British School Salalah was founded in 1970 by John Edwards MBE as a not-for-profit school for English-speaking children in the Dhofar region of the Sultanate of Oman. Originally known as the Salalah English Speaking School, it was later renamed "The British School Salalah". The school moved to its current premises after land was generously donated to the school by the Sultan of Oman in 1980. The current premises were officially opened by the late Baroness Thatcher on 23 April 1981.
Following a period of change, many British expatriate families left the region and school numbers declined, where at one point numbers amounted to less than ten children. Numbers slowly grew in the early 2000s, as the school attracted a wider number of nationalities looking for a 'British-style' education.
The most significant changes in the school history have been since 2013, where the school almost doubled in numbers in one year and implemented plans to become an international school serving the wider expatriate community of Salalah. Now there is a clear plan to offer quality international education in the Dhofar region and expand to offer full 3-18 education. This process is well underway.