Islamiya English School, Abu Dhabi

Islamiya English School is a private non-profit institution founded in 1978 by the late Darwish Bin Karam Abdulla Alqubaisi, whose family continues to steward his legacy today. The school is governed by a Board of Directors chaired by Mrs. Khadija Darwish Alqubaisi, who also serves as an owner and General Manager. Day-to-day academic leadership is the responsibility of Principal Nazar Dawood Anwar, supported by a deputy director and four department heads. No information is available on the principal's length of tenure or professional background from the sources reviewed. [MISSING: Principal tenure start date and professional background]

The most recent ADEK Irtiqa inspection, conducted in January 2025, rated the school's overall performance as Good — a meaningful step up from the Acceptable rating recorded in 2021. Within the leadership and management domain, the effectiveness of leadership was rated Good, the only element in that domain to reach that level. Self-evaluation and improvement planning, governance, parent and community engagement, and management and staffing were all rated Acceptable — a pattern that inspectors noted requires more consistent implementation to drive sustainable progress across the school. The inspection did acknowledge that leaders, guided by the principal and Board of Trustees, have cultivated a genuinely caring and nurturing culture rooted in Islamic values and UAE national identity, and that decision-making has become more inclusive of wider stakeholders.

On teaching quality, teaching for effective learning was rated Good across all four cycles in the 2024–25 inspection — an improvement from Acceptable in Cycles 1 and 2 since the previous review. Inspectors noted particular strength in Arabic-medium subjects, where teachers demonstrate strong subject knowledge and deliver engaging, well-resourced lessons. Teaching in English-medium subjects, however, remains less consistent, and opportunities for critical thinking and differentiated instruction are not yet fully developed across all phases. Assessment was rated Acceptable across all cycles, with the use of internal and external data to inform instruction described as inconsistent.

IES employs 121 teachers and 19 teaching assistants across its four cycles, serving 2,144 students. This produces a student-to-teacher ratio of 1:18 — notably higher than the Abu Dhabi city average of 1:13.6 among private schools, suggesting larger class sizes than the norm. Teacher nationalities span India, Pakistan, and Egypt. [MISSING: Staff qualification levels, percentage holding relevant degrees or postgraduate qualifications; staff retention or turnover data]

On parent and community engagement, the inspection rated this element Acceptable, noting that parents are not consistently informed of the school's international assessment targets or the support available for student improvement — an area the inspection flagged for development. The school's community identity is nonetheless a genuine strength: students demonstrate a strong sense of belonging and pride in UAE heritage, and the school's founding mission of providing affordable, values-driven education to Abu Dhabi's expatriate community remains visibly intact after more than four decades. A notable recent achievement is a student earning a Guinness World Record for the youngest person to publish a book, The Lost Rabbit — a signal of the school's capacity to nurture individual student talent beyond the classroom.