Quality British Education in Saudi Arabia

Admissions Procedures

We are delighted that you are considering Dhahran British Grammar School as a prospective school for your child. Please find below some general guidance to assist you in the admissions process. You should contact the school office directly for specific guidance and we will be delighted to deal with your enquiry.

Dhahran British Grammar School is not a selective school and we accept children across the broad range of normal ability. Please note that we are not able to accept pupils who may require a specialist teaching programme or one-to-one support within the classroom.

If you are in the process of relocating to Saudi Arabia please contact the school well in advance to check the availability of places in the age appropriate year groups for your child(ren). We often have families arriving with little or no notice. This can create difficulties for the family if particular year groups are over-subscribed. Although it is not usually possible to guarantee your child a place in the school until you have arrived in Kingdom it is important that you begin an early dialogue with the school.

Children seeking placement from Year 3 and above are required to go through an admissions testing process. The school uses age-appropriate standardized testing in English and mathematics to determine whether applicants meet the school’s admissions criteria. Muslim families are required to apply for Muslim approval, after satisfactory completion of admission tests, before placement can be made within the school. The Muslim approval process is a Saudi Ministry requirement and the school registration department assists Muslim families with this process.

Testing in English and mathematics is just one stage in the admissions process. We also take into account previous school reports and parents should provide evidence of previous school records when families first visit the school. No child will be accepted into school unless copies of the most recent school reports are provided.

We do not carry out formal testing for pupils seeking to enter the Foundation Stage or Key Stage One (children aged 3-6 years). Whenever practicable we will invite prospective pupils into the age-appropriate class for a morning to ascertain the level at which the pupil is operating. Class teachers in Foundation and Key Stage One will carry out an in-house assessment to gain evidence to inform the admissions process. Please note that the school will only accept children if they are toilet trained. It is not acceptable for children to attend school if they are still wearing nappies/diapers.

Pupils seeking to enter the school’s GCSE programme should note that we do not accept any new pupils directly into Year 11. We advise that all pupils beginning a GCSE programme with the school should start in Year 10 and from the beginning of Term One in August. We typically will not allow children to enter our GCSE programme after the first term of Year 10.

The school always places children in age-appropriate year groups unless there are mitigating circumstances. If your child has been advance-placed or promoted within another school system this will not necessarily mean that we will maintain this placement within our school. Each application is viewed, however, on its individual merits.

For all admission enquiries, please contact the school office on +966 3 330 0555 Ext. 2003. Alternatively you may contact the school through the usual email contact of brparents@isgdh.org

For all admission enquiries, please contact the school office on

+966 3 330 0555
Ext. 2003.

Alternatively you may contact the school through the usual email contact of: brparents@isgdh.org