Kuwait English School, Kuwait City | International Schools Guide

A long-established British school in Salwa, founded in 1978 and one of the larger British options in Kuwait. Strong academics, BSO Outstanding rating, broad mix of nationalities.

KES runs the English National Curriculum from age 3 to 18, with around 2,500 students. Accreditations include CIS, NEASC, BSME and BSO. IGCSE pass rates run in the mid-90s and A Level pass rates near the top of the British schools in Kuwait. Class sizes are around 28 in lower years, dropping to 25 or fewer from Year 9.

Roughly half the roll is Kuwaiti, with the rest a mix of Western and Arab expat families. KES was the first school in the Middle East to roll out Google Chromebooks and runs strong music and swimming programmes on a campus with an indoor pool. The administration is approachable, and complaints cluster around teaching quality varying year to year and pressure on space at the Salwa campus. For families wanting an established British school with real academic results and a properly mixed student body, KES is a default pick in Kuwait.

Year level	Age	Fee
Early Years KG	3	KWD 1,778
Early Years Reception	5	KWD 2,877
Primary Years 1-2	6	KWD 2,877
Primary Years 3-6	8	KWD 3,274
Secondary Years 7-9	11	KWD 3,670
Secondary Years 10-11	14	KWD 3,670
AS-A Level Years 12-13	16	KWD 4,800

Year level

Age

Fee

Early Years KG

KWD 1,778

Early Years Reception

KWD 2,877

Primary Years 1-2

KWD 2,877

Primary Years 3-6

KWD 3,274

Secondary Years 7-9

KWD 3,670

Secondary Years 10-11

KWD 3,670

AS-A Level Years 12-13

KWD 4,800

Item	Age	Fee
Registration / Re-enrollment fee (non-refundable)		KWD 100

Item

Age

Fee

Registration / Re-enrollment fee (non-refundable)

KWD 100

One of the long-standing British-curriculum schools in Kuwait alongside BSK and NES; parents and expats routinely list KES in the same bracket.
Reputation has slipped. Multiple parents and teachers flag a management change, departing teachers and "the fall of KES"; one teacher said in early 2025 that with KES in decline there is no Kuwait school worth moving for.
Academic results stay strong: a 98% A-level pass rate and 95% IGCSE pass rate, with English and maths flagged as particularly good. KES sends graduates to Ivy League and other US universities.
Discipline and pastoral care draw the sharpest criticism. Ex-students describe teachers ignoring bullying, racist remarks aimed at Kuwaiti and other Middle Eastern pupils, weak mental-health support, and one ex-student asked whether other former students recalled a teacher hired after being expelled in the UK for inappropriate messages to pupils.
Sixth-form A-level uncertainty, last-minute exam-board changes and weak art and music provision recur as criticisms.
Some current parents still rate it well: one parent said their children had been at KES across multiple stages and on balance it was the best of the options they had tried.

Academics and university outcomes. High A-level and IGCSE pass rates; alumni at Ivy League and other US universities.

Family loyalty. Some parents who cycled their children through KES rate it as the best of the available Kuwait options.

Tier and reputation. Long named alongside BSK and NES as the strongest British schools in Kuwait, but multiple recent Reddit comments describe a slide in standards.

Discipline, racism and pastoral care. Ex-students describe ignored bullying, racist comments toward Kuwaiti and Arab pupils, weak mental-health support, and a serious safeguarding allegation about a UK-expelled teacher.

Management changes and teacher turnover. commenters repeatedly cite leadership churn, in-country hiring to cut costs, and good teachers leaving for higher pay in Cairo.

Breadth of curriculum. Art, music and broader subject choice criticised; sixth-form exam-board uncertainty caused stress one year out from exams.

SEN provision. Houses a Green Unit for additional needs, but one Kuwait parent said their autistic child was not accepted into it.

Mr. Michael Hassan