German International School Abu Dhabi

GISAD is located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The official mailing address is P.O. Box 4150, Abu Dhabi. The campus is in central Abu Dhabi with bus routes serving multiple city zones, including Abu Dhabi City, Al Reem Island, Saadiyat Island, Mangrove Village, and surrounding areas.

GISAD offers education from Kindergarten through Upper Secondary. It includes Primary School and Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary levels, culminating in the German Abitur. Instruction includes a bilingual German-English program starting in kindergarten, with Abitur preparation in Upper Secondary.

GISAD is a co-educational day school with an extensive afternoon program.

GISAD provides inclusive education with language integration for non-German-speaking students (DaF), an integration pathway, school social work, bilingual counseling, and private tutoring; there is a nurse on site.

GISAD is affiliated with Germany as a German international school abroad; it is part of the German Schools Abroad network and awards the German Language Diploma (DSD) and Abitur.

No religious affiliation is indicated.

Timetables are published via the UNTIS timetable app; schedules may vary by grade and are updated as needed.

GISAD operates a school bus transport with 11 buses. Buses run in the morning and after school at 13:45 and 15:45. Pickups are at designated stops or at home, with routes adjusted at the start of each school year. Enrollment and changes are via an online portal; Zone-based annual fees apply (Zone 1: 5,500 AED; Zone 2: 6,000 AED; Zone 3: 7,000 AED; Zone 4: 8,000 AED).

Application / Admission Fees

- Admission deposit on enrolment: AED 1,000 per child (payable at school entry).

Annual tuition fees by year group (per child)

- Kindergarten: AED 36,610 per school year. A reduction of AED 2,000 is applied for early pickup where applicable.
- Primary School (Grundschule, Grades 1–4): AED 43,630 per school year.
- Secondary I (Sekundarstufe I, Grades 5–10): AED 49,270 per school year.
- Secondary II (Sekundarstufe II, Grades 11–12): AED 55,150 per school year.

Per-term / per half‑year indication (calculated)

- The school publishes annual tuition figures. For budgeting by semester/half‑year, divide the annual tuition by 2 to obtain an approximate half‑year amount (example: Kindergarten AED 36,610 ≈ AED 18,305 per half‑year). This is a straightforward division of the published annual fee to give a per‑half‑year figure.

Transport (school bus) fees

- Bus fees are charged annually by zone:
- Zone 1: AED 5,500 per year.
- Zone 2: AED 6,000 per year.
- Zone 3: AED 7,000 per year.
- Zone 4: AED 8,000 per year.

Language support and supplementary academic packages (annual)

- Kindergarten language support:
- Deutsch als Fremdsprache (DaF), 4 h/week: AED 5,000 per year.
- English Intensive Programme (EIP), 2 h/week: AED 3,000 per year.
- Primary (Grundschule):
- DaF (3 h/week): AED 5,000 per year.
- Deutsch Intensiv (DIP, 4 h/week): AED 5,000 per year.
- English Intensive (EIP, 3 h/week): AED 5,000 per year.
- Combined full‑day language package (school fees including DaF 3h & DIP 4h plus full‑day care & activities): AED 54,500 per year.
- Secondary (Sekundarstufe):
- DaF (3 h/week) for Grades 5 & 6: AED 5,000 per year.
- DaF + DIP package (Grades 5 & 6): AED 8,000 per year.
- DIP (4 h/week) from Grade 7 onward: AED 7,000 per year.
- French intensive (from Grade 7): AED 7,000 per year.
- DaF summer/winter course rates (by level):
- For kindergarten/primary: AED 150 per day / AED 700 per week.
- For secondary: AED 160 per day / AED 800 per week.

Full‑day and after‑school care options (charges shown per half‑year where indicated)

- Full‑day package (Ganztagespaket): AED 4,270 per half‑year.
- Supervision (Betreuung) per half‑year:
- 1 day/week: AED 990 per half‑year.
- 2 days/week: AED 1,980 per half‑year.
- 3 days/week: AED 2,970 per half‑year.
- 4 days/week: AED 3,960 per half‑year.
- Single extracurricular group (AG) price per half‑year: from AED 650 (varies by offering). Single day care: AED 70 per day. Ferienkurse and externally provided ECA are charged according to the provider's offer.

Other mandatory or one‑off fees

- Book deposit (Bücherkaution): AED 5,000 per child.
- Advance payment on school fees for the coming school year: 5% of the annual tuition per child.
- Returned (dishonoured) cheque fee: AED 150 per cheque.
- Issuance of a school certificate: AED 35 per certificate. Issuance of a certified copy of a transcript from the original: AED 60 per transcript.

Payment terms and billing schedule

- The school requires an admission deposit at enrolment and a separate advance payment corresponding to 5% of the next year's annual tuition (as noted above). The published fee information specifies surcharge rates for payment by instalments rather than a single payment:
- Instalment surcharge for 4–6 instalments: 2% of the billed amount.
- Instalment surcharge for 7–10 instalments: 3% of the billed amount.
- Where the school lists per‑half‑year charges (for some services), those amounts indicate a billing cadence that includes half‑year (semester) billing for those specific services; instalment plan options are published for tuition as noted above.

VAT / taxes

- All published fees are stated to include value‑added tax.

Uniforms, meals and school shop

- The school shop supplies required materials and embroidered uniform items (T‑shirts, polo shirts with the GISAD logo). Cash payments are not accepted at the shop; the published information indicates use of the Skiply app for shop payments. Costs for uniforms, materials and school meals vary by item/option and are charged separately.

Refunds and cancellations

- The published fee table lists deposits (admission deposit and book deposit) and other fees, but it does not include a detailed public refund schedule in the fee table document itself. Refunds, partial reimbursements and the specific handling of deposits on withdrawal or early leaving are governed by the school's fee policy and formal school fee guidelines. The fee table notes the book deposit and admission deposit amounts explicitly.

Other routine charges

- Single extracurricular activities, externally provided ECA and holiday course charges are set according to the specific offering and provider; the fee table lists baseline starting prices for school‑run AGs and daily care fees as above.

Accepted payment channels (published references)

- For school shop purchases the published material states that cash is not accepted and the Skiply app is to be used for payments. Instalment billing options for tuition are published (see instalment surcharges above). The fee table does not list an exhaustive set of tuition payment channels (bank transfer, card, etc.) in the fee table PDF; instalment plans and surcharges are explicitly published.

Notes

- The numerical amounts above are the school's published fees for the school year 2025/26 and the fee table is labelled with a publication/stand date. Where amounts are published as annual fees, a simple division by two can be used to estimate a half‑year (per term/semester) figure for budgeting; the school also publishes explicit per‑half‑year charges for several services (for example the full‑day package and supervision options).

GISAD has a multinational student body. In 2025/2026 the school enrolled 544 students. About 80 Emirati students participate in the ADEK scholarship program, representing roughly 15% of the student body. Public reporting notes the school hosts students from around 17 nationalities.