Pristine Private School, Dubai
KHDA Inspection Report & Ratings 2019
Last updated
Executive Summary
Pristine Private School has been rated Good for the 2023-2024 academic year. The school demonstrates a strong commitment to its strategic direction and shared vision, fostering positive morale through effective relationships and communication among leaders, staff, and parents.
Children in the Foundation Stage show Outstanding achievements, while students in Post-16 exhibit better outcomes and learning skills compared to other phases. The school's curriculum is aligned with the National Curriculum for England, with a notable introduction of artificial intelligence through robotics and coding.
The school places a very high priority on safeguarding and child protection, maintaining excellent health and safety arrangements. Students across all phases demonstrate Outstanding personal development, including exemplary behavior, strong Islamic values, and an appreciation for Emirati culture.
Overall School Performance
Outstanding
Very Good
Good
Acceptable
Weak
Very Weak
Pristine Private School Overall Rating
Good for 10+ 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.
Pristine Private School maintains a Very good inclusive ethos, driven by governors and inclusion teams who regularly review policies and invest in resources and professional development. The school uses a wide range of screening procedures and medical specialists for assessment, and admission meetings help teachers understand student needs. While individual education plans (IEPs) have improved, curriculum adaptation in lessons for students of determination is not yet consistently secure. inclusive ethosindividual education plansstudents of determination
Wellbeing is an integral part of the school community, with leaders effectively pursuing its ethos and vision through engaging curricula and initiatives. Students actively drive new wellbeing initiatives, acting as role models and engaging confidently with skilled adults. The school provides high-quality information and guidance, with a new team of counsellors offering care and support to students, staff, and parents. wellbeing initiativescounsellorsresilience and character education
The school's overall standards in the National Agenda Parameter are Very good, having exceeded targets in international assessments like PIRLS 2021 with an average score of 651. Senior and departmental leaders rigorously monitor internal benchmarking outcomes to identify curriculum gaps, and the school has very good systems to develop students’ reading skills, with most making expected progress. National Agenda ParameterPIRLS 2021reading literacy skills
Key Highlights
Standout achievements identified by the inspection team that distinguish this school.
FS Achievements
Children in the Foundation Stage demonstrate outstanding achievements across various subjects and learning skills.
Personal Development
Students exhibit outstanding personal and social development, including exemplary behavior, strong Islamic values, and an appreciation for Emirati and world cultures.
Health & Safety
The school maintains high-quality arrangements for health and safety, including robust child protection and pastoral support for all students.
Parent Partnership
Strong partnerships with parents and effective management of school operations contribute significantly to the school's success.
Academic Performance Breakdown
Children’s achievements in Foundation Stage are outstanding, and students in Post-16 show better outcomes and learning skills compared to Primary and Secondary. Mathematics outcomes are very good across all phases. While Arabic as a first language shows improving progress, Arabic as an additional language and English in Secondary require more consistent application of best teaching practices and sustained writing opportunities.
Leadership & Management
Effectiveness of school governance, strategic planning, and leadership capacity to drive continuous improvement.
Leadership Approach
All leaders establish a strategic direction and shared vision, committed to inclusion and wellbeing. They foster professional relationships and effective communication, contributing to positive morale. The monitoring of teaching and learning is accurate and positively impacts student achievement, with leaders successfully engaging parents and governors actively seeking their views.
Inspection Findings
Students' Outcomes
Children’s achievements in Foundation Stage are Outstanding, with Post-16 students showing better outcomes and learning skills. Mathematics outcomes are Very Good across phases, while in Secondary, students perform better in mathematics and science than English. Most students make expected progress in Arabic as a first and additional language.
Personal Development
Students across the school display Outstanding personal and social development, with exemplary behavior and positive attitudes. They demonstrate strong awareness of Islamic values, appreciation for Emirati culture, and a highly developed social conscience, actively participating in charity events and environmental initiatives.
Teaching Quality
In the Foundation Stage, teachers show an Outstanding understanding of how young children learn, providing active and focused activities. While teaching in Primary and Secondary is variable, the use of assessment information in FS and Post-16 effectively supports learning. However, effective questioning, dialogue, and challenge are sometimes lacking in Primary and Secondary.
Protection & Care
Safeguarding and child protection are very high priorities, with excellent arrangements for health and safety across both campuses. Highly positive relationships between students and staff foster a sense of community and mutual trust. The school provides excellent medical care and proactive promotion of healthy lifestyles, with improved processes for identifying academic and social needs.
Areas for Development
- •Implement best teaching practices consistently to ensure high achievements for all students, with a particular focus on Arabic.
- •Ensure the accurate and effective use of internal and external assessment information to plan and implement challenging lessons that meet the needs of all students, including the students of determination.
- •Strengthen leadership capabilities, particularly among middle leaders, by developing a more in-depth understanding of best practices in teaching, learning, assessment and curriculum modification.
- •Develop a reading action plan to monitor and evaluate planned interventions and ensure all new staff are aware of how to interpret NGRT data to support literacy skills.
- •Continue to analyse the impact of all wellbeing initiatives rigorously so that further developments and improvements are helpful and targeted.
- •Provide students with more opportunities to practice Holy Qur’anic memorisation and recitation skills following Tajweed rules.
- •Extend students' vocabulary and use of grammar as they move from Secondary to Post-16 and strengthen sentence construction to improve the quality of their written work.
- •Improve students’ writing, especially in Secondary, by developing their use of grammar and sentence structures, and enhance extended oral and written expression.
- •Provide beginners in Arabic with more support to optimise their progress.
- •Provide students with sufficient time in lessons to develop their independent writing skills and embed the Reading Literacy Programme.
- •Ensure that all students are able to complete activity sheets in paired and group work independently.
- •Ensure that all students in Primary grasp the scientific concepts during every lesson, so that they develop greater precision in applying their skills to investigations.
- •Ensure that enterprise, enquiry, research, critical thinking and problem-solving skills are key features of all lessons.
- •Ensure that teaching strategies provide challenge for students and meet their learning needs, so that all students make progress.
- •Apply the DSIB suggested approach to analysing progress in the external benchmark assessment.
- •Provide students with time in lessons to amend their work and make the changes highlighted by their teachers.
- •Ensure that all teachers adapt the curriculum to address the needs of all students, including individual students of determination, during every lesson.
- •Ensure that procedures for parents and visitors accessing both sites are rigorously applied.
- •Evaluate and monitor the impact of the newly formed initiatives on students’ welfare.
- •Ensure that the inclusion team monitors the impact of the professional development provided to teachers on the progress of students of determination.