Nad Al Hamar locatedThe City School International Private , provides education for students from Pre-Primary to Grade 11 (3 to 17 years of age). Student numbers are small. However, during the past year numbers have increased from 425 to 650. This increase is, in part, due to the addition of  a pre-primary school section.

The predominant nationality is Pakistani, but students also come from the UAE, other Arab nations, Iran, Asia and India. ‘City Schools’ is a Pakistan based organisation with sister schools in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

The school follows an England and Wales based curriculum leading to IGCSE examinations in Grade 11. AS and A Level (A2) exams are not offered. The IGCSE curriculum is followed between years 9 and 11.

A fairly limited range of subjects is offered, including the compulsory English, Mathematics, Environmental Management, ICT, Arabic, Islamic Studies and PE, and one of three pairs of subjects – Chemistry/Accounting, Physics/Economics and Biology/Business Studies. The school does not offer information on its examination results – just toppers, which is not helpful as a gauge to academic success.

Academically the school is a mixed bag. Overall, the quality of teaching is rated by the KHDA as Acceptable.  While teaching staff are committed to and enthusiastic about their subjects, too much emphasis is placed on ‘teaching’ as opposed to ‘learning’. Levels of progress and attainment in English (primary and secondary phases) is rated as Good. The latter improvement may be attributed to the new principal who has been in her role since January 2013.  The KHDA report credits her with offering strong and committed leadership and recognises she is actively supported by both parents and the school’s governing body.

Since the last inspection, the KHDA 2013-2014 report notes that whilst progress has been made in Arabic (secondary phase), the level of attainment remains Unsatisfactory.

The KHDA’s recommendations for the forthcoming academic year include: prioritising attainment and progress levels across all core subjects; making better use of assessment data to plan lessons to take account of the spread of students’ ability; using information from external examinations to improve self-evaluation processes; and introducing improved procedures to better identify and support students’ educational needs, and in particular, those with special educational needs.

Students at the school are largely well behaved in class and around the school. The school itself is said to have strong relationships between its students and teachers.

WhichSchoolAdvisor.com has had limited feedback on City in its survey. We encourage parents to provide feedback here. Feedback to the KHDA is largely positive with parents saying that their children enjoyed school, were progressing well in English but were concerned about the progress in Arabic. Teachers agree students are well behaved, that the school is well led and they are involved in decision making.

Fees at The City School International are relatively affordable for a UK curriculum school, starting at 12,564 AED at KG and rising to 22,273 AED at Grade 11. Full details may be found below.