Al Arqm Private School

Principal Abdel Elah ALI Ibrahim Abu Rayya, appointed on 20 August 2021, leads Al Arqm Private School with a stated commitment to school improvement and alignment with national priorities. The inspection found that leaders monitor teaching and learning, and the governing board is described as keen to improve — though both school self-evaluation and governance were rated Weak in the 2023–2024 KHDA inspection, representing the most significant leadership concerns parents should weigh carefully. These are not minor gaps: underdeveloped self-evaluation means the school lacks the systematic tools to identify and address its own weaknesses with consistency.

The overall leadership effectiveness was rated Acceptable, placing Al Arqm among the 52 MoE-curriculum schools in Dubai that hold this mid-tier rating — notably, among the 17 Ministry of Education curriculum schools in Dubai, none currently hold an Outstanding rating, and the majority sit at Acceptable or Good. In that context, Al Arqm's position is typical for its curriculum type, though it falls short of the standard parents might hope for.

On staffing, the school employs 85 teachers and 13 teaching assistants, serving 987 students. This produces a student-teacher ratio of 1:12, which is notably more favourable than the Dubai private school average of 1:13.6 — a meaningful advantage in terms of individual attention. The largest nationality group among teachers is Egyptian, consistent with an Arabic-medium MoE school. The inspection noted that teachers have secure subject knowledge, particularly in Islamic Education, Arabic and mathematics, but flagged variance in teaching quality across cycles, with assessment practice rated Weak in Cycles 1 and 2.

Staff commitment is a genuine bright spot. The inspection explicitly highlighted the commitment of members of staff to the school and its community as one of the school's headline strengths — a signal of low turnover and genuine institutional loyalty that provides some continuity for families. Parent engagement is described as supportive: parents and the community were rated Acceptable, with surveys informing improvement planning and social workers facilitating parental input into wellbeing policy. However, the inspection noted that girls' voices in particular are not yet sufficiently heard in school planning and wellbeing initiatives — an area requiring attention. The school has been rated Acceptable continuously since 2015–2016, following three consecutive years of Weak ratings, suggesting a floor has been established but meaningful upward momentum has not yet materialised.