Cities / Abu Dhabi / Emirates National Schools - Mohamed Bin Zayed
Emirates National Schools - Mohamed Bin Zayed
ENS is an American-curriculum school with IB DP option in Mohamed Bin Zayed City, catering to students from KG1 to Grade 12.
Fees
Annual fees
| Year level | Age | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-KG / FS1 | 3 | AED 22,190 |
| KG1-KG2 / FS2-Y1 | 4 | AED 23,480 |
| Grade 1-4 / Y2-Y5 | 6 | AED 32,460 |
| Grade 5 / Y6 | 10 | AED 34,350 |
| Grade 6 / Y7 | 11 | AED 34,400 |
| Grade 7-8 / Y8-Y9 | 12 | AED 37,130 |
| Grade 9 / Y10 | 14 | AED 39,890 |
| Grade 10 / Y11 | 15 | AED 46,510 |
| Grade 11 / Y12 | 16 | AED 53,550 |
| Grade 12 / Y13 | 17 | AED 58,720 |
Reviews
The original ENS campus, opened in 2002 in Mohamed Bin Zayed City and run as part of the state-owned Emirates National Schools group. Around four thousand pupils across KG to Grade 12, with a full IB continuum (PYP, MYP, DP) sitting alongside an American/AP track. The ADEK overall judgement has stayed at Very Good across recent cycles, and the school holds an Outstanding National Identity Mark. Fees of roughly AED 22,000 to 56,000 put it well under the premium Abu Dhabi pack. Strengths sit around scale, Arabic and Emirati identity, and a long-established IB programme; the weaker signals are around standardised assessment data, thin specialist support for the size of the cohort, and a curriculum offer in the senior years that is narrower than the older fee bands suggest.
Positives
- IB continuum at scale. Full PYP through DP, with the PYP cohort here among the largest of any single IB school. The campus has run the programme since the early 2000s, so the institutional muscle around IB delivery is deeper than at most local IB starters.
- Arabic, Islamic and Emirati identity. An area the school is genuinely strong in. ADEK has rated the National Identity strand Outstanding, and Emirati families consistently flag the cultural and language grounding as a real differentiator versus the international-led pack.
- Fees for what's on offer. AED 22,000 to 56,000 across the year groups, well below premium Abu Dhabi IB schools. One of the more affordable routes into a full IB continuum in the emirate.
- ADEK trajectory. Very Good overall in the 2024-25 Irtiqa round, in line with the previous cycle. Governance and parent partnerships have rated Outstanding. The plateau at Very Good rather than Outstanding sits squarely on student outcomes.
Considerations
- Standardised assessment performance. The headline IB and identity ratings sit above weaker results in the international benchmark assessments. PISA reading and TIMSS maths in the recent cycles land below international averages. The progress in lessons reads stronger than the data.
- SEN and specialist support. The teaching-assistant complement is thin relative to a cohort north of four thousand pupils, including pupils on the additional needs register. Individual support hours are the obvious question at admission.
- Senior years breadth. The IB Diploma and American High School Diploma both run, but the AP electives and senior pathway breadth are narrower than the size of the school implies. The choice is real; the menu inside each pathway is shorter than at larger international competitors.
- Behaviour in the upper boys' school. Behaviour management in the older boys' phases is the softer area in the inspection picture. Not a safeguarding concern, but the part of the campus where the very large roll shows.
- Scale and campus feel. Around four thousand pupils on one site, with separate boys' and girls' facilities. Modern labs, swimming, sports dome and a recent technology centre. The flip side of the scale is that the school feels institutional rather than intimate.
Leadership
Muna Askar Al Nasser
Mr. Abdennaceur Saadaoui is the Acting Campus Principal of the Emirates National Schools - Mohamed Bin Zayed City campus. He has been with the school since August 2020 and holds a Master in Educational Leadership from Abu Dhabi University. Prior to his role as Acting Campus Principal, he served as the Head of Primary School at the same campus.
Accreditations
- Cognia 01
- ADEK 02