The Oxford School provides a UK IGCSE and A’ Level based education to 2,303 boys and girls from Foundation Stage to post-16 (three to 18 years).
Children from Pakistani families represent the singe largest demographic, with children from Arab nations the second. In total there are eighty-nine different nationalities represented across the student population. All schools in Dubai are pretty cosmopolitan, but this is one of the richest in terms of student mix.
With 121 teachers the school has a fairly low teacher to student ratio of 1:19. However, all teachers are said to have appropriate teaching qualifications and there is a growing number of teaching assistants.
The school teaches a fairly limited range of IGCSEs, including compulsory subjects Mathematics, English, and Information Technology, and optional groups of study – Environmental Management/French/Urdu; Business Studies/Physics/Psychology; Accounts/Chemistry/Art & Design or Economics/Biology/Travel & Tourism.
At AS Level the school offers Maths, Media Studies, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Accounting, Business Studies, English Language and ICT.
A-Level options are extremely limited. At this level the students staying at the school can study Maths, ICT, Physics, Chemistry, and/or Biology.
The school does not publish details of its exam pass rates, so it is not possible to benchmark the performance of Oxford School. According to the KHDA report, school exam results have improved since the time of the previous inspection. Which School Advisor strongly urges all schools to publish exam results.
Currently The Oxford School is ranked Acceptable, a rating it has now held for five years, although the quality of the curriculum offered is deemed to be Good.
The school does, however, have strengths to build on. In the school’s latest KHDA report, these are noted as attainment and progress in secondary and post-16 in mathematics and science; committed leaders and teachers who provided good quality teaching and the progress of students in Islamic Education.
Weaknesses are in teaching and learning in the Foundation Stage and early primary years; the quality and variety of teaching resources in the key subjects; and the use of assessment data by teachers.
Facilities at Oxford School are adequate and cover the basics – library, ICT labs, play ground – but no more. The school does not detail its extra-curricular activities, but does promote its community enrichment program, which is a positive and admirable programme if effectively deployed.
Which School Advisor has had too low a level of response in its Education survey for Oxford School to be able to comment on parent attitudes to the school. We encourage parents of children at Oxford school to complete the questionnaire which may be found here. In feedback to the KHDA, most parents say their children make good progress in English, mathematics and science and are pleased with the quality and frequency of school reports.
Oxford School is also relatively highly affordable for a UK curriculum school, with tuition fees ranging from 10,313 AED for KG, rising to 16,348 AED by Grade 13. Full details below.
