As regional instability disrupts education across the Gulf, UK independent schools are reporting unprecedented interest from families considering relocating their children to Britain.
Schools across the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar have faced weeks of closures, online learning and cancelled exams since Iranian strikes on the region in late February. The disruption has prompted a notable spike in inquiries to UK boarding schools. Simon Brian, Head of St Leonard’s School in St Andrews, told the Financial Times: “People are talking about regional instability, the disruption of school closures and the shift to online learning. There has been a clear spike of interest from the Middle East. It is quite unusual; we are seeing interest like never before.”
The emergency interest sits against a backdrop of long-term growth in British-branded education across the Gulf. Dubai private school enrolment grew 6% to 387,441 students in 2024-25, and three historic British school brands (Harrow, Rugby School, and Queen Elizabeth’s School Barnet) are opening their first Gulf campuses in August 2026, each requiring the recruitment of teaching and administrative staff from the UK.
IAM Member Impact: Members with operations in both the UK and the Gulf should expect an accelerating flow of family relocations, often at short notice, from the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait to UK boarding school destinations. The August 2026 openings of three new British school campuses in Dubai will also generate a pipeline of staff relocations from the UK into the region.
Sources: Financial Times/Independent School Management, School Management Plus, OxfordAQA, & Ignite Institute