Qatar International School (QIS) is a British-patterned international school which follows the IGCSE/A-levels system. It is located in downtown Doha. The school provides education from reception (foundation stage) to Year 13.

About the School

QIS was founded by Sheikh Ali bin Ahmed bin Thani Al Thani and the first Principal, Mrs. Joyce Griffin, in 1977. It is one of the first British-patterned international schools in Qatar.

In 2001, the school relocated to the Al Dafna district, and currently has an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students.

Then, in 2020, QIS acquired two international accreditations:

Firstly, QIS was judged to be ‘outstanding’ in every category of the UK government’s British School Overseas (BSO) inspection framework.^[1]

Secondly, in the same year, QIS became the first school globally to receive Council for International Schools (CIS) accreditation through a new fast-track process designed for outstanding schools.^[2]

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 training providers.^[3]

QIS Today

The current Executive Principal, Mr. Deane Baker, joined the school in 2013. Deane has more than 22 years of senior, school leadership experience, both in the UK and Middle East. As a Principal in the UK his leadership was described as “outstanding,” by Ofsted in multiple inspections. A former member of their Advisory Headteacher Panel, Deane has worked closely with both Ofsted, the UK Government and HMI to improve and support education policy and leadership. Now, as well as advising the Qatari Government on British Education, he also sits on the Executive Committee of the British Schools in the Middle East (BSME) responsible for all country representatives across the region’s 150 schools.

The vast majority of QIS teaching staff have trained and taught in the UK.^{[citation needed]}

Students are taught in Key Stages from Early Years and Key Stage 1 through to Key Stage 5, and examinations are taken in GCSE, IGCSE and A Levels using UK examination boards. Almost all students leaving QIS move on to higher education in leading universities all over the world but most especially the UK, USA, Canada, UAE and Qatar itself.

The teaching staff are predominantly British and the curriculum is taught in English.^{[citation needed]}