Cities / Riyadh / Saud International School
Saud International School
An English-medium private school founded in 1981, now in the Hittin district and running a US elementary programme into a British secondary, ending at Pearson Edexcel IGCSE and A Level.
In brief
An English-medium private school founded in 1981, now in the Hittin district and running a US elementary programme into a British secondary, ending at Pearson Edexcel IGCSE and A Level.
SIS runs an adapted American curriculum from pre-K through Grade 5 and switches to an adapted English National Curriculum in middle and high school, with COGNIA accreditation. The school sits in the affordable end of the international tier with fees from roughly SAR 20,000 in early years to SAR 58,000 in upper secondary, well below the premium British and IB schools in the city.
Parents praise individual teachers by name, value the personal communication, and describe an ethos that leans on values, leadership and the whole child rather than headline facilities. Long-tenure staff and inter-generational families show up in the feedback, which fits the 1981 lineage. The hybrid US-then-UK pathway works for families who want an Anglophone secondary qualification at an accessible price, though families targeting US universities should probe how the curriculum switch in middle school plays out.
Fees
| Fee | Age | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| KG to Reception 2 | 4 | Annual | SAR 40,000 |
| Grades 1-6 | 6 | Annual | SAR 48,000 |
| Grades 7-9 | 12 | Annual | SAR 53,000 |
| Grades 10-12 | 15 | Annual | SAR 58,000 |
Reviews
- Established 1998, now in Riyadh's Hittin district. American curriculum at primary, English National Curriculum from middle school onwards, leading to IGCSE at Grade 10 and A Levels at Grade 12. Separate gender classes from Grade 4.
- Tone of independent reviews is generous-leaning. EdArabia and ISDb listings carry short five-star endorsements citing dedicated staff and student enthusiasm; volume is very low.
- WhichSchoolAdvisor is the most substantive independent voice and frames the school as an affordable option for expatriate families, with annual fees in the SAR 20,000 to 32,000 range. The same review notes minimal published transparency on student numbers, nationalities and exam outcomes.
- An r/alevels thread referenced students at the school encountering exam-result issues in 2022, the only specific independent operational signal that surfaced.
- A separate r/islamabad thread carried a former student confirming attendance and looking back positively, which mirrors the directory pattern of short, unspecific endorsements.
- The pattern across sources is a long-running, mid-fee British-American hybrid where the sharpest gap is in published academic outcomes rather than parent dissatisfaction.
Accreditations
- Cognia 01