Safa British School, Dubai
KHDA Inspection Report & Ratings
Last updated
Executive Summary
The overall quality of education provided by the school is Very Good. Safa British School is known for its inspirational leadership, highly committed governors, and fully engaged parents, fostering a strong learning culture.
Students demonstrate strong attainment and progress in English, mathematics, and science, with outstanding progress across all phases in English and science. The school offers a broad and ambitious UK curriculum, providing a rich learning culture that supports strong academic success and prepares students for external examinations like IGCSE.
The school excels in student personal development, with outstanding attitudes, behaviour, and relationships. There is a high level of support for students' safety, welfare, and wellbeing, alongside a strong commitment to inclusion embedded across the school.
Overall School Performance
Outstanding
Very Good
Good
Acceptable
Weak
Very Weak
Safa British School Overall Rating
Very Good for 3+ 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.
Safa British School demonstrates an outstanding commitment to inclusion, with rigorous identification processes and coordinated use of assessment tools. The school provides highly supportive classroom environments and effective alternative education pathways for students with complex needs, ensuring almost all students make better than expected progress. Students of Determinationalternative education pathways
The school provides outstanding wellbeing provision, driven by inspirational leadership and a strong, approachable team of wellbeing leaders, staff, and counsellors. A comprehensive wellbeing curriculum permeates the school, fostering high levels of engagement, resilience, and character development among students who feel safe and valued. wellbeing curriculumstudent wellbeing committee
Safa British School's performance in the National Agenda Parameter is very good, having exceeded its PIRLS target. Students show very good outcomes in English and outstanding in science and mathematics in benchmark assessments, with Emirati students performing well across all three subjects. Leaders effectively align subject skills with international assessment proficiency levels and implement reading literacy plans. PIRLSbenchmark assessmentsEmirati students
Key Highlights
Standout achievements identified by the inspection team that distinguish this school.
Inspirational Leadership
The school benefits from inspirational leadership, highly committed governors, and actively engaged parents, fostering a collaborative and supportive community.
Outstanding Student Conduct
Students consistently demonstrate outstanding attitudes, behaviour, and respectful relationships with peers and staff, contributing to a calm and purposeful learning atmosphere.
Ambitious Curriculum
The school offers a broad and ambitious curriculum that effectively supports students in achieving strong academic success across various subjects and phases.
High Level of Support
A high level of support is consistently provided to ensure students' safety, welfare, and wellbeing, with rigorous procedures and effective care systems in place.
Embedded Inclusion & Wellbeing
The school demonstrates a strong, embedded commitment to both inclusion and wellbeing, ensuring all students feel valued, supported, and can achieve their full potential.
Academic Performance Breakdown
Leadership & Management
Effectiveness of school governance, strategic planning, and leadership capacity to drive continuous improvement.
Leadership Approach
Senior leaders, supported by the principal, are highly committed and well-established, successfully sustaining positive outcomes and developing the school. They foster high staff morale and ensure exceptional support for welfare and wellbeing, while rigorously meeting all statutory and regulatory requirements. Leaders demonstrate an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses, making commendable progress on previous recommendations.
Inspection Findings
Students' Outcomes
Students demonstrate strong attainment and progress in English, mathematics, and science, with outstanding progress in English and science across all phases. They exhibit high levels of skill as independent thinkers and show exceptional behaviour, attitudes, and respectful relationships, along with a strong understanding of Islamic values and Emirati culture.
Personal Development
Students display outstanding personal development, characterized by excellent behaviour, positive attitudes, and strong social responsibility. They are proactive, responsible members of the school community, actively contributing to environmental sustainability and engaging in leadership opportunities and community projects.
Teaching Quality
Teaching for effective learning is outstanding in Foundation Stage and very good in Primary and Secondary, with teachers demonstrating strong subject expertise. Assessment processes are well-linked to curriculum standards, enabling effective tracking of individual student progress, though consistency in using assessment information varies in Secondary.
Protection & Care
The school prioritizes child protection and safeguarding with highly effective, rigorous systems and policies, ensuring students' safety. Facilities are secure and well-maintained, and effective supervision is provided. Staff-student relationships are very positive, and secure systems are in place to identify and support students of determination, ensuring their wellbeing and personal development.
Areas for Development
- •Raise attainment and progress in Islamic Education and Arabic.
- •Improve the consistency of teaching by identifying and sharing the best practice that already exists across the school.
- •Improve self-evaluation and improvement planning.
- •Ensure that all leaders are fully informed about and conversant with international benchmark assessments.
- •Provide further opportunities for the student wellbeing committee to play an even greater role in the development of student-led wellbeing initiatives.
- •Raise the level of challenge in order to meet the needs of different groups of students, especially the more able.
- •Improve students’ writing skills and use of standard Arabic.
- •Provide appropriate individual support for lower achieving students.
- •Adjust the curriculum in Years 9 and 10 to match students’ years of study of Arabic.
- •Develop students’ conversation and writing skills especially in the secondary phase.
- •Embed the online reading programme and use this and reading test results to monitor and develop students' reading skills.
- •Increase opportunities for students to develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- •Provide more opportunities for secondary students to use technology for research and independent learning.
- •Strengthen the opportunities in Secondary for students to develop their scientific investigation and writing skills.
- •Ensure that full use is made of students’ capacity for independent learning in all lessons.
- •Consolidate students’ understanding of the role and values of Islam in Emirati society, particularly for younger students.
- •Improve the consistency of teaching and learning to reduce the variability between subjects across all phases.
- •Ensure that the methods used to calculate students’ progress are more closely aligned to those provided in the KHDA guidelines.
- •Embed cross-curricular links in the primary phase and develop these links further in the lower years of Secondary.
- •Consolidate support and alternative curriculum pathways in line with cohort requirements.
- •Extend alternative pathways for older students in line with increasing and changing needs.