Sunrise English Private SchoolCBSE Curriculum, Subjects & Qualifications

Sunrise English Private School delivers the Indian CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi) curriculum from KG1 through Grade 12, making it one of only two schools in Abu Dhabi classified as CBSE within the city's private school landscape — distinct from the broader Indian curriculum category. Instruction is conducted entirely in English, with Arabic, Hindi, and Islamic Studies taught as compulsory subjects across all phases. Students in Grades 10 and 12 sit the CBSE Board Examinations, the curriculum's principal external assessment gateway.

At the senior school level, CBSE Board Exam results for AY 2023/24 were a genuine highlight: outstanding attainment in English at Grades 10 and 12, and good attainment in Mathematics at the same levels. These results represent the school's strongest academic evidence and reflect well-structured teaching in the upper secondary phase. However, the picture is considerably more mixed in the middle years. IBT standardized assessment results for Grades 3 to 9 showed weak attainment in both English and Mathematics across all tested grades, and Science attainment was similarly weak in Grades 3–5 and Grade 8, though it improved to good in Grade 9 and very good in Grade 7. International benchmarks reinforce this concern: PISA 2022 reading literacy scored 475.4, mathematics literacy 470.7, and science literacy 474 — all below international averages. TIMSS 2019 placed Grade 4 students at the intermediate benchmark in both Science (478) and Mathematics (486), with Grade 8 students also at intermediate levels in Science (532) and Mathematics (512). These results indicate that while the school performs creditably at its terminal examination stage, attainment in the critical middle years requires significant improvement.

The school's 2024–25 ADEK inspection rated SEPS as Good — a rating it has held consistently since 2015–16, having recovered from two consecutive Unsatisfactory ratings in 2012–13 and 2013–14. Among Indian curriculum schools in Abu Dhabi, this places SEPS in the majority: of the 34 Indian curriculum schools rated by ADEK, 14 hold a Good rating, 10 are Very Good, and only 1 is Outstanding. SEPS has not yet broken into the Very Good tier. Inspectors rated Learning Skills as Very Good across all phases and Leadership Effectiveness as Very Good — two genuine strengths. Teaching in KG and Cycle 1 was also rated Very Good. However, assessment was rated only Acceptable in Cycles 2 and 3, and Mathematics attainment has regressed to Acceptable in Phases 3 and 4, a notable decline from previous years.

Specialist provision includes a Students of Determination support programme, a Gifted and Talented programme, and enrichment initiatives such as the CBSE Reading Challenge and Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) — a school-wide Friday reading initiative. The library holds approximately 7,400 books, periodicals and reference materials across dedicated elementary and secondary sections, staffed by three librarians. A Robotics Lab, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Computer Science labs round out the specialist facilities. The school also integrates UAE-mandated subjects including Moral Education and UAE Social Studies, and participates in TIMSS and PISA assessments with structured parent engagement ahead of each cycle.

Inspectors identified several areas requiring urgent attention. The low number of identified Students of Determination (only 18 across 2,848 students) was flagged as a concern, with student care and support declining from Very Good to Good since the previous inspection. Support for gifted and talented students was described as limited. Assessment practice was criticised for not using data rigorously enough to personalise learning, particularly in Cycles 2 and 3. Inspectors also called for enhanced technology access for older students, expanded digital library resources — particularly in Arabic — and stronger mathematical investigation skills across all phases. Compared to peer Indian curriculum schools in Abu Dhabi that have achieved Very Good ratings, SEPS faces a clear gap in translating its strong terminal exam results and leadership quality into consistently higher attainment across the middle school years.