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28

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 21 March 2011 - 17:29

think Busybee gives very good advice Eli, good luck with it all. My children are older so it's 'slightly' easier.

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 21 March 2011 - 17:20

defo the most difficult years to get in anywhere edited by busybee2 on 21/03/2011 At least BC seems to be available (although we haven't received an offer from them yet). The puzzling thing is that the letter canceling the assessment test ended with "we have his school records..." How can they? DS hasn't been to school yet, so I don't know what they are talking about. Maybe BC just went out a "generic" letter to all parents? :\: i am thinking its referring to the application forms/paperwork etc but of course they cannot have school reports if he hasnt been to sch

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 21 March 2011 - 17:19

no stick in there, places do become available friends of mine only got a place like a week before school started, this is usual people do not give up places until they know for certain they will not be needing them. at least with the last few years new schools have opened up and taken the slack from bsak. before when we came there was only bsak for primary no secondary you had to leave then or cambridge high school, so the situation is far better than what it used to be

70

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 21 March 2011 - 14:50

BTW my husband called BSAK and they said the reason they would get back to us in May is they have to wait and see if any children are pulled out (families going home or parents can't afford the fees) and therefore make spaces available. I know BSAK has a waiting list and I just applied in January so our chances look so slim . Should I just assume I'm beating a dead horse and move on? (so depressed now).

70

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 21 March 2011 - 13:14

defo the most difficult years to get in anywhere edited by busybee2 on 21/03/2011 At least BC seems to be available (although we haven't received an offer from them yet). The puzzling thing is that the letter canceling the assessment test ended with "we have his school records..." How can they? DS hasn't been to school yet, so I don't know what they are talking about. Maybe BC just went out a "generic" letter to all parents? :\:

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 21 March 2011 - 08:32

defo the most difficult years to get in anywhere <em>edited by busybee2 on 21/03/2011</em>

70

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 22:52

DS will be 5yo end of July so we are looking at Year 1, or Kindergarten (US?).

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 22:38

have you applied to bsak, if you havent very unlikely, but it depends on the year group, the lower years unlikely to get in though. if the choice for me was chouefiat or bc then bc would win, even though its much more expensive, you have to remember that when you leave here you have to slot back into the schooling system. i think you will find it difficult to get into choueifat anyways they have lists as well. yes there are mostly not first english speaking countries. but they do well there. and yes they do not need to be qualified have known people who have a degree not a teaching degree and went to work there and got paid more than the ones that actually have a teaching degree. Yes, we applied to BSAK some time ago. They told us they would get back to us in May, which is a long time to wait if they are going to turn us down as we may declined another school's offer waiting for them. I am not considering Ch school -I never heard of it until DH's boss suggested it. I would rather have a British curriculum because as you said the kid has to integrate into the school system when we go home. I think I am going to check out RIS and review matters. ris is a good school but is ib curriculum, which is fine. what year are you after, as they have been making offers, people that have siblings have been told, they will work down their criteria lists.

70

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 22:36

have you applied to bsak, if you havent very unlikely, but it depends on the year group, the lower years unlikely to get in though. if the choice for me was chouefiat or bc then bc would win, even though its much more expensive, you have to remember that when you leave here you have to slot back into the schooling system. i think you will find it difficult to get into choueifat anyways they have lists as well. yes there are mostly not first english speaking countries. but they do well there. and yes they do not need to be qualified have known people who have a degree not a teaching degree and went to work there and got paid more than the ones that actually have a teaching degree. Yes, we applied to BSAK some time ago. They told us they would get back to us in May, which is a long time to wait if they are going to turn us down as we may declined another school's offer waiting for them. I am not considering Ch school -I never heard of it until DH's boss suggested it. I would rather have a British curriculum because as you said the kid has to integrate into the school system when we go home. I think I am going to check out RIS and review matters.

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 22:20

yes the fees for choueifat are lower, but you have to have the right type of child to go there, they test them every 3 weeks or so from the youngest, you have no contact with the teachers, the teachers are not all qualified its all rote learning, but it works for some kids as they can get very good marks. you have to decide whether your wage will afford you the school fees, as a lot of people here do not get any sort of help with them, so at least half towards them is better than none. I just come from reading reviews about the Ch school and they are not encouraging! Also you say no contact with the teachers? Unqualified teachers? Is this legal? Sounds perfectly horrible to me. Personally I think DH's boss was being cheeky, but I understand as an Arab this school seems a good choice to him because many students are Asian or from Middle Eastern background. Tomorrow I will place a call to BSAK and see if they can tell me if we may have a chance with them (they are our first choice because DS has a couple of friends there already). If not we will go with BC. We will review our budget and make the necessary cuts. have you applied to bsak, if you havent very unlikely, but it depends on the year group, the lower years unlikely to get in though. if the choice for me was chouefiat or bc then bc would win, even though its much more expensive, you have to remember that when you leave here you have to slot back into the schooling system. i think you will find it difficult to get into choueifat anyways they have lists as well. yes there are mostly not first english speaking countries. but they do well there. and yes they do not need to be qualified have known people who have a degree not a teaching degree and went to work there and got paid more than the ones that actually have a teaching degree.

70

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 22:19

dont worry about assessment tests for the young ones they only make sure that they are up to scratch, their english is up to scratch and able to follow the curriculum etc, not to worry Thank you for your kind words. DS is a late talker (as I was). He can count to 20 and knows the letters of the alphabet (he starting to read), and he can tell you about the moon of Mars (he loves astronomy) but his language skills could use some polishing. The speech therapist (a wonderful Australian lady in Jumeira, Dubai) said he was fine and he only needed more exposure to native English speakers.

70

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 22:12

yes the fees for choueifat are lower, but you have to have the right type of child to go there, they test them every 3 weeks or so from the youngest, you have no contact with the teachers, the teachers are not all qualified its all rote learning, but it works for some kids as they can get very good marks. you have to decide whether your wage will afford you the school fees, as a lot of people here do not get any sort of help with them, so at least half towards them is better than none. I just come from reading reviews about the Ch school and they are not encouraging! Also you say no contact with the teachers? Unqualified teachers? Is this legal? Sounds perfectly horrible to me. Personally I think DH's boss was being cheeky, but I understand as an Arab this school seems a good choice to him because many students are Asian or from Middle Eastern background. Tomorrow I will place a call to BSAK and see if they can tell me if we may have a chance with them (they are our first choice because DS has a couple of friends there already). If not we will go with BC. We will review our budget and make the necessary cuts.

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 22:04

dont worry about assessment tests for the young ones they only make sure that they are up to scratch, their english is up to scratch and able to follow the curriculum etc, not to worry

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 22:02

yes the fees for choueifat are lower, but you have to have the right type of child to go there, they test them every 3 weeks or so from the youngest, you have no contact with the teachers, the teachers are not all qualified its all rote learning, but it works for some kids as they can get very good marks. you have to decide whether your wage will afford you the school fees, as a lot of people here do not get any sort of help with them, so at least half towards them is better than none.

70

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 20 March 2011 - 21:53

The original date for the assessment was this coming Wednesday. My husband called to ask details about the 45 minute computer test the invitation letter talked about. The representative from BC explained the test itself was not 45 minutes, but rather an interview followed by a test. I was a bit apprehensive about testing a 4.5 yo (especially when I don't let DS use the computer too much because I don't want him addicted to pc games or the telly). This morning however I received a letter from the admissions office saying the a test for Year 1 was no longer required and that they would be "making offers to parents". As a side note, my DH's boss decided to give us an education allowance which only covers about half of the tuition fees for BC or BSAK. Then the "boss" proceeded to advice us to forget the BC or BSAK and instead send DS to the Choueifat International School because that is where his own children attended and "fees are considerably lower." Right...

28

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 18 March 2011 - 16:14

when is it Eli?

79

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 18 March 2011 - 09:49

I finally got news for from the BC. Got an email asking us to come for an assessment. We are making progress! Good luck! :)

28

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 21:52

good news Eli

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 21:25

getting closer then.

70

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 March 2011 - 16:24

I finally got news for from the BC. Got an email asking us to come for an assessment. We are making progress!

79

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 18:18

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry. yep i agree that if you get offered a place you have to take it obviously it may be difficult if you havent done your sums and cant afford it, unfortunately a lot of people came unstuck this way, thinking they can afford all the luxuries here and get them on credit and then wham something happens. but people do have to still get loans for cars and houses and school fees. agree fully do not accept the package unless you are not going to be financially better off. my choice to go to abu dhabi is to save some money for our retirement its not all about money, the life experience is important too. when we came out it wasnt on very good money, just slightly better than in the uk, but was coming out after having first child, had him in uk because of bad pregnancy and complications after birth, but because of these medical issues i was having to spend much much more than you would normally do, with no help from the nhs, and i also had to give up work to care for the baby instead of going back after a few months, so by coming out here it made life a little easier, we certainly did not have all the jumeriah jane luxuries and back them nobody had even heard of dubai let alone abu dhabi, they were a bit aplexed when they couldnt figure out why you needed to get on a plane to go to abu dhabi, when you can catch the train!!! Agree, the life experience is a big part of it. We still would probably have come here even without the school fees being paid. Not having to pay 40% tax would still have allowed us a much much better lifestyle than home. Plus getting rent from our house towards the mortgage has helped. Has allowed me maternity leave for the first time with a 2 and 4 year old! when we moved over here unless you were in the oil and gas field nothing was paid, it all had to come out of your wages, of course back then an apartment was only like 25k and school fees per term were like 6k but you got paid only really enough to live on etc unless of course you were in the oil and gas field did i say that. so by coming over here we were only slightly better but we were better, not saving any money, but then able to pay back our credit card bill at the end of the month, which we couldnt do in the uk. of course we had different issues back then with supplies such as junior sized nappies! they just didnt make them.... or baby milk etc but we came over really without knowing much about abu dhabi as there was no internet forums etc back then, I had to find things out the hard way! How long have you been here BB2? before they had proper roads to dubai, before they had pavements in abu dhabi, before they had proper banking systems when you still had to write out 49 cheques for something, before they had large demonations in currency, before they had shops! dunno maybe coming on for 14 years. :) No wonder you said you had been referred to as the oracle......there must not be much you do not know. Just started a book called A Diamond in the Desert which is about Abu Dhabi written by a 40 year old woman who grew up here 70's to 90's and returned here in 2006. Really interesting book.

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 17:53

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry. yep i agree that if you get offered a place you have to take it obviously it may be difficult if you havent done your sums and cant afford it, unfortunately a lot of people came unstuck this way, thinking they can afford all the luxuries here and get them on credit and then wham something happens. but people do have to still get loans for cars and houses and school fees. agree fully do not accept the package unless you are not going to be financially better off. my choice to go to abu dhabi is to save some money for our retirement its not all about money, the life experience is important too. when we came out it wasnt on very good money, just slightly better than in the uk, but was coming out after having first child, had him in uk because of bad pregnancy and complications after birth, but because of these medical issues i was having to spend much much more than you would normally do, with no help from the nhs, and i also had to give up work to care for the baby instead of going back after a few months, so by coming out here it made life a little easier, we certainly did not have all the jumeriah jane luxuries and back them nobody had even heard of dubai let alone abu dhabi, they were a bit aplexed when they couldnt figure out why you needed to get on a plane to go to abu dhabi, when you can catch the train!!! Agree, the life experience is a big part of it. We still would probably have come here even without the school fees being paid. Not having to pay 40% tax would still have allowed us a much much better lifestyle than home. Plus getting rent from our house towards the mortgage has helped. Has allowed me maternity leave for the first time with a 2 and 4 year old! when we moved over here unless you were in the oil and gas field nothing was paid, it all had to come out of your wages, of course back then an apartment was only like 25k and school fees per term were like 6k but you got paid only really enough to live on etc unless of course you were in the oil and gas field did i say that. so by coming over here we were only slightly better but we were better, not saving any money, but then able to pay back our credit card bill at the end of the month, which we couldnt do in the uk. of course we had different issues back then with supplies such as junior sized nappies! they just didnt make them.... or baby milk etc but we came over really without knowing much about abu dhabi as there was no internet forums etc back then, I had to find things out the hard way! How long have you been here BB2? before they had proper roads to dubai, before they had pavements in abu dhabi, before they had proper banking systems when you still had to write out 49 cheques for something, before they had large demonations in currency, before they had shops! dunno maybe coming on for 14 years.

79

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 17:46

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry. yep i agree that if you get offered a place you have to take it obviously it may be difficult if you havent done your sums and cant afford it, unfortunately a lot of people came unstuck this way, thinking they can afford all the luxuries here and get them on credit and then wham something happens. but people do have to still get loans for cars and houses and school fees. agree fully do not accept the package unless you are not going to be financially better off. my choice to go to abu dhabi is to save some money for our retirement its not all about money, the life experience is important too. when we came out it wasnt on very good money, just slightly better than in the uk, but was coming out after having first child, had him in uk because of bad pregnancy and complications after birth, but because of these medical issues i was having to spend much much more than you would normally do, with no help from the nhs, and i also had to give up work to care for the baby instead of going back after a few months, so by coming out here it made life a little easier, we certainly did not have all the jumeriah jane luxuries and back them nobody had even heard of dubai let alone abu dhabi, they were a bit aplexed when they couldnt figure out why you needed to get on a plane to go to abu dhabi, when you can catch the train!!! Agree, the life experience is a big part of it. We still would probably have come here even without the school fees being paid. Not having to pay 40% tax would still have allowed us a much much better lifestyle than home. Plus getting rent from our house towards the mortgage has helped. Has allowed me maternity leave for the first time with a 2 and 4 year old! when we moved over here unless you were in the oil and gas field nothing was paid, it all had to come out of your wages, of course back then an apartment was only like 25k and school fees per term were like 6k but you got paid only really enough to live on etc unless of course you were in the oil and gas field did i say that. so by coming over here we were only slightly better but we were better, not saving any money, but then able to pay back our credit card bill at the end of the month, which we couldnt do in the uk. of course we had different issues back then with supplies such as junior sized nappies! they just didnt make them.... or baby milk etc but we came over really without knowing much about abu dhabi as there was no internet forums etc back then, I had to find things out the hard way! How long have you been here BB2?

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 17:36

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry. yep i agree that if you get offered a place you have to take it obviously it may be difficult if you havent done your sums and cant afford it, unfortunately a lot of people came unstuck this way, thinking they can afford all the luxuries here and get them on credit and then wham something happens. but people do have to still get loans for cars and houses and school fees. agree fully do not accept the package unless you are not going to be financially better off. my choice to go to abu dhabi is to save some money for our retirement its not all about money, the life experience is important too. when we came out it wasnt on very good money, just slightly better than in the uk, but was coming out after having first child, had him in uk because of bad pregnancy and complications after birth, but because of these medical issues i was having to spend much much more than you would normally do, with no help from the nhs, and i also had to give up work to care for the baby instead of going back after a few months, so by coming out here it made life a little easier, we certainly did not have all the jumeriah jane luxuries and back them nobody had even heard of dubai let alone abu dhabi, they were a bit aplexed when they couldnt figure out why you needed to get on a plane to go to abu dhabi, when you can catch the train!!! Agree, the life experience is a big part of it. We still would probably have come here even without the school fees being paid. Not having to pay 40% tax would still have allowed us a much much better lifestyle than home. Plus getting rent from our house towards the mortgage has helped. Has allowed me maternity leave for the first time with a 2 and 4 year old! when we moved over here unless you were in the oil and gas field nothing was paid, it all had to come out of your wages, of course back then an apartment was only like 25k and school fees per term were like 6k but you got paid only really enough to live on etc unless of course you were in the oil and gas field did i say that. so by coming over here we were only slightly better but we were better, not saving any money, but then able to pay back our credit card bill at the end of the month, which we couldnt do in the uk. of course we had different issues back then with supplies such as junior sized nappies! they just didnt make them.... or baby milk etc but we came over really without knowing much about abu dhabi as there was no internet forums etc back then, I had to find things out the hard way!

79

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 17:25

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry. yep i agree that if you get offered a place you have to take it obviously it may be difficult if you havent done your sums and cant afford it, unfortunately a lot of people came unstuck this way, thinking they can afford all the luxuries here and get them on credit and then wham something happens. but people do have to still get loans for cars and houses and school fees. agree fully do not accept the package unless you are not going to be financially better off. my choice to go to abu dhabi is to save some money for our retirement its not all about money, the life experience is important too. when we came out it wasnt on very good money, just slightly better than in the uk, but was coming out after having first child, had him in uk because of bad pregnancy and complications after birth, but because of these medical issues i was having to spend much much more than you would normally do, with no help from the nhs, and i also had to give up work to care for the baby instead of going back after a few months, so by coming out here it made life a little easier, we certainly did not have all the jumeriah jane luxuries and back them nobody had even heard of dubai let alone abu dhabi, they were a bit aplexed when they couldnt figure out why you needed to get on a plane to go to abu dhabi, when you can catch the train!!! Agree, the life experience is a big part of it. We still would probably have come here even without the school fees being paid. Not having to pay 40% tax would still have allowed us a much much better lifestyle than home. Plus getting rent from our house towards the mortgage has helped. Has allowed me maternity leave for the first time with a 2 and 4 year old!

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 17:14

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry. yep i agree that if you get offered a place you have to take it obviously it may be difficult if you havent done your sums and cant afford it, unfortunately a lot of people came unstuck this way, thinking they can afford all the luxuries here and get them on credit and then wham something happens. but people do have to still get loans for cars and houses and school fees. agree fully do not accept the package unless you are not going to be financially better off. my choice to go to abu dhabi is to save some money for our retirement its not all about money, the life experience is important too. when we came out it wasnt on very good money, just slightly better than in the uk, but was coming out after having first child, had him in uk because of bad pregnancy and complications after birth, but because of these medical issues i was having to spend much much more than you would normally do, with no help from the nhs, and i also had to give up work to care for the baby instead of going back after a few months, so by coming out here it made life a little easier, we certainly did not have all the jumeriah jane luxuries and back them nobody had even heard of dubai let alone abu dhabi, they were a bit aplexed when they couldnt figure out why you needed to get on a plane to go to abu dhabi, when you can catch the train!!!

9

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 14:45

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry. yep i agree that if you get offered a place you have to take it obviously it may be difficult if you havent done your sums and cant afford it, unfortunately a lot of people came unstuck this way, thinking they can afford all the luxuries here and get them on credit and then wham something happens. but people do have to still get loans for cars and houses and school fees. agree fully do not accept the package unless you are not going to be financially better off. my choice to go to abu dhabi is to save some money for our retirement

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 11:03

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry. yep i agree that if you get offered a place you have to take it obviously it may be difficult if you havent done your sums and cant afford it, unfortunately a lot of people came unstuck this way, thinking they can afford all the luxuries here and get them on credit and then wham something happens. but people do have to still get loans for cars and houses and school fees.

mover and a she...

125

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 09 February 2011 - 08:40

[Hubby's boss is still "considering" the request we put in for help with school fees. In the meantime school places are flying off the shelves (tears hair out). Eli, i don't understand. Will you only send your children to school if your DH's company chooses to help? Surely you have to get them into a school fullstop. Apply for all the schools you wish to and then you will have options. Waiting to hear from your husband's boss is not a reason to delay the process although it may well be a personal worry.

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 08 February 2011 - 17:47

My major concern with all the secondary schools in Abu Dhabi, with the possible exception of BC, is the limited offerring for GCSE. e.g only BC offers triple science!! this is a basic, and I can't understand why this is the case, considering that all secondaries in Dubai provide this choice, and does limit university and A level options!!! Is that true about secondaries in Dubai? Dubai College offer a choice of double or triple science at GCSE but English College and others only offer double though the students can go on to study any or all 3 sciences at A level regardless. i know that bsak in ad you study all three sciences but only get a double award but that doesnt matter if you want to go on to do the alevels.

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