Qatar International School

Qatar International School (QIS) is a world-class, English-speaking private day school located in Doha; the capital city of the State of Qatar.

The institution was founded by Sheikh Ali bin Ahmed bin Thani Al Thani and the first Principal, Mrs Joyce Griffin, in 1977, making us one of the first British International Schools in Qatar. Since then, QIS has now grown into one of the largest and most prestigious schools in the country, with around 2,000 students on role.

In 2015, the school received the highest possible grading from the Qatar National Schools Accreditation programme, when inspected by the country’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

Then, in 2020, QIS achieved two highly prestigious international accreditations:

Firstly, QIS was judged to be ‘outstanding’ in every category of the UK government’s British School Overseas (BSO) inspection framework – only the third school in the world ever to have achieved this.

Secondly, in the same year, QIS became the first school in the world to be awarded Council for International Schools (CIS) accreditation by a new fast-track process for outstanding schools. The final CIS report included over 100 individual commendations and helps to make us one of the most highly regarded educational establishments in the region.

QIS recently became the only school in the Middle East accredited to deliver OLEVI training courses straight from the UK, such as The Outstanding Teacher’s Programme. The school also partners with many other world-renowned training providers to ensure cutting-edge best practice. We are proud to say that quality training for staff is part of the QIS culture.

Qatar International School is led and managed entirely by British professionals, who strive to maintain the highest standards of the current English education system, whilst also supporting the school’s Arabic culture and international context.

The vast majority of QIS teaching staff have trained and taught in the UK, and we pride ourselves on ensuring we keep up to date with the best international practice in education and learning.

Our student body is truly international, with over 70 different nationalities represented within the current cohort. And, since 2015, those students have achieved some incredible, world-beating outcomes. These include at least seven ‘Best in World’ examination results at IGCSE and A Level.

While the teaching staff are predominantly British and the curriculum is taught in English, the school is adept at integrating students from a wide variety of cultural and academic backgrounds.

The institution's vision is the ‘ABC’ of Qatar International School: Aspiring to excellence, Building futures, Celebrating diversity.