American School of Dubai (ASD)

The American School of Dubai (ASD) has a rich and vibrant history, spanning over 50 years in Dubai. It is an independent, non-profit community school for boys and girls. The acclaimed international US curriculum is offered to students from Pre-KG to Grade 12. The school has over 2,000 students, supported by over 160 full-time teachers and 58 teaching assistants.

ASD School Dubai is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. ASD School aims to provide learning experiences that promote the maximum potential of students. It creates independent thinkers who add value to society. It is one of the best schools in Al Barsha and is one of the top American schools in Dubai.

Located in the heart of Al Barsha 1, the American School of Dubai is in proximity to populous residential areas in Dubai. These areas include the following:

• Barsha Heights
• Al Barsha 3
• Al Barsha 2
• Al Sufouh 1

Barsha Height is the nearest residential community to ASD. The community, previously known as Tecom, contains a plethora of residential and commercial projects. A striking feature of this community is the availability of freehold and leasehold apartments at affordable prices. Those interested in beachfront residence could opt for residential properties in Al Sufouh.

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ASD has a huge 23-acre campus in Al Barsha. The campus features:

The ASD campus in Al Barsha is designed with a focus on incorporating sustainable and renewable practices into the facility. A Sustainability Action Team has also been put in place to support these ambitious goals.

From 2020, the school is offering Pre-KG classes to children aged 3 years old. A new facility is built which houses a world-class Early Learning Center where children are tutored based on the Reggio Emilia system.

The American School of Dubai is situated at the intersection of First Al Khail Street and Hessa Street in Al Barsha 1. GEMS Dubai American Academy is a 2-minute drive from the school.

ASD is a proud winner of the title ‘Best American Curriculum School in the UAE 2019’ by Top School Awards. The school was also a finalist in the categories of Best Schools for Music and Performing Arts and Best Schools for Sports. Being such a well-regarded institute is one of the reasons why parents like sending their children to the American School of Dubai.

The American School of Dubai offers outstanding choices of Advanced Placement Subjects for high school students. This ensures that students gain access to top-tier universities worldwide. Students from this leading American institute in Dubai perform very well in many external examinations, including SATs, PSATs, Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), Advanced Placement examinations (AP), and the American College Tests (ACT).

ASD received the 2019 Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Global High Schools (the Middle East and North Africa) Category. In May 2019, ASD built an on-campus bee house as part of its curricular learning space to inspire students to care for the environment. ASD won the inaugural Expo 2020 Sustainability Champions Competition, which includes the installation of a new solar power plant for the school.

Along with the environmental initiatives, the American School of Dubai also enables the holistic growth of students with a fully comprehensive sports and training facility. The ASD Athletics program offers extracurricular activities for middle and high school students. ASD is a member of the Middle East South Asia Conference (MESAC). There are three athletic seasons at ASD hosting the following activities:

• Fall: Dance, Golf, Swimming and Volleyball
• Winter: Basketball, Cheerleading, Cross Country Running, Soccer, Tennis and Wrestling
• Spring: Badminton, Softball, Baseball and Track and Field

ASD offers academic programs for the following years:

The ASD curriculum is aligned with Common Core State Standards and follows a standard grading scale. The Common Core State Standards are educational standards for English Language Arts (ELA)/literacy and mathematics in grades K-12. At ASD, a challenging college preparatory program is offered in the middle and high school stages.

Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Programme

ASD has recently introduced a new programme that excites young learners to school life. The pre-kindergarten programme is based on the Reggio Emilia educational plan. It will provide authentic opportunities for students to play, learn, work and socialise with others. The topics that will be covered from Pre-K to Kindergarten 2 (KG2) are:

Elementary School

At the elementary stage, students are offered a wholesome learning experience. The school program consists of certain subjects being taught in a homeroom class environment along with specialist classes. Core subjects, such as Science, English, Mathematics, Arabic and Social Studies are part of the elementary programme. Specialist classes are offered for many subjects, including arts, physical education and music. Homerooms are also integrated with library and computer technology skills. After-school activities are available for students from Grade 1 to Grade 5.

Middle School

The core subjects in Middle School are Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, English Language, Arts and World Languages. Electives in Creative Art and Technology are also available in middle school. Basic courses in arts, drama, technology and music are introduced in Grade 6.

Pursuit is a program developed at ASD to support this mission. In the Pursuits programme, students pursue their interests through an additional 45-minute period during the middle school day. Examples of Pursuit courses include Historical Film, Airplane Design Challenge, Gardening, Climbing, and French Language Support.

Week without Walls is another initiative undertaken by the American School of Dubai for middle school students. This initiative extends the academic skills taught in the classroom to the real-world environment. This programme helps ASD to inculcate understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity and international awareness.

High School

At ASD High School, students require a minimum of 25 credits out of the 32 credits on offer. These credit requirements must be met during the four-year program. Each year, high school students enrol in at least four of ASD’s core academic courses: Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, English, and World Language. A broad range of electives is offered in creative arts, physical education, and information technology to allow students the flexibility to discover their co-curricular interests and abilities. In Grades 10, 11, and 12, students can also enrol in Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

Some unique senior-stage programmes offered to students are AP and AP Capstone Diploma, INSPIRE Global Experiences, online learning, service learning, advanced elective studies and counseling.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority is a government-sanctioned body in Dubai. It aims to improve the quality of education offered by private educational institutes. To pursue its aims, they annually review schools’ performance based on a six-point scale. The scale varies from outstanding to very weak and is briefly explained below:

The ASD had been inspected by KHDA in 2024. ASD has consistently maintained the rating of ‘good’ since 2008.

The ASD school year typically runs from August to June. Students first go on winter break in the third week of December and return to school in the first week of January. The spring break starts in the last week of March and ends in the first week of April.

Admission applications at ASD can only be submitted through their official website. To apply, Complete the online application form. Applications for the new academic year are accepted from the beginning of October.

Before applying, the school encourages parents to visit the school to see the school facilities and talk to our admission team. The face-to-face tours allow parents to see the facilities by themselves and interact with the teaching staff or administration to learn more about the school.

Parents are requested to fill in the necessary details of the online application form to apply for admission. To access the application form, parents need to sign up for an online account on the American School of Dubai website.

The Admissions Office at ASD may request additional documents after an initial application review. Depending on the grade level and seat availability, students applying to ASD may have an assessment which could include a class visit for Lower Elementary (KG1-Grade 2) students, a review of standardized test reports and an entrance examination.

Depending on availability, the Admissions Committee formally reviews applications. If you are applying for September admission for the upcoming school year, initial spaces are offered in January. If you are applying for the current school year, spaces are offered depending on availability.

The Admissions Office contacts parents with the committee’s decision. After a student has been admitted, additional documents for enrolment are required to register students with the Ministry of Education of UAE. A registration fee of AED 1,000 is also invoiced with tuition when a seat is also offered.

The following documents will be required along with the student’s online application:

• Copy of Student’s Passport
• Student’s Passport Size Photo
• Passport Size Photo of Every Parent per Family
• K1-K2: Nursery/School Report (if available)
• Grade 1-12: Last Two End of Year Report Cards and Current School Year Term Report
• Grade 10-12: Official High School Transcript
• Current Standardized Testing Scores
• Character skills snapshot
• Teachers’ recommendation (online)
• Introductory video (Grade 5 and above)

The age-grade guideline followed by ASD is as follows:

This is based on the age of the students on 31st August (for schools beginning in September). Source: KHDA

American School of Dubai fees are payable through cash, local cheques and wire transfer modes. The annual tuition fees at ASD are:

The school also charges AED 12,984 per year as facilities charges from KG2 onwards. In addition, parents of new students who do not hold a corporate seat have to pay AED 22,000 as a one-time capital fee. The registration fee is AED 1,000 and the refundable book deposit is AED 500.

For more information, visit the fee structure of the American School of Dubai.

ASD has two student cafeterias serving students from K2 to Grade 12. There are three food service vendors namely Subway, Right Bite and The Juice Bar available for students to choose from. ASD also provides a ranking and food labeling system for supporting education on food-based choices.

The management of ASD monitors sales of food products with allergens to prevent any concerns. Parents need to contact the school’s Health Office to provide details of the medical conditions of their students. Moreover, an ASD Nutrition Committee, including parent and faculty volunteers, helps bring nutrition to the core of all ASD-based food services.

School Transportation Services (STS) is ASD’s official provider of student transportation. STS is a highly established provider of transportation in Dubai. The school buses have the following safety facilities such as electronic attendance systems, GPS monitoring, central operations control, and seat belts. An on-site campus representative is also present to coordinate the professionally trained drivers and ASD families.

ASD offers the following sports and recreational facilities:

For ASD, the overall development of the child is important in providing an active and healthy lifestyle for parents, students, staff and faculty members. Students are offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities starting from elementary to high school. Students can pursue their interests in Arts, Athletics, Aquatics, Campus Recreation and Student organizations.

Arts

Students with interests in the arts can learn dance, music, visual arts, theatre, acting, choir and band. The school hosts annual productions that include full-length musicals in high school and middle school, plays, an elementary musical, variety shows, and art shows.

Athletics and Aquatics

At ASD, students are given the best coaching and facilities for them to excel in sports. There are three athletic seasons:

• Fall: Dance, Golf, Swimming, Volleyball
• Winter: Basketball, Cheerleading, Cross Country Running, Soccer, Tennis, Wrestling
• Spring: Badminton, Softball, Baseball, Track and Field

Campus Recreation

A wide range of extra-curricular activities is offered at ASD. Some of the programs offered have additional charges. Examples of the programs include knitting, gaming, robotics, student tech crew, Girl Scouts, etc.

Student Organisations

Student organizations are formed starting from elementary and high school. These organizations focus on building teamwork, and leadership while exposing them to a range of international organizations.

Model United Nation (MUN)

American School of Dubai also arranged Model United Nations (MUN) – one of the favourite extracurricular activities among students. Model United Nations is an educational simulation that helps students understand politics, international relations and foreign policies. Each year, students participate in this event and represent countries (members of the United Nations) by discussing global problems and their solutions.

Other Activities

Other extracurricular activities offered to students at ASD are:

At ASD, field trips are associated with learning outcomes. Middle School students have an option to work on Week Without Walls trips. The Week Without Walls (WWW) is an annual service-learning program provided for middle school students. WWW gives students the chance to expand their academic skills with real-life experiences.

High School students can also choose from INSPIRE trips. INSPIRE is a unique opportunity meant to help students demonstrate a passion for learning and contribute in a rapidly changing world by addressing a challenge, an opportunity, or a situation.

Additional Middle and High school trips are also organised for arts and athletics.

In 2020, Middle School trips include the following destinations:

• Grade 6: Greece
• Grade 7 and 8: Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, Tanzania, Thailand, and UAE

The High School trips for 2019 include the Balkans, Nepal, Jordan, and local UAE experiences.

Currently, the school only offers after-school care to its students in the form of extra-curricular activities.

The ASD Health Office is staffed with a physician, three nurses and additional staff. They provide health services during the school day as well as for after-school activities and weekend athletic tournaments. The office complies with the requirements of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and is responsible for maintaining and reviewing immunization and student health records. A Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD) program is planned and organized annually for middle and high school students. They also provide wellness education for the ASD community.

ASD has various ways to communicate with parents, students and the community. Some of the communication channels are done through social media, publications, electronic newsletters, website stories, etc. Moreover, students at ASD are kept informed through their homeroom, advisory classes, student-generated digital announcements and video bulletins.

• Telephone Number: +971 4 395 0005

Email address: asdadmin@asdubai.org

GENERAL INFORMATION

• ASD Official Website
• ASD Facebook
• ASD Instagram
• ASD Twitter
• ASD YouTube
• ASD LinkedIn

Note that the cover image belongs to the American School of Dubai