Collegiate International School, Dubai
KHDA Inspection Report & Ratings 2019
Last updated
Executive Summary
Collegiate International School provides a Good quality of education, as evidenced by its 2023-2024 inspection. The school offers a US/IB curriculum and is located in Umm Suqeim 3, serving students from KG1 to Grade 12.
Students' achievement is mostly Good in English, mathematics, and science across KG, Elementary, and High phases, with Very Good progress in KG English and Mathematics. The school effectively engages parents as partners in learning and maintains a safe environment.
While leadership has established a stronger lower school, challenges persist in the middle and high school, particularly concerning classroom management and consistent curriculum delivery for all student needs. Key recommendations focus on improving teaching quality and providing adequate support for leaders managing rapid growth.
Overall School Performance
Outstanding
Very Good
Good
Acceptable
Weak
Very Weak
Collegiate International School Overall Rating
Good for 7+ consecutive years
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 demonstrates a Good provision for students of determination, with strong commitment from leaders and robust identification procedures. Parents highly appreciate the support received, and detailed individual education plans (IEPs) are in place, though classroom implementation of differentiated strategies lacks consistency. identification of students of determinationindividual education plans (IEPs)learning support team
Wellbeing provision and outcomes are rated as Good, with a high priority placed on student and staff wellbeing. Initiatives include growth mindset training, monthly parent cafe sessions, and a restorative justice program, though older students could benefit from more structured wellbeing support. Growth mindset trainingrestorative justice programextra-curricular activities
The school's performance in the National Agenda Parameter is Good, having met its PIRLS target and showing improvement in lower grades' MAP assessments. While critical thinking is promoted, there is a need to better utilize assessment results to modify curriculum and address weak reading skills in Middle and High school. PIRLSMAP benchmark assessmentscritical thinking and reasoning
Key Highlights
Standout achievements identified by the inspection team that distinguish this school.
Vibrant KG Learning
The Kindergarten provides a vibrant learning environment with excellent resources, leading to Very Good progress, particularly in English and mathematics. This strong foundation supports early academic development.
Parental Engagement
The school successfully engages parents as active partners in their children's learning journey, fostering a collaborative educational community. This partnership is a significant strength.
Safe Learning Environment
The premises are securely maintained, ensuring a safe and healthy learning environment for all students and staff. Robust policies and regular drills contribute to this high level of protection.
Cultural Understanding
Students demonstrate a mature understanding of UAE culture, Islamic values, and an appreciation for diverse world cultures. They actively participate in cultural events and discussions.
Academic Performance Breakdown
Students’ achievement in English, mathematics and science is mostly good in KG, Elementary and High. Achievement is acceptable in mathematics and science in Middle and in mathematics in High. Achievement in Arabic, as an additional language, is good in Elementary, otherwise, achievement in Islamic Education and Arabic as a first and additional language is mostly acceptable.
Leadership & Management
Effectiveness of school governance, strategic planning, and leadership capacity to drive continuous improvement.
Leadership Approach
The newly created strategic direction is founded on UAE priorities, with leaders establishing a stronger lower school and demonstrating capacity for improvement. While improvement planning is comprehensive, the rapid growth of the school presents challenges to the joint US and IB curricula, requiring adequate support for leaders.
Inspection Findings
Students' Outcomes
Students' achievement is generally Good in core subjects for KG, Elementary, and High, with some areas in Middle and specific Arabic subjects rated as Acceptable or Weak. Learning skills are strong in KG and Elementary but less so in Middle.
Personal Development
Students exhibit positive attitudes, strong understanding of Islamic values, and high social responsibility, particularly in KG and Elementary. However, punctuality and self-discipline for a minority in Middle and High school remain areas for improvement.
Teaching Quality
Teaching quality is mostly Good across phases, with secure subject knowledge and effective use of technology. However, classroom management and consistent use of assessment data to differentiate learning are less strong, particularly in the middle school.
Protection & Care
The school provides Outstanding health and safety, including robust safeguarding policies and excellent medical care. Positive relationships exist, but behavior management and consistent application of differentiated strategies for students of determination need improvement in Middle and High school.
Areas for Development
- •Improve the quality of teaching and teachers’ classroom management skills, particularly in the middle school.
- •Governors should determine ways in which to provide adequate support for the recently appointed leaders as they implement the US diploma program through the IB, and address the challenges of the rapid growth, particularly in Middle and High School.
- •Use the results of a reading literacy assessment to identify students who are reading below chronological age level and plan targeted interventions to improve their reading skills.
- •Ensure that teachers use the outcomes of reading assessments in developing literacy in their subjects.
- •Ensure older students are afforded the same wellbeing time and commitment as is evident in the elementary school and help them to appreciate the intrinsic value it provides.
- •Improve students’ recitation skills.
- •Strengthen students' ability to support their understanding with references from the Holy Qur’an and Noble Hadith.
- •Improve students’ reading and creative writing and use of modern standard Arabic.
- •Ensure that learning activities are appropriately challenging and matched to student’s individual needs.
- •Improve students speaking, writing and reading comprehension skills.
- •Ensure that the level of challenge of learning activities matches students’ abilities and years of learning Arabic.
- •Improve students’ knowledge and application of English writing conventions and techniques.
- •Improve students’ inference and analytical reading skills in a range of genre.
- •Raise students’ progress and attainment in Middle and High.
- •Set higher expectations of all students and create a stimulating, challenging and investigative learning environment in every science lesson.
- •Ensure that all students understand the need for self-discipline and for maintaining a clear focus on their studies.
- •Improve students’ listening skills, particularly in the middle school and encourage them to take greater responsibility for their own learning.
- •Improve the development of students’ higher order thinking and analytical skills.
- •Improve students' understanding of their responsibilities, particularly with regard to their behavior.
- •Increase students' punctuality to lessons and at the beginning of the school day.
- •Provide more opportunities for students to initiate projects and engage in volunteering roles in the local community.
- •Share the best practices in teaching and classroom management to increase consistency in provision in each phase.
- •Ensure that full use of assessment information in lesson planning to match learning activities to the abilities of students.
- •Ensure that curriculum modification is applied more consistently in all phases to provide appropriate and challenging work for students of all abilities.
- •Ensure that each high school course is taught separately with the specified hours of tuition.
- •Ensure there are sufficient staff trained to an appropriate level to undertake the role of designated safeguarding lead.
- •Ensure all teachers are confident and competent in classroom management and in applying differentiated strategies for all groups of students.
- •Fully embed the new careers guidance program.