New schools in Dubai (2026): which schools are opening, community by community

Dubai opened seven new private schools for the 2026-27 school year, and more are on the way. For a family buying off-plan, a new school can decide which community makes sense, as long as you know which schools are open, which are announced and which year groups each one actually teaches.

This guide lists the new schools by community, using KHDA's figures and directory and the school operators' own announcements, and links each community to its page on our site. It focuses on what is new. For how KHDA rates schools, which established schools sit near off-plan communities and how to time a move with a handover, read our guide to off-plan family communities near good schools.

Jump to: the 2026-27 numbers, Dubai Sports City, Nad Al Sheba and Meydan, Town Square, Mudon and Dubailand, Al Thanyah and Al Quoz, announced schools, recent openings, checks.

Seven. KHDA says seven new private schools opened for the 2026-27 academic year, four with the UK curriculum and three with the International Baccalaureate, adding 16,846 places.

The schools are part of 26 new private education institutions for the year: 17 early childhood centres with more than 1,700 seats, seven schools and two universities. KHDA named Harrow International School Dubai, Queen Elizabeth's School Dubai Sports City and Rugby School Dubai among the new schools.

Over the previous three years, KHDA says the private school sector added 21 schools, with enrolment growing 3.1%. Early childhood is growing too: 87 new centres opened in three years, offering the UK's Early Years Foundation Stage, Montessori, Ontario, French and Indian programmes.

Fees for 2026-27

KHDA confirmed in May 2026 that there would be no increase in private school fees for the 2026-27 academic year. Each school's approved fee schedule, by year group, is on its KHDA profile, including new schools.

What "opening as announced" means in this guide

Schools in this guide fall into three groups. Opened means the school has started teaching. Not yet inspected means KHDA's directory lists the school as operating, but it has no overall rating yet. Announced means the operator has named the school and the community, and it is opening as announced, subject to KHDA's final approval where the operator says so.

They are spread across the south and centre of the city. The 2026 openings cluster in Dubai Sports City, Nad Al Sheba and Meydan, Town Square and Al Thanyah, with announced schools in Town Square, Dubai Production City and Ghaf Woods.

Queen Elizabeth's School Dubai Sports City opened for 2026-27, and KHDA's directory also lists GEMS School of Research and Innovation in Dubai Sports City as not yet inspected.

Queen Elizabeth's School Dubai Sports City is the first international branch of Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, a UK grammar school. It received KHDA's initial approval in 2025, works with GEDU Global Education and opened for the 2026-27 school year with Nursery to Year 8, growing year by year to the sixth form. It teaches the UK curriculum.

GEMS School of Research and Innovation is listed by KHDA in Dubai Sports City with the UK curriculum and is not yet inspected.

Dubai Sports City is a freehold community built around sports venues, with apartments, townhouses and villas. Our guide to living in Dubai Sports City covers daily life there.

Rugby School Dubai opened for the 2026-27 academic year in Nad Al Sheba. KHDA's directory also lists Al Fanar School in Nad Al Shiba Fourth as not yet inspected.

Rugby School Dubai is Aldar Education's first Dubai campus, run with Rugby School Global, the international arm of the English school. Aldar describes a campus for FS1 to Year 13 across pre-prep, prep, senior school and sixth form, with more than 90 classrooms and a 400-seat auditorium. KHDA's directory lists the school in Meydan City with the UK curriculum.

Al Fanar School is listed by KHDA in Nad Al Shiba Fourth with the UK curriculum and is not yet inspected.

Off-plan homes in the area are on our Nad Al Sheba and Mohammed Bin Rashid City pages, and in the Nad Al Sheba Gardens community by Meraas. Our guide to living in Nad Al Sheba covers the area.

Dubai International Academy Town Square opened for 2026-27, and Horizon English School Town Square is due to open in August 2027. Town Square will then have one IB and one British school opened within a year of each other.

Dubai International Academy Town Square is Innoventures Education's third DIA school. It opened for the 2026-27 school year with Pre-K to Grade 8, adding a grade each year until it covers all grades. KHDA's directory lists it as operating. KHDA's directory lists it with the Early Years Foundation Stage and the IB.

Horizon English School Town Square is a new campus by Cognita, built with Nshama, the developer of Town Square. It is opening as announced in August 2027 with FS1 to Year 8 for 2027-28, growing to Year 13 for ages 3 to 18. It follows the British curriculum, and Cognita has opened places for 2027-28.

Town Square is Nshama's community of apartments and townhouses off Al Qudra Road. Our guide to living in Town Square covers the community.

KHDA's directory lists Ash Mount School and a Lycée Français International branch in Mudon, both not yet inspected. Taaleem has announced a school in Ghaf Woods, near Global Village.

Ash Mount School is listed in Mudon with the International Baccalaureate. It is one of the newest IB schools in Dubai.

Lycée Français International (branch) is listed by KHDA in Mudon with the French curriculum.

Taaleem's Ghaf Woods school is announced in Majid Al Futtaim's Ghaf Woods community near Global Village. Taaleem bought the plot and will design, build and run a UK-curriculum school there, subject to KHDA's final approval. No opening year has been fixed.

Mudon and Ghaf Woods are in the wider Dubailand area. Our guide to living in Dubailand explains how its communities fit together.

Harrow International School Dubai opened in Al Thanyah Second in 2026. KHDA's directory also lists The Scholars School in Al Quoz First and an Ambassador International Academy branch in Mankhool.

Harrow International School Dubai is on Al Asayel Street in Al Thanyah Second. It opened with pupils from Early Years to Year 6, teaching the British curriculum with a House system, and has opened applications for FS1 to Year 8 for 2027-28.

The Scholars School is listed by KHDA in Al Quoz First with the UK curriculum and BTEC. Confirm the opening year and the year groups with the school.

Ambassador International Academy (branch) is listed in Mankhool, Bur Dubai, with the IB from pre-primary to Grade 12.

For homes near Al Thanyah and Al Quoz, see our guide to Al Barsha South, where KHDA also lists the Lycée Français Jean Mermoz South as not yet inspected.

Horizon English School Town Square for August 2027, a Nord Anglia school in Dubai Production City in the coming years and a Taaleem school in Ghaf Woods. All three are opening as announced, and two are subject to KHDA approval.

Nord Anglia in Dubai Production City

In February 2026 Dubai Holding and Nord Anglia Education agreed to develop premium K-12 schools in Dubai, with Dubai Holding building the campuses and Nord Anglia running them. The first is a British-curriculum school in Dubai Production City, scheduled to open in the coming few years, subject to final approval by KHDA.

The Dubai Media Office named Jumeirah Golf Estates, Emirates Living and Tilal Al Ghaf as the nearby communities it will serve. More schools are planned in other Dubai Holding communities.

See our Dubai Production City page and our guide to living in Dubai Production City. Tilal Al Ghaf is on our Tilal Al Ghaf community page.

KHDA's directory lists several schools as not yet inspected, which means they are open but too new for an overall rating. Many sit in communities with off-plan supply.

Our guides to living in Dubai South and Dubai South vs Dubailand cover two of the biggest areas in the table.

Find the school on KHDA's directory, check which year groups it teaches now, read the approval wording in the operator's announcement and line its opening year up with your handover date. Keep an open school in mind as a fall-back.

Year groups come first

New schools rarely open with every year group. Harrow International School Dubai opened with Early Years to Year 6, Queen Elizabeth's School Dubai Sports City with Nursery to Year 8 and DIA Town Square with Pre-K to Grade 8. Horizon English School Town Square plans FS1 to Year 8 for its first year.

If your child is older, the school may not reach their year group until a later year. Ask the school for its year-by-year plan.

Match the school with the handover

Off-plan homes often hand over years after you buy, so line the two timelines up. A school due in August 2027 suits a home handing over in 2027 or 2028; a school announced for "the coming years" may or may not be ready when you move. Our handover in 2027 and handover in 2028 pages list projects by expected completion.

Read what the operator actually says

Words matter. "Opened" and a KHDA profile mean the school is running. "Subject to KHDA approval" means the operator still needs the regulator's sign-off. A school plot on a master plan with no operator named is a land allocation, not a school.

Which operators are behind the new schools?

Several established operators opened or announced new Dubai schools in 2026: Taaleem (Ghaf Woods), Aldar Education (Rugby School Dubai), Innoventures Education (DIA Town Square), Cognita (Horizon English School Town Square) and Nord Anglia Education with Dubai Holding. Their existing schools' KHDA ratings are on the directory, which gives a first view of each operator's record.

A worked example: a Year 7 child and a 2028 handover

Say you are buying a townhouse due for handover in 2028, and your child will be in Year 7 by then. A school that opened in 2026 with classes up to Year 6 and adds one year group a year would teach up to Year 7 in 2027-28 and Year 8 in 2028-29, if it keeps to that pace.

That school could take your child in 2028, when it would be teaching Year 7 for the first time, but only if it has places. Some schools move faster: Harrow International School Dubai opened up to Year 6 and is taking applications up to Year 8 for 2027-28. A school opening in 2027 with FS1 to Year 8 could also fit. Ask each school for its planned year groups by year and how it admits pupils into a new year group, then keep a third, established school as the fall-back.

Alongside the seven schools, KHDA counts 17 new early childhood centres and two international universities for 2026-27. Both matter to families choosing a community.

Early childhood centres. The 17 new centres add more than 1,700 seats and offer the UK's Early Years Foundation Stage, Montessori, Ontario, French and Indian programmes. A nursery inside or next to a community is often the first education service to open in a new area.

Universities. KHDA says the American University of Beirut's Dubai campus opens in September 2026, and Peking University HSBC Business School launches its MBA and EMBA programmes in January 2027.

Schools in the Dubai 2040 plan

The government's long-term plan expects land for education and health facilities to grow by 25% by 2040, and places community facilities within a hierarchy of centres, with neighbourhood and community amenities within a 20-minute walk or cycle. Our guide to the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan explains the plan.

A good school within a short drive is one of the things that makes a family community work. New schools widen the choice in communities that used to send children across the city, such as Town Square and Dubai Sports City.

They do not settle the decision on their own. Check the project's registration and escrow, the developer's delivery, the payment plan and the handover date as you would for any purchase. Our guide on how to buy off-plan property in Dubai covers those steps, and the villas and townhouses pages list family homes on sale across Dubai.

KHDA. The Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai's regulator for private schools, early childhood centres and higher education.

Not yet inspected. KHDA's directory label for an open school that has no overall rating yet.

Subject to KHDA approval. The operator still needs the regulator's final approval before the school can open.

FS1, Pre-K and ECC. The youngest year groups: Foundation Stage 1 in British schools, Pre-Kindergarten in IB and American schools, and early childhood classes.

All-through school. A school planned to teach from the early years to the final year of secondary school.

Early childhood centre. A nursery licensed by KHDA, for children up to the start of school.