450-Year legacy arrives to Dubai: Queen Elizabeth’s school to open in August 2026

The new campus, Queen Elizabeth’s School in Dubai, will bring over 450 years of British academic heritage to the UAE, offering students access to the National Curriculum for England under the same standards that have made the Barnet school a consistent “outstanding” performer and a leader in UK education.

Developed in partnership with GEDU Global Education, the project recently received initial approval from Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), making a historic move, as it is the first UK state grammar school to establish an international branch.

“This landmark approval allows us to accelerate our vision to deliver world-leading K-12 education to students from across the UAE,” said Caroline Pendleton-Nash, CEO of Queen Elizabeth’s Global Schools.

“The Dubai branch campus will remain faithful to the mission, ethos, tradition, and exacting academic standards of Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, while embracing Dubai’s spirit of innovation and ambition,” she said.

She added: “In uniting the heritage of one of the UK’s most distinguished schools with the vision of Dubai, we aspire to set a new global benchmark for educational excellence.”

Opening initially from nursery to year 8, the Dubai campus will then expand in phases to include sixth form. The school’s location in Dubai Sports City provides access to exceptional athletic facilities, ensuring that sport and wellbeing remain integral.

We are also excited by the potential for international collaboration, which, in time, will build a global network of Elizabethans for the benefit of our new students as well as those within the state sector in Barnet
_{^{Neil Enright, Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet}}

Neil Enright, headmaster of Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, emphasised the school’s commitment to fostering opportunity and leadership, saying: “We are delighted to have received this encouragement from the KHDA to offer a rounded and enriching QE education to children in the UAE, spreading opportunity and supporting students to become the leaders of their generation.”

“We are also excited by the potential for international collaboration, which, in time, will build a global network of Elizabethans for the benefit of our new students as well as those within the state sector in Barnet,” he said.

“[That prior interest] confirmed to us the strength of our brand and the strength of a rounded but highly academic education. So the senior staff and governors here have been looking at this move for quite a long time,” he said.

This time, though, working with GEDU, the school was confident it was the right move. “They’re educationalists, they are experienced at partnering with a number of universities in other parts of the world…we felt a real alignment of values with them,” said Enright.

Dan Clark has been appointed as the school’s founding principal, having been deputy head of the elite Marlborough College since 2020.

“Throughout my career in outstanding schools, I’ve seen how powerful education can be,” said Clark. 

“It challenges pupils to think deeply, act responsibly and believe in their own capacity to achieve.”

“These values are fundamental to the QE approach. As founding principal of QE Dubai Sports City, I’m excited to establish a community that will produce confident, able and responsible young people who are ready to shape the future.”

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