British, IB, American or Indian (CBSE): choosing a curriculum in Dubai

The age is the same in every curriculum; only the label changes. Dubai schools count a child's age on one of two cut-off dates, set by the Ministry of Education: 31 December for schools that start in September, 31 March for schools that start in April. The IB column shows the programme, because IB schools in Dubai use the Year or Grade names of the system they are built on.

A British school counts one year higher than an American or Indian one: Year 2 is the same age as Grade 1. The Foundation Stage years are explained in FS1 and FS2 in Dubai; for an exact date of birth, including the April-start rule, use Which year group is my child in?

This is the part to choose by: the next school or university reads the leaving document, not the school's name.

British. IGCSE or GCSE in Year 11, then A levels in Years 12 and 13. On England's register, GCSE grades 9 to 4 are Level 2 and the A level is Level 3, the same level as the IB Diploma. Inspection reports name A levels as a post-16 pathway at 38 schools and the IB Diploma at 28.

IB. The Diploma Programme and the Career-related Programme are for ages 16 to 19; the Career-related Programme combines at least two Diploma Programme courses with a career-related study. In Dubai the Diploma follows the IB Middle Years Programme at some schools and a British Year 11 at others; both routes lead to the same Diploma.

American. The High School Diploma is awarded by the school on course credits, so there is no single exam day. AP exams, taken in May, are the external measure US universities read for credit and placement; inspection reports name an AP pathway at 32 schools.

Indian CBSE. Two board examinations, Class X and Class XII. From 2026 CBSE holds the Class X examination twice a year, a main sitting and an optional second sitting to improve the result (the 2026 sittings ran 17 February to 11 March and 15 to 21 May), and «the better of the two performances is considered». Inspection reports name CBSE board examinations at 28 schools.

KHDA inspection reports describe a school's exam provision but do not print its exam results, so this site does not show them; ask the school for its last cohort's outcomes.

In the UAE. The Ministry of Education «is authorised to equalise high school certificates in the UAE»; the service covers Grade 12 certificates from curricula other than the Ministry's own. Its Guide to Academic Certificate Equivalency for private schools (2024–25 edition, the latest on moe.gov.ae when this page was checked on 9 October 2026) sets general conditions for every curriculum and separate conditions for each system. The guide is issued for each academic year and the Ministry decides each case, so read the edition for your child's graduation year, or ask the school, before relying on it.

Ministry of Education: certificate equivalency

Moving on. Each certificate is strongest in the system that issues it: an A level or IB Diploma is a Level 3 qualification on England's register; US university admissions offices read a High School Diploma with AP scores; Indian universities read the Class XII mark sheet, with entrance tests for many courses. Whether a particular university accepts a particular certificate is that university's rule, so ask the school where its recent leavers went on to study, by curriculum.

Up to KG2 / Year 1, placement is by age: KHDA's guidelines call age «the primary and overriding placement rule». One exception, for 2026–27 only: a child born between 1 September and 31 December 2022 who is not enrolled in any school or nursery and is registering in the KHDA system for the first time may start in FS1 or FS2 (or the equivalent year group: Pre-KG or KG1), a one-time choice the parents and the school make together (KHDA, pp. 3–4). From Grade 1 / Year 2 the transfer certificate is «the primary placement reference»; where it differs from the UAE age–grade chart, the school must notify KHDA before confirming the place, and a child who started school late or was placed lower abroad is usually moved up to the grade for their age, with support (KHDA, p. 4). Mid-year transfers follow the same rules.

Grades 10 to 12 «are formal qualification years (IGCSE, IB, AP, A-Level, and MoE curricula)», and any placement there «must be approved by KHDA in line with the Ministry of Education's policies and the relevant curriculum's qualification rules». Before that, a switch only changes the class name, and Table 1 shows the matching one.

In every direction, a child cannot be moved down a grade for not speaking English or held back for «maturity» alone. The school decides on a place and applies for any exception; KHDA sets the rules and approves exceptions in writing.

All 31 Indian CBSE schools in Dubai and the three ICSE schools start the school year in April; for 2026–27 the first day is 6 April 2026, and the age for a class is counted on 31 March. Almost all British schools, all American schools and the schools with the IB as their main curriculum start in late August or September and count age on 31 December.

The same child can therefore be eligible for different classes in the two kinds of school, and a move in spring lands mid-year in one and at the start of the year in the other. The calculator handles both dates: Which year group is my child in? The 2027 guide covers when to apply: Which year group in September 2027?

Each school counts under every curriculum KHDA registers it with. KHDA rates every school on the same framework, so the ratings below describe which schools teach each curriculum, not the curriculum itself. Most ratings come from the 2023–24 inspections, because KHDA paused full inspections in 2024–25 and, except for schools in their third year, in 2025–26.

Each school's rating year, area and fee are on the four curriculum pages above. French, Ministry of Education, ICSE and other curricula have no list page yet; the School Finder can filter by curriculum. The curricula page in Market statistics counts each school once, under its first curriculum, so its totals differ. What a rating means: What KHDA ratings mean.

Fees have their own pages. Each curriculum's range and median by year group, and why the curricula are not like-for-like: School fees by curriculum in Dubai, 2026–27; every school's fee for any year group: Fees by year group; how far an employer's education allowance goes: Education allowance in Dubai, 2026–27.

1. Which exam board and which qualification do your students sit at 16 and at 18, and since when?
2. Does the school run to Year 13 / Grade 12, or will my child have to move for the final years?
3. For a British school: do you offer A levels, the IB Diploma, or both after Year 11?
4. For an IB school: which IB programmes is the school authorised to teach, and does it offer the Diploma, the Career-related Programme, or both?
5. For an American school: which accreditation does the diploma carry, and which AP courses are taught?
6. For a CBSE school: when did your last Class X and Class XII cohorts sit the board examinations, and how do you handle the two Class X sittings?
7. Where did the last two leaving cohorts go on to study, by country?
8. Do you take children from another curriculum into Grade 9 / Year 10 or later, and on what basis?
9. On which date do you count age, 31 December or 31 March, and when does your year start?
10. Which languages are taught, and is Arabic the Ministry course or the curriculum's own?