UAE announces new school admission criteria

The UAE has announced new age cut-off for school admissions for year 2026-27.

According to the Ministry of Education, the new official age cut-off is December 31 of the admission year, compared to August 31 earlier.

This applies to all schools and kindergartens that start in August or September. However, schools starting in April will continue using March 31 as the cut-off.

It’s important to note that the criteria only applies to new admissions, while current students are not affected, the Education, Human Development and Community Development Council said.

What are the age requirements?

According to the council, the age criteria is as follows:

• For pre-K – Foundation Stage 1 in British curriculum, Petite Section in French and Pre-KG in other international curricula – the age should be 3 years old by December 31 of the admission year.

• For KG1 - FS2 in British curriculum, Moyenne Section in French and KG1 in other curricula – the age should be 4 years old by December 31 of the admission year.

• For KG2 - Year 1 in British curricula, Grande Section in French and KG2 in other curricula – the age should be 5 years old by December 31 of the admission year.

• For Grade 1 – Year 2 in British curricula, Cours Préparatoire in French and Grade 1 in other curricula – the age should be 6 years old by December 31 of the admission year.

Placement for students transferring between schools, curricula (e.g., British, American, or other international systems), or those arriving from outside the UAE, will be based on the last successfully completed grade and academic progression, in line with approved grade equivalency procedures.

Nationwide data analysed

The policy shift is underpinned by national and international research assessing child readiness across core developmental domains, including cognitive, socio-emotional, language, and motor skills. Analysis of these domains confirmed that while age is a factor, school readiness is shaped by a broader set of interacting developmental indicators.

A national dataset of more than 39,000 students was analysed, including children who had enrolled at ages 3, 4, and 5 under the previous cut-off system.

The academic performance data revealed no significant disadvantages associated with early entry. In some cases, students who entered at age 3 demonstrated stronger academic outcomes. Conversely, those who enrolled later showed marginally lower performance.

The updated policy is designed to ensure greater fairness and consistency in enrolment, facilitate smoother transitions between different curricula, and better match early education expectations to age-appropriate developmental stages.