Not her again...question about the KHDA & starting kids in Term 3 of school

Ahh, I see. Thank you. No, probably not given the impact of the GFC. Thank you for the heads up.

Why is that PlumJam? What is it you are implying? I've obviously missed something when searching through the posts on here about Repton...

NO probs. Good luck it is a mind bending planning all this stuff. I think our new Principal is coming from QLD Moreton Bay Boys - something like that Yes, there is a Moreton Bay Boys College. It is in the southern suburbs of Brisbane near Manly / Wynnum which are both nice middle class bayside suburbs. I say that because I haven't heard any feedback about the school or it's leadership. We are on the northern suburbs, so quite some distance away. THanks for that feedback JJ. Yes, I think I've firmed up on Greenfields as No. 1, now I just need to get my contingency plan in place. Just spent the last couple of hours looking at the websites and locations of some of the schools mentioned below and in older threads that I had found via the search function. I'm sorry if this is repetitive for some of the longer term members of this site. But honestly, as a new person coming in, the landscape of the school system is quite confusing - there is different nomenclature used and not explained on school websites and it is difficult to find information on specific schools in here as the threads generally have pretty random titles rather than the specific school's name. Then of course trying to determine the school's locality can be very hit and miss. On many of the school websites they just show where it is in relation to the few roads around it, and not Dubai as a whole so then you have to hit google maps which can be a bit of a nightmare. So marrying the schools with where you want to live is difficut too. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the search for a decent school is very ad hoc so I think I speak for all newbies that repetition does not bother us!!! It is such a critical thing in transitioning your family into the new culture. Honestly, so long as my kids were at a decent school, being nurtured, making friends, enjoying being there, I can cope with anything this place will throw at me. Take away all that and I would probably be a bit of a basket case. So thank you to everyone who has responded to all my banal questions, my family and I really appreciate it. And from now on, I'm going to start threads seeking feedback with the school name as it might make it easier for someone at some stage in the future. :)

Thanks Julie - will go check that out on google maps. Starfish - thank you for your comment. I will suss out that school as it's certainly closer to IC that Al Mamzar would be. And I like the idea of a smaller school - it might be less intimidating amongst all the rest of the change they will go through. Although my kids are at a big one here in Brisbane (1,500 kids), their junior school is on the smaller size - there are 25 kids per class and only 2 classes per grade. Have been looking at Repton school website this arvo and my gosh, it looks big. Like a 5 star hotel...

[b'>JulieH[/b'>: That sounds good, though Sharjah seems a fair distance from where my DH will work (Internet City). How long would it take to get to Internet City from there in peak hour and what is housing like around that area in terms of communities with pools, bike tracks etc? Also is there airport noise there? I hadn't even considered that area - have been focusing on the AR - Green COmmunity locality. [b'>Jumeirah Jane:[/b'> Are your kids at Repton? If so, are you happy with it? I noted Clairhp has her children there in approximately the same grades as mine would be and is happy with it. I think I am going to cross Jumeirah IB and GEMs WA off our list. I have been thinking about the fees - 20,000D higher per child than a lot of the other schools. We could do a lot with that extra money - there might be more educational value in using it to take the children travelling to some other countries during school breaks for example. You wonder what the value proposition is for that much extra, you know? Is it all just about Brand??? So... on to investigating the British Curriculum schools further <em>edited by Buy me a Pony on 22/01/2011</em>

Thanks JJ, that sets it out pretty clearly. Hopefully they would put us in the last category, though there is an Australian School in Sharjah sponsored by the QLD Government - and why they would advertise that, I don't know! QLD came equal 6th in the national numeracy and literacy tests last year. The only state who did worse was the Northern Territory! Embo - that is my DS2. He needs to go into KG/FS2 for Term 3 then into G1. Making note to make sure I get a transfer certificate. That's interesting that they suggested you do the running around to get the waiver from the Ministry of Education (is that the same as the KHDA?). Would that be a big hassle to have to do that?

Thanks Kid vs Kat. Didn't realise there were 2. It's the International School that the Auntie's friend is at. I've got Fiona's number (copied it down from another thread when doing a search). If things start to look like they're going pear-shaped she will definitely be getting a call, LOL. So that's good that she comes recommended. DH is over in Dubai in the next couple of days. I am really hoping he will get the time off work to go visit our preferred school, drop some forms in personally and get a second chance to sound them out.

Thanks Claire, no, I haven't looked at the Australian school. Is that the one in Sharjah or is there another one? If so, I think I have an Auntie whose friend is working there. I guess I really wanted the opportunity to give the boys a different experience that they couldn't get here and I thought it would be an opportunity to mix with other cultures from around the globe - broaden their perspective a bit. Also their school here in Oz said that their first preference would be to get them into an IB curriculum, so that's where I've focused my energies to start with. I didn't realise the school terms started on different dates for each school. Had better go and have closer look at some of the others. I found it so difficult to find the term start dates within Greenfields website it didn't occur to me that others would be different! 2 weeks is quite significant! Appreciate you mentioning that one!

Thanks all. Famn: "a move at the beginning of T3 is an ideal time as you are not competing with those already in the system wanting places at different schools." That's exactly what I was thinking prior to this phone call, but she pulled the rug out from under my feet with the comment about the KHDA. These replies have given me hope that somewhere we will be able to get into a school. Perhaps the registrar was saying this so I wouldn't get my hopes up if we didn't get into [i'>her [/i'>school. I definitely made it clear we were coming from Australia so no prior experience in Dubai schools I agree with you all - starting in last term would be ideal as hopefully it's a little more relaxed than the other terms as people wind down for the end of the year, so a bit more social etc Onwards and upwards...I'd better work out what other schools to apply to if we don't get our first option.