American International School
Executive Summary
The overall quality of education provided by the American International School is rated as Good for the 2023-2024 academic year. Children's achievement in Kindergarten continues to be good, with improvements noted in Elementary English and mathematics. Students across the school consistently demonstrate very good behavior and respect for one another and their teachers.
Teaching quality is Good in all phases, characterized by teachers' effective use of questioning. The school maintains a rational, balanced US curriculum, offering a diverse range of Advanced Placement (AP) and elective courses that align with student interests. Effective safeguarding and child protection procedures are in place, ensuring students feel safe and supported.
Senior leaders are sustaining a purposeful learning community that prioritizes a caring environment and student wellbeing, leading to improved classroom practice. Key strengths include excellent opportunities for student leadership in Middle and High school, positive partnerships with parents, and students' very good personal development and awareness of Islamic values.
Overall School Performance
Outstanding
Very Good
Good
Acceptable
Weak
Very Weak
American International School Overall Rating
Good
Dubai Focus Areas
These three pillars represent the Dubai education authority's priorities: ensuring inclusive practices, prioritizing student wellbeing, and meeting UAE National Agenda targets.
The school maintains a strong inclusive ethos, led by a qualified inclusion team. Early and accurate assessment of student needs informs individualized support plans, such as IEPs and BIPs. Parents are actively involved in their children's education, receiving regular progress reports and maintaining open communication with the inclusion team. IEPsBIPsinclusive ethosqualified inclusion team
The school's wellbeing provision is good, driven by a capable wellbeing committee and effective policies for safeguarding and anti-bullying. Students have ready access to counsellors and a 'student buddy' system, fostering feelings of safety and care. Teachers integrate monthly wellbeing themes into lessons, supported by staff induction and guidance. counsellorsstudent buddysafeguardinganti-bullyingwellbeing committee
The school has surpassed its PIRLS target, with Grade 4 students scoring significantly above the school target in 2021. However, external benchmark assessments in English, mathematics, and science show weaknesses, particularly in Middle school. While committed to raising reading literacy levels, the planning and implementation of interventions are still emerging. PIRLSreading literacyexternal benchmark assessmentsNational Agenda Parameter
Key Highlights
Standout achievements identified by the inspection team that distinguish this school.
KG Achievement
Children in Kindergarten consistently demonstrate good achievement levels.
Personal Development
Students exhibit very good personal development and a strong awareness of Islamic values.
Student Leadership
Middle and High school students benefit from excellent opportunities for leadership.
Parent Partnerships
The school fosters positive and effective partnerships with parents.
Teaching Quality
Teaching across all phases is consistently rated as good.
Academic Performance Breakdown
Overall, students' achievement is good in KG and Elementary English and mathematics, with good learning skills across all phases. However, achievement in Middle and High school mathematics, Islamic Education progress, and Arabic as an additional language attainment remain acceptable.
Leadership & Management
Effectiveness of school governance, strategic planning, and leadership capacity to drive continuous improvement.
Leadership Approach
Senior leaders, including the principal, cultivate a purposeful learning community that prioritizes a caring environment and student wellbeing. They have successfully guided teachers in improving classroom practice and behavior management. The corporate governing board effectively holds senior leaders accountable through key performance indicators.
Inspection Findings
Students' Outcomes
Students' achievement is good in KG and Elementary English and mathematics, with good learning skills across all phases. Middle and High school mathematics, Islamic Education progress, and Arabic as an additional language attainment are acceptable. Students demonstrate very good personal development and outstanding social responsibility in Middle and High school.
Personal Development
Students exhibit very good behavior and respect, with strong relationships among peers. They show a strong understanding of Islamic values, Emirati culture, and global issues like sustainability. Opportunities for student leadership are excellent in Middle and High school, fostering entrepreneurial skills.
Teaching Quality
Teaching is consistently good across all phases, characterized by effective questioning and fostering independent learning. However, internal assessment processes are inconsistent, and leaders' skills in analyzing assessment data for tracking student progress are insecure. Differentiation has improved but does not always meet the needs of all students.
Protection & Care
The school provides good protection and care, with all staff effectively trained in safeguarding and child protection. Students feel safe and have multiple avenues for support. Health and safety arrangements are good, and medical staff promote wellbeing. The school fosters an inclusive ethos with early identification of student needs and effective pastoral care.
Areas for Development
- •Raise students’ performance in external benchmark assessments.
- •Improve the staffing, resources and facilities by: ensuring adequate provision for science, music, art and design, digital learning and sport, recruiting suitably US experienced and qualified staff, and ensuring that teaching spaces are conducive to active learning.
- •Ensure all assessment processes provide accurate measures of students’ progress and attainment.
- •Improve the school’s self-evaluation by ensuring that all judgements of its performance are accurate and form a reliable base for improvement planning.
- •Implement plans to identify and address the needs of lower performing readers.
- •Ensure that leaders accurately interpret benchmark assessment reports and make appropriate adaptations to the curriculum to address performance gaps.
- •Improve wellbeing data collection and analysis and ensure that the information guides the wellbeing development plan.
- •Increase the involvement of parents in the development of wellbeing policy and practice.
- •Improve students’ memorization of the Holy Qur’an and application of Tajweed rules in all phases.
- •Improve students’ knowledge of the Seerah and encourage them to connect their learning to the life of the Prophet (PBUH), the Holy Qur’an and Hadith.
- •Provide students with prompts to support the development of their writing styles and sentence structure.
- •Develop a structured Arabic reading program to enhance students’ language skills and foster the enjoyment of reading for pleasure.
- •Provide students with more opportunities to apply their newly learned vocabulary in everyday contexts.
- •Raise the attainment of students in Middle and High.
- •Accelerate the progress of students in the early grades of Elementary, and the boys in Middle, in reading and writing.
- •Improve progress and raise attainment in Middle and High.
- •Provide more mental problem-solving activities to strengthen students’ ability to apply their thinking skills.
- •Improve middle and high school students’ performance in external examinations.
- •Improve students' understanding and application of the scientific method and their practical laboratory skills.
- •Provide more opportunities for innovation and creativity across the curriculum.
- •Ensure that students are provided with more opportunities to link their learning to the wider world.
- •Improve punctuality across the school and the behavior of a few boys in the middle school.
- •Improve younger students’ awareness and understanding a wider range of world cultures.
- •Provide more opportunities for students in the early phases to develop their innovative, enterprising, and entrepreneurial skills.
- •Develop and implement a coherent assessment system that draws together formal and informal assessments and aligns with the outcomes of external tests.
- •Ensure that learning activities are matched to the needs of students and that teachers, concentrate on the learning taking place rather than the completion of planned activities.
- •Ensure that the curriculum effectively prepares students for external examinations.
- •Ensure that curriculum modifications address student’s individual learning needs and are planned to close broader gaps in students’ learning.
- •Implement more effective strategies to improve attendance, punctuality and behavior.
- •Ensure that procedures for parents and visitors accessing the school site are always rigorously applied.
- •Ensure that a designated member of the safeguarding team is able to deputize for the safeguarding lead.
- •Consider increasing the number of learning support teachers to improve the school's capacity to support the growing number of students of determination.
- •Ensure that all teachers endeavor to include students of determination in their whole class learning activities.