Schools in Dubai for a Polish Family: Fees, Admissions, Universities (2026)
This post is about children and large sums of money, so I will start with a caveat. It is for information only and is not legal, tax or educational advice. School fee lists, KHDA rules and visa regulations change every year, and your situation depends on the age of your children, the curriculum and the particular school. The figures below come from school fee lists, KHDA announcements, the u.ae portal, the DLD, NAWA and gov.pl, correct as of September 2026. I am a property broker, not an education consultant, so I set out the framework and the traps, and leave the choice of school to you.
At the first meeting with a family planning to move to Dubai, the question about school comes up before the question about square metres. And rightly so, because in the Emirates the child of a non-UAE resident goes to a private school. State schools teach in Arabic and admit foreigners only in exceptional cases, so in this city fees are a compulsory cost rather than a choice. At the 23 schools with the highest KHDA rating, a year of education costs AED 29,488 to AED 111,799, which at the mid-September 2026 NBP rate (1 AED = PLN 1.024) is roughly the same amount in zloty.
Below I work out the full bill for fifteen years of one child’s education, list the ten best schools with their real availability, ten universities with their QS positions, the timeline of formalities from buying an apartment to the first bell, and the things Polish parents ask about most, namely how not to lose the way back into the Polish system.
How the education system in Dubai works and why your child will end up at a private school
Private schools in Dubai are supervised by the KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority), and in Abu Dhabi by ADEK. The KHDA licenses schools, approves fees, runs inspections and registers every pupil. In 2024/25 Dubai had 227 private schools with 387,000 pupils from 185 countries and 17 curricula. The British curriculum is followed by 37 percent of pupils, the Indian by 26, the American by 14, and the IB by 7 percent.
The state route is in practice closed to a Polish family. Government schools teach every subject in Arabic, admit foreigners only from Grade 2, require a parent to be employed in the public sector and cap foreign pupils at 20 percent of places. Even if a child did get in, it would be AED 6,000 a year for schooling in a language they do not know.
That leaves the foreign curricula. British (FS1 to Year 13, IGCSE in Year 11, A-Level in Year 13), IB (PYP, MYP, the two-year Diploma Programme), American (High School Diploma, often with AP), plus French and German at the national schools. One rule saves a lot of confusion when comparing fee lists: the British Year is always one higher than the American Grade, so Year 7 is Grade 6 and Year 13 is Grade 12.
Whatever the curriculum, from Year 2 to Year 13 the KHDA requires Arabic as an additional language and the subject UAE Social, Moral and Cultural Studies. Islamic Education is compulsory only for pupils registered as Muslims. From September 2025 Arabic also enters nurseries, with an Arabic teacher present for at least a third of the learning time of children up to the age of six. That is a real block of hours in the timetable, worth knowing about before you enrol.
How to read KHDA ratings and why they all date from 2024
The KHDA rates schools as Outstanding, Very Good, Good, Acceptable and Weak. In the last full inspection cycle, 2023/24, out of 209 schools 23 were rated Outstanding, 48 Very Good, 85 Good, 51 Acceptable and 2 Weak. The catch is that in 2024/25 and 2025/26 the KHDA suspended full inspections. The rating a school displays on its site today therefore describes the position of almost three years ago. Inspections return in 2026/27, with a maximum of 24 hours’ notice, and only then will the ranking be refreshed.
The practical conclusion: on a school visit, ask whether the head has changed since 2024 and what the staff turnover is. Several schools in the top ten changed their leadership in 2025 and 2026, and turnover will only reappear in the reports in the new cycle.
What a school in Dubai costs in 2026/27
The short answer: at an Outstanding school, roughly AED 45,000 to AED 112,000 a year, depending on the year group and the school. In the middle of the market, at Good and Very Good schools, AED 38,000 to AED 70,000. The cheapest segment, mainly Indian schools, goes below AED 15,000, but that is a different market and one that rarely suits a Polish family in curriculum terms.
2026/27 is an unusual year. On 22 May 2026 Dubai froze fees at every private school, with an increase of zero percent, as part of an AED 1.5 billion package supporting the economy. The 2025/26 rates therefore apply for a second year. The freeze covers fees alone. Transport, uniforms, trips, extracurricular activities and registration charges fall outside it.
In normal years increases are governed by the Education Cost Index, calculated by the KHDA from schools’ financial statements. In 2025/26 it was 2.35 percent, the year before 2.6 percent. A school that has held its rating may raise fees by the index, a school that has improved by a multiple of it (up to 4.7 percent), and a school whose rating has fallen may not raise them at all. Budgeting for fifteen years, count cautiously on 2.5 to 3 percent a year, because the mechanism returns in 2027/28.
Fees rise with the age of the child, and sharply
Parents work out the budget from the nursery price list and get it wrong by half. Within the same school, fees rise at every stage. Dubai British School Mira, a solid British school in the lower reaches of the upper shelf, charges AED 51,477 in FS1 and AED 77,217 in Sixth Form, which is 50 percent more. At Kings’ School Al Barsha, one of the best in the city, the fee list starts at AED 57,999 in FS1 and ends at AED 115,088 in Year 13, almost twice as high.
Charges beyond fees, meaning another 12 to 20 percent
The KHDA limits entry charges: an application fee of no more than AED 500, a registration deposit of no more than 10 percent of annual fees, credited against the first term, and a re-registration deposit of no more than 5 percent or AED 500. Getting the deposit back requires 60 days’ notice, and after an increase is announced you have 10 days to withdraw your child with a full refund. One school stands outside this rule: Dubai College charges new pupils a refundable debenture of AED 30,000.
On top of that come annual items that do not appear in the fee list on the home page:
| Item | Amount per year (AED) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| School bus, zones 1 and 2 | 9,030 to 9,540 | Safa Community School, 2026/27 |
| Uniforms | 1,500 to 3,500 in the first year | Schools Compared, 2026/27 |
| Lunch or canteen top-up | 3,000 to 6,000 | Schools Compared, 2026/27 |
| EAL support for a child with no English | 4,500 (DIA) to 10,000 (GEMS DAA) | school fee lists |
| Extracurricular activities and trips | from a few hundred to over 10,000 | KHDA fee charts |
| External examinations (IGCSE, A-Level, IB) | per board rates, Year 10 to 13 | KHDA fee charts |
The rule of thumb these items confirm: add 12 to 20 percent to the fees. And one more thing that Polish guides stay quiet about. Sibling discounts in Dubai barely exist with two children. GEMS gives 15 percent from the fourth child, Taaleem 10 percent from the third. With two children the bill simply doubles.
The full bill for fifteen years of one child’s education
I am working from the Dubai British School Mira fee list (2025/26, frozen for 2026/27), with no increases and a 15 percent mark-up for extras. For simplicity I treat 1 AED as PLN 1, with the figure at the NBP rate alongside.
| Stage | Years | Fee per year (AED) | Total (AED) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FS1 to Year 2 | 4 | 51,477 | 205,908 |
| Year 3 to Year 6 | 4 | 58,836 | 235,344 |
| Year 7 to Year 11 | 5 | 69,872 | 349,360 |
| Year 12 and 13 | 2 | 77,217 | 154,434 |
| Fees alone | 15 | 945,046 | |
| Extras at 15 percent | 141,757 | ||
| Total, one child | AED 1,086,803, about PLN 1.11 million | ||
| Total, two children | AED 2,173,606, about PLN 2.23 million |
A school from the top ten produces a higher bill. The full path from Year 1 to Year 13 costs AED 841,145 at Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills, AED 1,117,135 at Kings’ Al Barsha and AED 1,199,236 at Nord Anglia, all at today’s rates and without extras. In other words, educating two children at a good school costs as much as an apartment at the Golden Visa threshold.
Is Dubai more expensive than Warsaw and London?
Intuition says yes. The numbers say something else. The most expensive year group at the most expensive Outstanding school in Dubai is AED 111,799, around PLN 114,000. Akademeia High School in Warsaw costs PLN 150,400 to PLN 178,900 a year, the American School of Warsaw PLN 65,673 to PLN 131,879, and The British School Warsaw PLN 52,800 to PLN 129,940 (2026/27 fee lists). The average British day school, after adding the 20 percent VAT that has applied since January 2025, comes to around GBP 22,400, close to PLN 114,000.
Two caveats, without which that claim is dishonest. First, in Poland the state school is free and fully valid, so fees are a choice, while in Dubai they are a compulsory cost. Second, I am comparing top brackets, whereas a family budget is decided by the middle of the fee list. The conclusion is therefore a cautious one: Dubai costs roughly what a good international school in Warsaw costs, only without the free option.
Top 10 schools in Dubai and their real availability
Criteria: an Outstanding rating in the 2023/24 cycle, confirmed examination results, a spread of curricula. One note on results. In April 2026 the Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel and OxfordAQA boards cancelled the summer session IGCSE and A-Level examinations in the UAE because of the conflict in the region, and grades were awarded from portfolios of work. The 2026 A-Level results are therefore not comparable, which is why I quote 2025 as the last meaningful year. The IB examinations went ahead as normal.
| # | School | District | Curriculum | Year 7 (AED) | Year 13 (AED) | 2025 result | Place for a new family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dubai College | Al Sufouh | British, A-Level | 97,415 | 110,305 | A*-A 74% | Year 7 for 2027/28, deadline 27 October 2026 |
| 2 | JESS Arabian Ranches | Arabian Ranches | British, IB | 91,923 | 104,544 | IB 38.0 points | debenture holders and siblings only |
| 3 | Kings’ School Al Barsha | Al Barsha | British, A-Level | 88,615 | 115,088 | A*-A 48% | rolling admissions |
| 4 | GEMS Wellington International | Al Sufouh | British, IB | 82,540 | 103,399 | IB 36.0 points | open, limited |
| 5 | Repton School Dubai | Nad Al Sheba | British, IB, A-Level | 81,121 | 102,753 | IB 35 points | limited in some year groups |
| 6 | Jumeirah College | Al Safa | British, A-Level | 78,946 | 98,681 | A*-A 40% | about 100 places in Year 7 |
| 7 | Dubai International Academy | Emirates Hills | full IB | 65,224 | 79,696 | IB 36.2 points | not disclosed |
| 8 | Dubai English Speaking College | Academic City | British, A-Level | 84,326 | 90,633 | A*-A 44.5% | closed to outside applicants until 2028 |
| 9 | GEMS Dubai American Academy | Al Barsha | American, IB, AP | 93,300 | 93,300 | IB 34 points | open |
| 10 | Nord Anglia International | Al Barsha | British, IB | 92,832 | 105,288 | IB 36.2 points (2024) | publishes availability by year group |
Three conclusions from this table change the plan for a move.
The best schools are closed to a family arriving from outside. Dubai College admits mainly into Year 7, 176 places a year, admissions for August 2027 close at noon on 27 October 2026, with an examination in November, and fluent English is required. For 2027/28 DESC is not taking any candidates from outside its own primary schools. JESS admits only debenture holders, UAE nationals and siblings. The real field of choice for a family arriving during the year is Kings’, Repton, GEMS Wellington, Dubai International Academy, GEMS DAA, Nord Anglia, and beyond the top ten North London Collegiate School (IB 38.1 points in 2026, but the most expensive path in the city, AED 1.42 million) and Brighton College Dubai.
For a child with no English, what counts is schools with documented support. At Kings’ Al Barsha 993 pupils have EAL status and only 12 need extra help, at GEMS Wellington over 60 percent of pupils have English as an additional language, at JESS 17 percent. Brighton College describes its method most precisely, an intervention of 8 to 12 weeks. Dubai College has no EAL programme at all.
The best value for money is at Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills: full IB, an Outstanding rating, 36.2 points at diploma level and the cheapest full path among Outstanding schools.
If the budget has to stay below AED 70,000 a year, three schools from the middle come into play: GEMS Metropole in Motor City (Good, the whole fee list AED 38,000 to 51,000, 84 percent A*-B grades at A-Level in 2026), Dubai Heights Academy in Al Barsha South (Very Good, AED 35,000 to 70,000 after the school’s discount, in the same cluster as Kings’ and Nord Anglia) and GEMS FirstPoint in The Villa (Very Good, AED 44,000 to 76,000). In 2026/27 seven new schools also open, among them Harrow, Rugby School and Queen Elizabeth’s School, together with nurseries close to 17,000 new places. The new schools do not yet have a KHDA rating, but they do have free places.
Admissions: when to start and what the new age cut-off changes
The 2026/27 school year starts on 31 August 2026 and ends on 2 July 2027, with a minimum of 185 teaching days. Admissions at good schools work a year ahead, and in the nursery year groups of popular schools waiting lists run to 12 to 24 months. Applications and entrance tests (English, mathematics, and in older year groups CAT4 cognitive tests) usually fall 6 to 9 months before the start.
From 2026/27 the age cut-off has changed. Instead of 31 August, what counts is 31 December of the admissions year: FS1 takes a child who turns 3 by the end of December, FS2 a four-year-old, Year 1 a five-year-old, Year 2 a six-year-old. A child born in the autumn gains a year. The change applies only to children being registered in the KHDA system for the first time.
A child coming from a Polish school usually goes into the year group matching their age. Polish class 1 starts at the age of 7 and British Year 2 at 6, so a seven-year-old from Poland lands in Year 3 with peers who have two more years of formal schooling behind them. The difference shows in English and mathematics, and from Year 3 upwards placement is decided by the certificate from the last completed class rather than the date of birth alone.
An eighteen-month timeline from decision to first bell
| Months before September | What happens |
|---|---|
| 18 to 12 | choosing the district around a shortlist of schools, checking waiting lists, deciding on the purchase |
| 12 to 10 | admissions open, applications, application fee |
| 12 to 9 | buying the property, applying for the Golden Visa (the DLD service itself is 7 to 10 working days) |
| 10 to 6 | medicals, biometrics, Emirates ID, family visas |
| 9 to 6 | entrance tests, offers of places, registration deposit |
| 6 to 3 | transfer certificate from the Polish school and its legalisation |
| 3 to 1 | bus, uniforms, health insurance for the child |
So when buying an apartment step by step, plan the transaction for a year before the September you have in mind. With schools that run a waiting list, that buffer needs doubling.
Formalities: the child’s visa, certificates and Polish compulsory schooling
A Golden Visa for property from AED 2 million allows you to sponsor a spouse, children and parents. Government charges are AED 9,884.75 for the main applicant and AED 5,774.50 for each family member (DLD fee list, September 2026). On an ordinary residence visa a son is sponsored to the age of 18, to 25 if in full-time education, and a daughter until she marries. With a Golden Visa, law firms in Dubai state that there is no upper age limit for a son, but the government site u.ae does not publish that figure, so confirm it with GDRFA before you decide. I wrote in more detail about the visa itself, including the fact that it does not make you a tax resident, in the piece on the Golden Visa through property.
A child’s visa requires health insurance, which is compulsory in Dubai for every resident. A basic plan for a child costs AED 600 to 1,300 a year, less than one percent of the school fees. A child’s Emirates ID follows the visa, and the visa follows the policy. The good news is that a child can start school before the visa is ready. The KHDA allows registration on the basis of a passport and proof that the visa application is in progress, and the school has until the end of the school year to complete the visa and Emirates ID in the system.
A certificate from a Polish school: an apostille is not enough
This is the most important point of paperwork and the biggest trap. From Year 3 upwards, a school in Dubai requires a transfer certificate from the last completed class, on headed paper, signed by the head and stamped. The level of legalisation depends on the country of origin. Certificates from Western Europe, North America and Australia need only the school’s stamp. In the KHDA guidance Poland sits in the Eastern Europe group, which additionally requires attestation by MEN, the Polish ministry of education, and legalisation by the UAE embassy in Poland or by MOFA in the Emirates.
An apostille does not work here, because the UAE is not a party to the Hague Convention. A family that has obtained apostilles on their certificates will be told in Dubai that the document has to be legalised from scratch. Legalisation firms put the whole path at 6 to 8 weeks, so do it before you leave, while the head of the Polish school is within reach.
Polish compulsory schooling does not disappear when you move. A parent must inform the head of the catchment school in Poland how the child is fulfilling that obligation, by 30 September each year. Without that notification the child ends up in the register of absentees and the matter can end in enforcement proceedings.
The Polish track: learning Polish and the way back
This is where most guides on the Polish internet are out of date. The Wacław Seweryn Rzewuski Polish School at the Polish Embassy in Abu Dhabi, with Saturday classes in Al Barsha, no longer appears on the list of Polish schools run by ORPEG, the Polish government body for education abroad (74 schools in 35 countries as of September 2026), and its former sites are down. Polish has been taught since 2025 by the Fraza language centre, founded by two Polish women with a KHDA licence, whose opening the embassy announced on 17 August 2025. Saturday classes for children are a block of 120 minutes a week in Dubai Media City, AED 7,000 a year for the first child, AED 6,000 for the second, AED 4,000 for the third. Fraza also runs mother-tongue lessons inside international schools on request.
No school in Dubai or Abu Dhabi has a Polish section. One, The Aquila School in Dubailand, lists Polish among more than 30 mother tongues in its extracurricular programme. The realistic model therefore looks like this: the British curriculum or IB during the week, Polish on Saturday, and possibly a Polish online school under home education.
Can you go back to Polish university and to a Polish school?
You can, if you choose the curriculum well. The IB diploma is recognised in Poland by operation of law as equivalent to the Polish secondary school leaving certificate. So are British A-Levels with at least two subjects, and the ministry confirms that this covers British certificates obtained outside the United Kingdom, after an apostille from the British authorities and a sworn translation. An American High School Diploma issued by a school in the UAE is not a certificate from the education system of an OECD country, so it probably requires an individual ruling from the director of NAWA, the Polish agency for academic recognition and exchange. Check this in the NAWA Kwalifikator system before your child enters Grade 9, rather than in the year of the final examinations.
Returning to a Polish school mid-education is simpler than it looks. A child is admitted on the basis of certificates from abroad, without nostrification, and to the catchment school as of right. The head has a duty to arrange for gaps in the curriculum to be made up, and if that is not possible, sets classification examinations in the subjects the child has not covered. The biggest difference will be Polish history and the Polish language, which is where Saturday classes earn their keep.
Studying in the Emirates: ten universities, fees and recognition of the degree in Poland
In the QS 2027 ranking, published in June 2026, eight UAE universities reached their highest positions ever. Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi became the first university in the country to enter the world top 150 (position 147, against 177 a year earlier). Then come United Arab Emirates University (217), American University of Sharjah (258), University of Sharjah (283) and Abu Dhabi University (348).
A separate group is the campuses of foreign universities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which issue the parent institution’s degree. For a Polish family this is the most important group, because a British, French or American degree follows a different path in Poland than an Emirati one.
| University | City | Type | Fees per year | Whole programme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYU Abu Dhabi | Abu Dhabi | US campus | USD 68,574 (2026/27), on-campus housing compulsory | about AED 1 million, 4 years, admission with full financial support |
| Khalifa University | Abu Dhabi | public | about AED 81,250 | about AED 325,000, 4 years |
| American University of Sharjah | Sharjah | private | AED 110,876 (2026/27) | AED 443,504, 4 years |
| University of Birmingham Dubai | Dubai | UK campus | AED 134,922 (business management, 2026) | AED 404,766, 3 years |
| Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi | Abu Dhabi | French campus | AED 71,700 | AED 215,100, 3 years |
| RIT Dubai | Dubai | US campus | AED 68,000 (2023 rate) | AED 272,000, 4 years |
| Heriot-Watt, Middlesex, Wollongong | Dubai | UK and Australian campuses | fee lists on the universities’ own sites | 3 to 4 years |
| United Arab Emirates University | Al Ain | federal | fee list on the university’s site | 4 years |
Recognition of a degree in Poland is governed by the Higher Education Act. A degree from an EU, OECD or EFTA state, after at least three years of study, confirms the level of education by operation of law (article 326), with no proceedings. A degree from an Emirati university, Khalifa or AUS for example, goes through nostrification (article 327) at a Polish university, within 90 days of a complete application, for a fee of up to half a professor’s salary. There is one point that needs confirming with NAWA for the specific institution: whether study carried out physically at a Dubai branch, with a British degree, meets the condition of operating “within the higher education system of the state in question”. Ask about that before admission rather than after graduation.
The student visa is straightforward. A student is sponsored by a resident parent or by an accredited university, and with a parent’s Golden Visa the child simply stays on that visa, regardless of a change of course or a break in study. For outstanding secondary school and university graduates there is a separate Golden Visa for 5 or 10 years. The grade thresholds circulating online (GPA 3.5 or 3.8) have not been published by the ICP, so treat them as rumour to be confirmed.
A point of reference for the Polish reader: studying in Polish at a state university is free. The difference between zero and AED 215,000 for a bachelor’s degree at Sorbonne Abu Dhabi or AED 443,000 at AUS is what a family buys along with proximity to home, the language of instruction and a network of contacts in the Gulf.
School and choosing an apartment: where the good schools actually are
Here I have to be honest, because this is the heart of a broker’s post. No report from Knight Frank, Savills, CBRE, Property Finder or Bayut measures a rental premium for proximity to an Outstanding school in Dubai, and one analysis states outright that no such premium exists. So I am not going to write that an apartment near a good school rents for X percent more, because nobody has calculated it.
What I will write is where those schools are, because that changes the choice of district. Of the 23 Outstanding schools, most sit in four clusters: Al Sufouh and Al Barsha (Dubai College, GEMS Wellington, Kings’ Al Barsha, GEMS DAA, Nord Anglia, Safa Community School, the only place where within a few kilometres you can choose between six Outstanding schools with different curricula), Jumeirah with Al Safa and Al Wasl (Jumeirah College, JESS Al Safa, the primary schools and both French schools), Nad Al Sheba (Repton, GEMS Modern Academy, next to NLCS and Kings’ Nad Al Sheba with a Very Good rating) and Emirates Hills (Dubai International Academy, Dubai British School). JESS Arabian Ranches is the only case of an Outstanding school inside a residential community.
And the other way round: in Dubai Hills Estate, Jumeirah Village Circle, Damac Hills, Motor City, Mudon, Tilal Al Ghaf, Meydan and Mirdif there is not a single Outstanding school from the 2023/24 cycle. The schools there have a lower rating or are too new to have one. The claim “buy in Dubai Hills, because that is where the best schools are” is false. What is true is that Dubai Hills lies between the Al Barsha cluster and Nad Al Sheba, and reaches both via Al Khail Road.
What this means for the locations I write about in my overview of districts:
- Palm Jumeirah, Marina and JBR are served by the Al Sufouh and Al Barsha cluster, 10 to 20 minutes by car outside peak hours. DESC in Academic City is out, at the other end of the city.
- Downtown and Business Bay are closest to Nad Al Sheba (Repton, NLCS) and to Jumeirah College. Al Barsha is reachable, but via Sheikh Zayed Road at peak times.
- Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim are the strongest position for a family with primary-age children, because they have a cluster on the doorstep and Al Barsha a dozen or so minutes away.
I give journey times as my own estimate outside peak hours, because no source publishes them. The trend, though, has been measured: a 10 km journey in Dubai took an average of 19.1 minutes in 2025, against 13.7 minutes a year earlier, and the congestion level reached 42.7 percent. Assume the school run will be longer in two years than it is today, and check the route in Google Maps at 7.15 on a school day, not on a Sunday.
What this means for an investor buying to let
Families with children are long-term tenants who stay in a district for the whole school cycle. In numbers it looks like this: three-bedroom villas in Dubai let in 2026 for an average of AED 184,810 on a new contract and AED 163,243 on renewal (Property Finder). A loyal tenant therefore pays 13 percent below the market, and in exchange there is no void period and no commission on turnover. Rents in family districts: a four-bedroom villa in Dubai Hills around AED 355,000 a year, a three-bedroom in Arabian Ranches 3 around AED 170,000, in Damac Hills AED 211,000, a two-bedroom apartment in Dubai Hills AED 164,000, in Marina AED 156,000 (dubizzle, first half of 2026).
Percentage yields run the other way. Villas in family districts give 4.5 percent gross and less, dense development in JVC 7.5 to 9.5 percent. Anyone looking for cash flow buys a studio in JVC. Anyone looking for a stable tenant and capital growth buys in a family district. How those percentages look after costs and Polish tax, I worked out in the post on what you really earn on Dubai property.
The questions Polish parents ask most
What does a year at an international school in Dubai cost in zloty? At an Outstanding school, around PLN 45,000 to 115,000 in fees, depending on the year group, plus 12 to 20 percent for bus, uniforms, lunch and trips. At a mid-market school, PLN 38,000 to 70,000. At a rate of 1 AED = PLN 1.024, a fee list in dirhams reads almost one to one.
Will a child with no English cope at a Dubai school? In primary school usually yes, and at schools with an EAL programme a child picks up the language within a year. Kings’ Al Barsha has almost a thousand pupils with English as an additional language, GEMS Wellington over 60 percent. A teenager needs a realistic assessment of their level before the entrance test, and selective schools such as Dubai College require fluent English on entry.
Is there a Polish school in Dubai? The ORPEG school is gone. Polish on Saturdays is taught by the Fraza centre (AED 7,000 a year), and the Polish eighth-grade examination and the Polish matura have to be arranged through a Polish online school or in Poland.
Is an IB diploma from Dubai enough for a Polish university? Yes, the IB diploma is recognised by operation of law. A-Levels with two subjects too. For an American High School Diploma from a school in the UAE, check with NAWA in advance.
When should we file the paperwork so a child gets a place in September? A year ahead. Dubai College closes admissions for August 2027 as early as 27 October 2026. In the nursery year groups of popular schools, waiting lists run to two years.
Do schools in Dubai teach children Islam? Islamic Education is compulsory only for pupils registered as Muslims. All children from Year 2 learn Arabic as an additional language and a subject on UAE society and culture.
Can a child stay in the Emirates after turning eighteen? On a student visa sponsored by a parent or a university, yes. With a parent’s Golden Visa, law firms say there is no upper age limit for a son, and a daughter until she marries. Confirm it with GDRFA, because the government site does not state the limits.
Will fees go up? Not in 2026/27, they are frozen. From 2027/28 the Education Cost Index mechanism returns, running at 2.35 to 2.6 percent a year recently for a school that has held its rating.
Summary: the numbers to plan for
A year at a good school is AED 60,000 to 115,000 with extras, fifteen years for one child around AED 1.1 million, for two AED 2.2 million. For 2026/27 fees stand still. The best schools require an application a year ahead, and three of them are in practice closed to a family arriving from outside. Certificates from Poland are legalised through the ministry and the UAE embassy, and an apostille does not work. The return to Poland is safe with IB and A-Levels, risky with the American curriculum. Outstanding schools cluster in Al Barsha, Jumeirah, Nad Al Sheba and Emirates Hills, not in the new communities from the brochures.
What this post does not settle: availability of a place at a particular school in a particular year group (that changes weekly), the age threshold for children under a Golden Visa in your case, or whether a degree from a British university’s Dubai branch will pass at NAWA without proceedings. Those are questions for the school, GDRFA and NAWA, and the location around a shortlist of schools is something we choose together.