usually paid for and has no external inspection behind it. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The Galileo campus in Khalifa City A. The school calls its classrooms "21st-century classrooms" and names separately its sports academies, a culinary school, a chess academy and swimming and diving lessons. It has a canteen and a library of its own, and transport covering eleven districts of Abu Dhabi.
Clubs and activities (6): Extracurricular activities by external contractors · Free clubs for years 4-10 · Chess academy · Sports academies · Cookery school · Swimming and diving
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 policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school publishes a safeguarding and child protection policy and says its practice is aligned with the requirements of the Abu Dhabi authority. A designated safeguarding team monitors pupil welfare, and a school counsellor is named as the contact for any safety concern.
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%)74 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%)65 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data76 "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