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The School of Research ScienceBritish Curriculum, Subjects & Qualifications

Curriculum
British
KHDA
Good
Location
Dubai, Al Warqa 4
Fees
AED 37K - 80K
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Curriculum & Academics

Good
KHDA Inspection Rating (2023–24)
Consistent since 2018–19; 18 of 105 British curriculum schools in Dubai hold Outstanding
Outstanding
Islamic Education & Arabic Attainment (Primary)
Top rating in both subjects; a defining academic strength of the school
3,209
Total Students on Roll
One of Dubai's largest British curriculum schools; ~750 on the parallel US curriculum track
1:16
Student-to-Teacher Ratio
Above the Dubai private school average of 1:13.6, based on data from 204 schools
36%
Annual Teacher Turnover
A notable staffing challenge; may affect teaching consistency flagged by KHDA inspectors
British EYFS to A-LevelUS High School TrackBSO AccreditedBilingual Foundation StageGifted & Talented ArabicStudents of Determination

The School of Research Science delivers the UK National Curriculum (FS1 to Year 13) following the National Curriculum for England, with EYFS in the Foundation Stage and external examinations via IGCSE, AS Level, and A Level in Years 10 to 13. Uniquely for a British-curriculum school in Dubai, SRS runs a parallel US High School curriculum (Grades 9 to 12) serving approximately 750 students — a dual-pathway offering that is rare among the 105 British curriculum schools in Dubai and gives families meaningful choice at the secondary stage. The school holds BSO (British Schools Overseas) accreditation, a quality mark that fewer British schools in the UAE carry.

The most academically distinctive feature of SRS is the strength of its Arabic and Islamic Education programme. KHDA inspectors rated attainment in Islamic Education as Outstanding in Primary and Post-16, and Arabic as a First Language as Outstanding in Primary — results that reflect the school's predominantly Emirati student body and its deep integration of UAE national identity into daily learning. The Bilingual Arabic-English programme in Foundation Stage is specifically highlighted as a school highlight by inspectors, and the Gifted and Talented programme in Islamic Education and Arabic extends the highest-attaining students further. Practical enrichment such as Umrah trips reinforces the Islamic curriculum beyond the classroom. The school also exceeded its PIRLS 2021 target for reading literacy, with the Emirati cohort making significant improvement since the 2016 assessment — a meaningful result given that 2,414 of the school's 3,209 students are Emirati.

In the core British curriculum subjects, outcomes are more mixed. Science delivers strong GCSE outcomes noted by inspectors, and mathematics attainment is good across all phases with very good progress in Foundation Stage, Primary, and Post-16. English, however, is a concern: attainment in Primary is rated only Acceptable, and the school's own reading literacy programme has yet to produce significant measurable impact. Inspectors explicitly flagged the need to accelerate students' progress in reading literacy — a challenge compounded by the fact that low reading scores are described as having an adverse impact on learning across the curriculum. Teaching quality is rated Very Good in Foundation Stage and Post-16 but only Good in Primary and Secondary, with consistency of lesson planning identified as a key weakness.

The 2023–2024 KHDA inspection awarded SRS an overall rating of Good — a position it has held consistently since 2018–2019, having previously achieved Very Good ratings between 2015 and 2017. Among British curriculum schools in Dubai, 18 of the 105 schools hold an Outstanding rating, meaning SRS sits in the solid but not leading tier of its peer group. Inspectors rated Management, Staffing, Facilities and Resources as Outstanding and Health and Safety and Care and Support as Outstanding across all phases — genuine strengths that parents can rely on. Wellbeing provision was rated Very Good, supported by 18 guidance counsellors and a well-trained pastoral team.

Areas formally flagged for improvement include the quality and consistency of teaching in Primary and Secondary, the capacity of middle leaders to drive improvement, and the need for self-evaluation to analyse the performance of all student groups — including by gender and determination status. A governance concern was also noted: inspectors identified a conflict of interest in the role of school improvement advisers who simultaneously sit on the governing body. Teacher turnover stands at 36%, which is a meaningful operational risk and may contribute to the inconsistency in teaching quality that inspectors observed. Compared to peer British curriculum schools offering IGCSE and A Level pathways, the absence of published headline exam results — such as specific GCSE A*–A percentages or A Level pass rates — makes direct academic benchmarking difficult for prospective families. [MISSING: GCSE A*–A percentage, A Level pass rate, university destination data]