Alkawthar International Schools

Saudi Arabia's first private IB school, founded 2012 on King Abdulaziz Road in Al Mohammadiyyah, Jeddah. Multilingual French-English-Arabic programme blending the French national curriculum, British curriculum, and IB Diploma, separate boys' and girls' sections.

Alkawthar runs French as the primary instructional language at elementary level, layered with Arabic and English, with British curriculum and Oxford resources at lower secondary, and the IB Diploma at high school. The IB Diploma was authorised on 8 May 2023 with French listed among the languages of instruction. Boys' and girls' sections are housed separately on the same campus.

Families pick Alkawthar for the genuinely trilingual outcome, the rarity of a French-medium IB pathway in Jeddah, and the spread of facilities including science labs, sports, music, and arts. Reviews describe experienced faculty, well-organised classrooms, and strong British and French curricular foundations. Best fit for Jeddah's francophone diplomatic and expatriate families, Lebanese, North African, and Saudi families wanting French-medium education, and any family targeting Sciences Po, Canadian francophone, or French university routes alongside the IB Diploma.

• Online reviews are polarised. Newer posts on YaSchools praise the IB programme, supportive administration and faculty, with one parent saying the curriculum "has truly empowered my child" and another calling the teachers "top notch".
• Older Arabic-language reviews on Edarabia raise repeated complaints about administration, fee-collection pressure and unresponsive management.
• Bullying surfaces in two separate voices: one student review on Edarabia and a 2019 review elsewhere both flag bullying as an issue, with the latter also calling fees "super overpriced".
• One former family said they transferred their children after three years over teaching quality.
• The pattern: positive on academics and IB delivery, negative on culture and administration, with critical reviews concentrated in 2019-2023 and more positive ones in 2024-2026.