What sets Queen Elizabeth’s School at Dubai Sports City apart

Queen Elizabeth's School, Dubai Sports City, will open its doors in August 2026, but for many families, the school represents far more than the arrival of a new school. As one of the first international campuses in the Queen Elizabeth's Global Schools family, QE Dubai Sports City brings over 450 years of academic heritage from Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, to the UAE. Founding Principal Dan Clark brings over two decades of leadership at leading British schools to the role.

Founded by royal charter in 1573, Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, has served its community for more than four and a half centuries as a symbol of academic distinction, principled leadership, and intellectual ambition. It has been named The Sunday Times State Secondary School of the Year four times (2001, 2007, 2022, and 2026) and, over the past four years, has secured 202 offers from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. QE Dubai Sports City is inspired by the same standards and ethos, with an active partnership lived in practice through regular quality assurance visits, governance oversight, leadership team connections, and an ongoing exchange of ideas and skills between staff of both schools.

Personalised education

Located in Dubai Sports City, the campus has been designed to deliver personalised, future-focused education, while remaining grounded in academic ambition and character development. Set to welcome its founding cohort in the 2026-27 academic year, from Nursery to Year 8, the school has a phased year-on-year expansion plan to Sixth Form.

Students at QE Dubai Sports City will benefit from a nurturing learning environment designed to encourage curiosity, independence, and confidence from an early age. The school follows the National Curriculum for England, while placing strong emphasis on free-thinking scholarship, purposeful communication, and the meaningful application of knowledge beyond the classroom.

The classrooms are deliberately designed to focus on structured pastoral care and building strong tutor relationships, with class sizes of 12 in Nursery, 14 to 16 in Pre-Prep, and 20 in Prep and Senior Schools, ensuring each student receives tailored support and is challenged throughout their education.

Beyond academics, the school’s wider educational philosophy is shaped through four key programmes.  QE Flourish, the school's signature enrichment programme, ignites passions and develops character across four strands: Care, Challenge, Compete and Create. Together, these span community service and mentoring, public speaking and STEM, representative sport at UAE and international level, and performance, music and the creative arts, with pathways to qualifications including The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award, LAMDA and ABRSM. QE House creates a strong sense of belonging and student leadership. Where every student belongs to a House, engaging in academic, sporting, cultural and charitable activities that foster healthy competition and teamwork. QE Futures supports university guidance, careers, and life beyond Sixth Form, while QE Connect focuses on lifelong relationships as part of the Queen Elizabeth’s Global Schools community of alumni.

Special Founding Family offer

For families joining the founding cohort, QE Dubai Sports City has built a Founding Family offer designed to provide both value and stability: a fixed 25 per cent remission on published tuition fees, supported by a Founders Fee Fix that locks in those fees for the duration of a child's enrolment.

Queen Elizabeth’s School, Dubai Sports City, has also partnered with ISD Dubai Sports City and the Real Madrid Foundation Educational Football Programme, providing access to one of the region’s most comprehensive sporting environments, as well as an Elite Football Programme delivered through QE Flourish. Students will benefit from FIFA-standard football pitches, a 400-metre athletics track, tennis courts, padel facilities, and specialist sporting academies.

The campus is designed to offer purpose-built learning environments that support both curiosity and ambition, featuring specialist science laboratories, innovation spaces, libraries, creative arts facilities, and dedicated wellbeing areas. QE Dubai Sports City has also partnered with King’s College Hospital London to deliver a fully integrated well-being framework across the school community, including day-to-day clinic management, parent wellness seminars, health education initiatives, specialist nutrition guidance, and access to support services for families.

Those interested in learning more can follow @qedubaisportscity on Instagram for details of upcoming events, where they can meet the senior leadership team and discover the vision shaping the school.

For further information on Queen Elizabeth’s School, Dubai Sports City, visit Qedubaisportscity.com