Six new schools open in Dubai and Sharjah this August. Fees run from Dh40,000 to Dh102,453 a year. Four teach IB, two teach the English National Curriculum, and nearly all of them still have space, which is the only reason they are worth your time.
Now the awkward part. Not one of these schools has opened. There is no inspection report to read, no exam results, no parent group chat full of complaints. You are judging a fee sheet and a management company. That is a different job and it needs different questions.
Parents who need a seat for August and do not have one. That is really the whole audience. It normally comes down to a move that landed after admissions closed, or living somewhere like Mudon, Town Square, Aljada or Dubai Sports City where the nearby schools filled up two years ago, or a child ageing out of a primary that stops at Year 6.
If your child is happy where they are, do not do this. A founding year is not worth the disruption when nothing is broken.
Innoventures Education’s first school in Sharjah. IB curriculum, Pre-K to Grade 8 in year one, higher grades later. Cheapest here by a wide margin, and that is the appeal. It also sits in Aljada, so do the commute maths before anything else, and read the new paid parking rules in Aljada if you will be dropping off every morning.
Bridge Education, 400,000 square feet, IB from Pre-KG all the way through Grade 12. Start your child in the foundation stage and they never change schools again. Mankhool is central Dubai rather than a new suburb, which is rare on this list.
Third DIA campus, Innoventures again. It opens with the IB Primary Years and Middle Years Programmes, and admissions are already live for Pre-K to Grade 8. Innoventures has been running IB schools in Dubai for about two decades, the longest record any operator here can claim.
IB, ages 3 to 18, Mudon, August. Interstar Education runs it, and Interstar also runs Victory Heights Primary School, South View School and Delhi Private School. So there are three existing campuses you can walk around before committing to one you cannot.
A 450 year old British school opening its first campus outside the UK, with GEDU Global Education, on preliminary KHDA approval. English National Curriculum, co-ed, Nursery to Year 8 at first and Sixth Form later. Sports City means the sports facilities are genuinely strong. A wellbeing programme called QE Flourish comes attached.
Taaleem opens Harrow’s first Dubai campus in August or September, on 50,000 square metres off Hessa Street, sized for 1,800 pupils. Harrow in England dates to 1572. This campus licences that name, which is normal for international schools, but ask what the licence covers on staffing and academic oversight. Some are tight. Some are not.
Register, get assessed, take the offer, pay the deposit. Six to ten weeks, give or take.
The registration fee rarely comes back, so treat it as the cost of applying. Assessments for the youngest children are a supervised play session. From Grade 1 upward it is an English and maths test plus a report from the current school. Offers tend to arrive with tight deadlines, sometimes 48 hours, which catches people out.
There is also a step most explainers skip. The school needs its final operating permit before it can take anyone, and preliminary approval is not permission to open. Ask in writing what happens to your deposit if opening slips to January, or to September 2027. Any operator worth dealing with will answer that in an email.
More than you would think. Registration, uniforms, books, devices, the bus, trips, activities, and exam entry fees once the senior years arrive.
Ask for the whole charge sheet in writing before you accept anything. Then put that real number into a budget calculator instead of the range on the website.
One more thing about the range. Dh49,000 to Dh70,500 does not mean the school costs something in the middle. Pre-K pays the low figure, the top grade pays the high one, and your bill climbs every year on its own, before any approved increase.
You get a seat and small classes. You lose certainty.
No inspection rating exists, because Dubai cannot inspect a school until it has finished a full year. No results either. Facilities often come in phases, so the pool on the render might be a year two pool. Senior year groups start tiny, which limits subject choice and, honestly, friendships.
The other side of it: places exist right now, classes stay small while the school fills, some operators lock in a founding family discount for as long as your child stays enrolled, and you can usually reach the principal directly.
Which is why you judge the operator and not the building. Four of these six already run schools in the UAE. Tour one of those, stand around at pickup, and ask parents the only question that matters: would you do it again? Our parent’s guide to the 2026/27 openings covers the same schools from the curriculum angle.
Location, curriculum, grade coverage, real cost, operator. Work through it in that order.
Location first, because a 40 minute drive at 7am wears a family down by half term. Drive the route on a school morning, and check whether Dubai’s transport upgrades touch your road.
Then the curriculum. IB and the English National Curriculum lead to different exams and different university applications, so choose one and stop looking at the other.
Grade coverage removes options fast. If your child starts Grade 9 in 2027, a school opening at Pre-K to Grade 8 is out, however good it looks.
After that, compare the real cost. Then go and see what the operator has already built.
Got a gap before term starts? Summer camps cover it, and a few run trial days with partner schools.
Which new schools are opening in Dubai in 2026?
Harrow International School Dubai on Hessa Street, Ash Mount School in Mudon, Dubai International Academy Town Square, Queen Elizabeth’s School Barnet in Dubai Sports City, and Ambassador International Academy in Mankhool. Raffles World Academy Sharjah opens in Aljada, just over the border.
How much do the new Dubai schools cost per year?
Anywhere from Dh40,000 to Dh102,453, depending on the school and the grade. The new IB schools mostly sit between Dh45,000 and Dh75,000.
Which is the cheapest new school opening in 2026?
Raffles World Academy Sharjah, from Dh40,000. It is in Aljada, so Dubai based families pay for that saving in commute time.
Are admissions open for 2026/27 yet?
At some of them. Dubai International Academy Town Square has confirmed open admissions for Pre-K to Grade 8. The rest are collecting registrations of interest and will schedule assessments from there.
Is it risky to enroll a child in a school’s first year?
More uncertain than a rated school, yes. No inspection report, no exam history, and facilities can open in stages. That risk drops a lot when the operator already runs schools here that you can go and see for yourself.
Do new schools in Dubai raise fees quickly?
Increases are regulated and tied to inspection outcomes, so a school with no rating cannot simply put tuition up. Your own bill still rises each year as your child moves into a higher fee band.
What documents will I need to apply for?
Passport and visa copies for child and parents, Emirates ID, birth certificate, vaccination record, passport photos, and the last two school reports with a transfer certificate from the current school.
Disclaimer: Information, fees, admissions, and opening timelines are based on details available at the time of publication. School policies, KHDA approvals, tuition fees, and enrolment requirements may change. Always confirm the latest information directly with the school before making any payment or enrolment decision.
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