Indian International High School, Dubai is a private K-12 school located in Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai. It currently caters to more than 1900 students. The school is rated Acceptable by the KHDA, a ranking it has held for three years in a row. This puts it sharply at odds with its sister schools in Garhoud and Zabeel both of which have received Outstanding ratings by the KHDA. The Indian High School Dubai claims to be Dubai’s very first private school, opening its doors in 1961.

The school started taking applications in April 2011 as a school for expatriates from India and those interested in the Indian curriculum. The School is affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi. The school opened with KG and Grade 1 classes, and is presently teaching up to Grade 7.

Almost all students are of Indian nationality and many students have English as their second language. In its first year of operation many students in the primary section were new to the UAE – about one quarter according to the KHDA. The percentage of very ‘new’ students will have been declining year on year.

The school currently employs 154 teachers (up sharply from the 66 full-time teachers just two years ago), including the senior leadership team. The school has a high churn of staff – 25% year on year. The school also has an unusually high number of students that have been identified as having some form of Special Educational Needs (SEN) – currently numbering 431, almost on in four students.

Unfortunate then that the school is rated only Acceptable for SEN provision. While the leaders of special educational needs “show a genuine commitment to providing support and guidance to all students”, the collaboration between the department for special educational needs and teachers is “not strong enough to ensure essential assessment information is effectively communicated”. Classroom teaching and learning also needs to modify of the curriculum to meet the needs of all learners.

Strengths of the school include the quality of education in the Kindergarten, especially in English and science, which have improved over the last twelve months and are both now rated good. The school is also noted for the mature behaviour, and attitudes of students to their work, and their support for one another. The day-to-day management of the school is also rated good, including the well-maintained building and grounds for students to experience a safe and pleasant learning environment. (Leadership is however only Acceptable).

The KHDA highlights a significant number of areas to tighten – the use of external and internal assessment procedures to improve the quality teaching and students’
learning, to improve teachers’ questioning skills to help students think more deeply and critically, to ensure all learning provided for students with special educational needs is planned to match their individual education plans and to ensure self-evaluation is accurate and matches the strengths and areas for development in the
school.

Facilities at the school are good as you would expect given the newness and size of the school: The school’s classrooms are fitted with smart boards and multimedia projectors, there’s an Olympic sized swimming pool, tennis courts, squash courts, football ground, athletic track, yoga studio, sporting complex and auditorium. The school also has a medical center, and counseling department.

Indian International High School, Dubai is relatively affordable, with fees starting at 8,000 AED per annum and rising to a maximum of 14,000 at Grade 8. The school will be constrained in putting up its fees by its Acceptable rating.  Despite that rating,it says it has limited availability for the academic year 2016 – 2017, but notes vacancies will be shown on the school’s website.

Note there is no direct internal transfer of students from the Indian International School to The Indian High School (Junior or Senior)for those parents seeking access to one of Dubai’s Outstanding schools through the back door.