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Question for Busybee2

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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 08 February 2011 - 15:31
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. Yes - you are right I was vague:- DC, DESC and JC all offer triple science, but JESS and EC do not (..and I have no idea about Repton!!!). however I am disppointed that currently neither BSAK or Yasmina provide this option.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 08 February 2011 - 13:38
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.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 07 February 2011 - 18:27
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!!! fact of life here, that in the uk you get a better choice of o or alevels. in bsak they do learn all three sciences but only give a double!
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 February 2011 - 16:05
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!!!
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 February 2011 - 14:20
ok just seen them: for year 9 for eg at BC they are charging 61,640 plus 500 (but you get that back) at BSAK they are charging 54,300 plus 9,200 so all in all the difference is a couple of thousand over the first year so quite on par really, not like repton prices then at all. In primary years the fees at BC are much higher than the Aldar schools & when you have more that one child to pay for the difference in price does add up. As to the registration fee that is something you pay only once so not that much of a burden.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 February 2011 - 13:46
glad you read it same as me Busybee re the costs at BC. wasn't sure if i wat reading it wrong!
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 22:09
looked at the fees for brighton and they are kind of on the high side. Maybe its coz I'm new to all this in this country however thought they are way too steep, after all it is still a new school and has to prove itself. Our company allowance is way below the yearly fee. u will find that a lot of people have to pay the whole school fees themselves, a lot of companies now do not give school fees as part of the package, and if they do, a lot of people have to top it up as well. 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).
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 21:04
if you look at jess in dxb, they are the same being a nonprofit school, but they do it slightly differently, that you have to have a debenture basicially money up front for the overheads etc.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 20:03
looked at the fees for brighton and they are kind of on the high side. Maybe its coz I'm new to all this in this country however thought they are way too steep, after all it is still a new school and has to prove itself. Our company allowance is way below the yearly fee. u will find that a lot of people have to pay the whole school fees themselves, a lot of companies now do not give school fees as part of the package, and if they do, a lot of people have to top it up as well.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 20:02
ok just seen them: for year 9 for eg at BC they are charging 61,640 plus 500 (but you get that back) at BSAK they are charging 54,300 plus 9,200 so all in all the difference is a couple of thousand over the first year so quite on par really, not like repton prices then at all.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 19:58
looked at the fees for brighton and they are kind of on the high side. Maybe its coz I'm new to all this in this country however thought they are way too steep, after all it is still a new school and has to prove itself. Our company allowance is way below the yearly fee. i havent seen the costs, but would have thought they would be on the steep side like repton school in dubai is.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 19:42
looked at the fees for brighton and they are kind of on the high side. Maybe its coz I'm new to all this in this country however thought they are way too steep, after all it is still a new school and has to prove itself. Our company allowance is way below the yearly fee.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 19:33
eli 19 Have you applied to all schools? don't be diseartened. Aldar (muna, pearl for just primary, yasmina, then bisad,or raha). Which curriculum do you want, age of child.. You must apply to them all for a place - then ride the tide until you get a place you want.BB2 is being selective with her info - the fee you refer to is not an application fee at bsak - it 's a fudge to get money up front from a "non-profit school".It works itself out with term fees if you get a place.speak to the registrar - who knows how it is. sorry mummyfish me being selective what do you mean? thats the way it has always been, an entry fee it is not a registration fee. and what do you mean "works itself out with term fees"? its a non-transferable/redundable fee, nothing to do with the school fees. the school fees for the older years actually work out cheaper than the aldar schools once you take out the "entry fee". my kids moved up from nursery to reception long time ago, and the first time around you pay a reduced entry fee for nursery and then you top it up when you move up to reception, on the second time around after everyone had paid up the summer terms fees they changed it and demanded that you then had to pay the top up entry fee to secure a place, a lot of people were taken aback as that was not how it had been done before, but then you had even more of a problem securing a place as that was the only british school apart from cambridge high school, so you didnt have an awful lot of choice. the entry fee is to pay for the overheads.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 19:11
Brighton also is open for registration so I guess I will driving up there tomorrow to pick up a package. I was taken aback by the lady at BSAK asking over AED 9,000 (yes, ALL OF IT) when the place is offered. It seems dishonest to say you are a non-profit school and then demand a hefty entry fee. We are planning to move to the island in October which is why I am a bit dubious about Al Yasmina which is in KCA. We are a 1 car family so we are trying to make it work for the school run and the husband "work run", if you know what I mean. A taxi is about aed 50 (one-way) from AD city centre to KCA.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 18:26
brighton college fees are on the website now
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 16:31
eli 19 Have you applied to all schools? don't be diseartened. Aldar (muna, pearl for just primary, yasmina, then bisad,or raha). Which curriculum do you want, age of child.. You must apply to them all for a place - then ride the tide until you get a place you want.BB2 is being selective with her info - the fee you refer to is not an application fee at bsak - it 's a fudge to get money up front from a "non-profit school".It works itself out with term fees if you get a place.speak to the registrar - who knows how it is.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 15:24
I suppose it is too late to apply to bsak? We've been waiting for hubby's employer to agree to give us a school allowance... :-( If it IS too late for bsak then I will have to pin my hopes on the Brighton. The info is still not on the web page. In the meantime, can anyone tell me why bsak has such a steep entry fee while Brighton and other don't (unless they do and just don't say it on they website info??)? The worst part of being a newbie in AD is that I feel I am too late to find a school. What then? (feeling really sorry for myself here) Will leave this to someone else to answer as not sure but wanted you to know I feel the same. I was naive to the whole school process over here when we came over 6 months ago. My DH arrived 4 months prior to us and he asked around about schools and I wish someone had said for me to start applying early and explained the difficulty of finding a school. As this is my first time I have had to deal with schooling I was so unaware. People mention find a school THEN find a place to live so will know for future reference. I have been feeling sorry for myself too and fed up with the whole process. Could quite happily move home some days. Will just add that BSAK were really helpful. I emailed my application (in 2 emails because the attachments were large) and they emailed me and said to bring it in today as they did not receive one of the emails. They backdated the application to the day I emailed it which was good of them. Why not give them a call? edited by MimiM on 06/02/2011 Thank you for the message. I will BSAK a call and see what they say. What happens if you don't get a place anywhere, I wonder? O.O you then have a choice, leave them in school in home country, put them in any sch hoping that a place comes up.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 15:23
I mustered up the courage to call BSAK and they they very helpful. Must say the quoted me an entry fee way higher than they one on their website (ouch!). Is this normal? Will forward the application form asap. I wonder if Brighton College will have an entry fee of over AED 9,000 FOR 5yo... Sorry if I sound like a naive newbie but I am a naive newbie. the entry fee is indeed now 9200 for FS2 to year 13. they have always done this, been in the school like 10 years, and the entry fee used to amount to the same as the terms fees, so the amount could now be a lot higher but of course they have for the last few years kept the entry fee the same. the sch has been around 40 years adnec has only been a few years, and they are the ones that brought in the 500dhs rego fee. dont know about brighton college as they havent displayed any information as yet, aldar schs only charge a 2k fee.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 15:03
I mustered up the courage to call BSAK and they they very helpful. Must say the quoted me an entry fee way higher than they one on their website (ouch!). Is this normal? Will forward the application form asap. I wonder if Brighton College will have an entry fee of over AED 9,000 FOR 5yo... Sorry if I sound like a naive newbie but I am a naive newbie.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 13:55
I suppose it is too late to apply to bsak? We've been waiting for hubby's employer to agree to give us a school allowance... :-( If it IS too late for bsak then I will have to pin my hopes on the Brighton. The info is still not on the web page. In the meantime, can anyone tell me why bsak has such a steep entry fee while Brighton and other don't (unless they do and just don't say it on they website info??)? The worst part of being a newbie in AD is that I feel I am too late to find a school. What then? (feeling really sorry for myself here) Will leave this to someone else to answer as not sure but wanted you to know I feel the same. I was naive to the whole school process over here when we came over 6 months ago. My DH arrived 4 months prior to us and he asked around about schools and I wish someone had said for me to start applying early and explained the difficulty of finding a school. As this is my first time I have had to deal with schooling I was so unaware. People mention find a school THEN find a place to live so will know for future reference. I have been feeling sorry for myself too and fed up with the whole process. Could quite happily move home some days. Will just add that BSAK were really helpful. I emailed my application (in 2 emails because the attachments were large) and they emailed me and said to bring it in today as they did not receive one of the emails. They backdated the application to the day I emailed it which was good of them. Why not give them a call? edited by MimiM on 06/02/2011 Thank you for the message. I will BSAK a call and see what they say. What happens if you don't get a place anywhere, I wonder? O.O
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 12:43
I suppose it is too late to apply to bsak? We've been waiting for hubby's employer to agree to give us a school allowance... :-( If it IS too late for bsak then I will have to pin my hopes on the Brighton. The info is still not on the web page. In the meantime, can anyone tell me why bsak has such a steep entry fee while Brighton and other don't (unless they do and just don't say it on they website info??)? The worst part of being a newbie in AD is that I feel I am too late to find a school. What then? (feeling really sorry for myself here) Will leave this to someone else to answer as not sure but wanted you to know I feel the same. I was naive to the whole school process over here when we came over 6 months ago. My DH arrived 4 months prior to us and he asked around about schools and I wish someone had said for me to start applying early and explained the difficulty of finding a school. As this is my first time I have had to deal with schooling I was so unaware. People mention find a school THEN find a place to live so will know for future reference. I have been feeling sorry for myself too and fed up with the whole process. Could quite happily move home some days. Will just add that BSAK were really helpful. I emailed my application (in 2 emails because the attachments were large) and they emailed me and said to bring it in today as they did not receive one of the emails. They backdated the application to the day I emailed it which was good of them. Why not give them a call? <em>edited by MimiM on 06/02/2011</em>
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 10:05
I suppose it is too late to apply to bsak? We've been waiting for hubby's employer to agree to give us a school allowance... :-( If it IS too late for bsak then I will have to pin my hopes on the Brighton. The info is still not on the web page. In the meantime, can anyone tell me why bsak has such a steep entry fee while Brighton and other don't (unless they do and just don't say it on they website info??)? The worst part of being a newbie in AD is that I feel I am too late to find a school. What then? (feeling really sorry for myself here)
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 February 2011 - 01:11
brighton college fees are on the website now,cant see app form at the mo though.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 04 February 2011 - 14:23
Aldar schools are accepting applications for non siblings [that was last Thursday'> this coming Thursday. Make sure you have the form completed ready to take in. Last year parents were queuing up at the schools at 5am! aparently somebody was queing at bsak from 9pm the nite before Its pathetic for parents to go to such extremes, this gives the schools too much importance!!! Its probably the same people queuing who complain that the school fees are on the increase..........what do you expect when they are given so much importance. Schooling is an important factor for me & I will definitely try all possible to find a space for my kids at my preferred schools however I have no intention of doing anything insane.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 03 February 2011 - 16:58
yes, i did have acknowledgement from bsak,but not initially
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 02 February 2011 - 17:13
Aldar schools are accepting applications for non siblings [that was last Thursday'> this coming Thursday. Make sure you have the form completed ready to take in. Last year parents were queuing up at the schools at 5am! aparently somebody was queing at bsak from 9pm the nite before Why would you do that? First in line does not necessarily mean you are a definite does it?Understand they are on top of the pile though. Stage parent in the making!
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 02 February 2011 - 17:10
send it in by email today, its done by date order, not who is at the front of the q, as there are different priorities etc, so you may have loads of people in front of you in queue order, but you may be ahead of them in priority etc if you see what i mean. Thank you, have emailed the application! Thank you to all for your responses....has been a great help. Hopefully final question but I am also unaware of where the office is for Brighton College. They emailed this below; 3. The Admissions Office has recently moved to the Al Maha Residential Complex which is adjacent to Al Bateen Airport and not far from Carrefour. Is it C4 on airport road that they are talking about? :) c4 is on airport road that isthe one they are talking about, and they are meaning one of the villa compounds just across the road from c4, which is next door to the al bateen executive airport. basicially by the big roundabout with the flyover (2nd st) over the top and you have a choice of going up to adnec (30th) airport road (2nd) and muror road (4th) and into the compounds/al bateen airport. i think al maha is the one that is facing the main roads. the actual school is not off airport road its off east coast road/salam st which is behind the al bateen airport. Ahhh good, I have an idea where you mean. Thank you
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 02 February 2011 - 17:09
emailed mine in, so just have everything crossed now, i feel so far away and it out of my control :( thanks for all your advice busybee Did you receive an automated response to say it was received? I didn't and am now concerned.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 02 February 2011 - 16:52
for info, just been told brighton coll info should be on website on sunday :)
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 02 February 2011 - 16:09
This is the letter:- Version 2 (if Sponsor does not yet have Residence Visa) Date The British School Al Khubairat P O Box 4001 Abu Dhabi UAE Dear Registrar This is to certify that Mr/Mrs ___________________ is employed with our company in the position of ______________. We are currently processing the Residence Visa for him/her and his/her child(ren) namely: (Each child's name to be listed) and we will forward these when available. Yours sincerely Authorised Company Representative