FS1 and FS2 in Dubai: ages, fees and which schools start at FS1

The age is the same in every curriculum; only the label changes. KHDA's placement FAQ lines the names up by age on the cut-off date.

The pair families mix up most is FS2 and KG2. FS2 is the four-year-old class, the same age as KG1; KG2 is the five-year-old class, the same age as Year 1. Read the age column, not the number in the name.

Curriculum pages list every school of each type: British, American and Indian CBSE. The terms are defined in the glossary.

Not every Dubai school has an FS1 class. Of the 228 open private schools on this site, 169 take children from the age-three year (FS1, Pre-KG or Petite section), 44 open at the age-four year (FS2 or KG1), and 15 open later still. A family that wants a school place at three therefore has fewer schools to choose from than a family starting at four.

The fee pages count differently: 157 schools publish a 2026–27 FS1 / Pre-KG fee and 201 an FS2 / KG1 fee; most of the schools missing from the FS1 page open at FS2 or KG1, a few list age three as their first year without an FS1 line in their 2026–27 sheet.

The two lists, with each school's fee, KHDA rating and area: FS1 / Pre-KG schools in Dubai: fees 2026–27 and FS2 / KG1 schools in Dubai: fees 2026–27. To see them on the map near where you live, open the Finder with FS1 selected.

Each FS1 or FS2 figure on this site is the 2026–27 tuition for one year group, from the school's KHDA Fees Fact Sheet, after the school's own listed discount and before mandatory extras; there is no average across a stage.

For FS1 / Pre-KG, 157 schools publish a fee, from AED 5,120 to AED 116,000 a year; 35 of them charge under AED 20,000. For FS2 / KG1, 201 schools publish a fee, from AED 2,859 to AED 116,000; 73 charge under AED 20,000. The FS2 list is longer and reaches lower because more schools open at four, including most MOE-curriculum schools and about a third of the Indian CBSE schools. The two lists cover different sets of schools, so the lower FS2 figures do not mean that any one school charges less for FS2.

At the same school, FS1 and FS2 often cost the same: 69 of the 157 schools that publish both fees charge one figure for both years, and the median change is zero. The step comes later: by Year 7 the median school charges AED 14,500 a year more than for FS1, so the Year 7 fee is about 1.4 times the FS1 fee (143 schools); in British schools, AED 14,904 more, also about 1.4 times (82 schools). The FS fee is where a school's prices start.

For the whole route from FS1 to the final year, use the cost planner. If an employer pays part of the fee, the education allowance guide shows how many schools fit each amount.

FS1 in a school is a KHDA-registered school place with a published fee. Nurseries and early childhood centres hold a different kind of permit and are not in this site's data, so this guide does not compare prices.

A child does not need FS1 to join FS2. In the early years, placement is by age alone: KHDA's guidelines say

A child who is four on the cut-off date joins FS2 whatever the year before held. A child already in a Dubai school or nursery before 2026–27 keeps the 31 August date (see the 2027 guide).

FS1 and FS2 are not compulsory. The Ministry's guide says a child who is six by 31 December and has not been registered in any school system before must be registered in Grade 1 / Year 2. Compulsory education in the UAE starts at the primary stage (Federal Decree-Law 39/2022).

Where a school opens only at FS2 or KG1, the age-three year has to be covered elsewhere, usually a nursery; on this site that is 59 of 228 schools (the counts by curriculum are in Which schools start at FS1).

The age rule fixes which class your child may join. The place itself is the school's decision: it confirms the year group, checks the documents its admissions page lists, and offers a place only where it has one. For a first registration in the UAE, a nursery report is not a transfer certificate and does not fix the year group.

The readiness assessment for children born September to December (see How old for FS1 and FS2) is the only flexibility the Ministry names for FS1 in British-curriculum schools, and it applies every year from 2026–27; KHDA's FAQ describes the same assessment under the 2026–27 transition year, so ask the school whether it assesses. Apart from that and the one-time 2022 choice, a child cannot start a class early: below the age for a class on the cut-off date, no placement is possible, even by a few days. Other changes go through KHDA's formal exceptional-placement process.

Each school sets its own admissions window; its admissions page says when it opens. The 2027 guide says when to apply and what the school confirms before it offers a place.