EastWest

We have touched down in Doha this morning after a long haul. Everything was as expected. The driver was waiting for us in the airport and dropped us at the compound. After a short while we felt asleep for the most of afternoon/evening and waked up at 11:00 pm full of energy. Thankfuly it is a weekend so we have some time to get over the jetlag.

Russ_Sarah

keep posting updates please…very interested to see how its all going...

primularossa

[QUOTE=EastWest;11224109]We have touched down in Doha this morning after a long haul.


Congratulations!! So did you fond a school for your kids? may I ask you which one? We don't have an answer yet!! I fear we will have to renounce to our project and not coming!!

keep us updated with what is happening. take care.

JamesandTamsin

My 11 month old son and I fly out tomorrow evening, hope he behaves on the flight lol! Not looking forward to the lack of sleep! X

EastWest

It is now one week in Doha, but not much has been done so far. We will go today for medical check, and yesterday I opened a bank account. Next week will go to obtain a driver license.
As for schools it is nightmare. If anything will put me off it will be schools. Most of them are off this week for school holiday. I visited the International school of London early this week, and could smell something stinky.
I applied for this school back in December last year (along with other schools) and until now they said no word! The lady in admission said they can’t tell me at this stage whether they have places or not. I asked her what is the likelihood of getting places and she said it does not look promising. I was talking to our white-skinned neighbor in the compound and they told me they we offered places at this school despite they applied after me.
Doha College put one of my kids on the waiting list with no word regarding others. Scherborne School offered a place for my eldest son with no word regarding others. I will visit them next week after they come back from school holiday. DESS invited one of my kids for assessment.
If I have not got places for all my kids in one school this will leave me with two options:
-Getting them into the new branch of Newton School in Barwa City, which is a bit far; or
-Sending them back home

The last extreme is to quit the job and go back home altogether, which is not my preference.

co durham boy

Most school asessments are shut and those that are not are massively oversubscribed which in turn gives the admissions and the school the pick of the kids.

School places will have a serious effect on the growth of Qatar as Expats will just not come without decent school places .

My wife works as an admissions manager and shes been offered everything from hotel stays to hard cash to get kids places . I said take it but she's cut from different cloth

Good luck because you're going to need it .

EastWest

Hmmm. can you put me in contact with your wife? I am not rich though.

primularossa

Dear Eastwest, I am sorry to tell you that we are in the same situation about schools. I am a white skinned European but that does not make any difference. Maybe because I am not British? I am Italian, my passport does not count much :-) - so it is not a matter of racism, may be it is a matter of recommendation :-))

I still don't have understood what the criteria are about admissions. They give priority to some people employed in some companies who actually pay, but it seem to me that they behave in an arbitrary manner.

We applied to ISL too but they told us the same thing they told you, moreover they added that the chances are about zero.

We didn't even apply to Sherborne, DESS or Doha College, due to the fact that they told us that we have no chances as our daughter is not English mother tongue. But we did 6 applications to other schools, with no results....

We are seriously considering of not moving anymore and renounce to the job position. Otherwise my hubby will come to Doha, we will see what happens in September and then we will decide. :-((

good luck, let's keep in touch and share information about schools. What's the age of your kids?

bye, primula
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co durham boy

Unfortunatley the admissions are closed .

EastWest

I believe ISL (and many other schools) are robbers. They rip you off with application fees (500 QAR per child) and give you a finger in the end. This is akin to stealing. If they get applications from 100 children (at least) then it is 50,000 QAR of free money, and they have no obligations.
Despite I am not white but my kids are native English speakers, so I don’t think it is a language issue. I am not sure what their criteria are for accepting kids but they are spoiled by choices. When they have two kids; both native speakers, then they pick the white one. I am seriously considering sending them back home if no places secured in the coming month. But this can be a temporary solution as we can’t be apart for a long time.

co durham boy

A great piece of advice for someone coming to the Gulf is first of all come alone without your family . There is so much aggro and hoops to jump through when you first get here having your family here with you during that time can be very very stressful indeed and in some cases lead to people bailing out due to personal pressure .

If i hire anybody that is married or with kids i tell them , come out first get your head around it and you can get alot of things sorted before your Mrs and kids get here. There's two parts to that advice , one is it's better for them and secondly they're an employee and i need them to hit the ground running and get on with the job , i don't want blokes crying about duvet covers and school uniforms after 1 week.

Schools do pick and choose and there's discrimination at every level of society here , especially dealing with official bodies and work place scenarios . Get your head around this quickly as unfortunately it's part of the make up of Gulf society , it wont change quickly and you won't change it either .

EastWest

It is a vicious circle. Comming alone first means kids can't get their PR, can't be admitted to schools, can't be assessed. Moreover, the employer will not offer you a family house and you need to start from point 0 when your family comes. Not to mention the extra expensess of leaving the family overseas. The only benifit I can see of coming alone first is one can get familiar with life here, getting a car and running in the crazy trafic.

co durham boy

Correct , it is a vicious circle but don't forget , the first and foremost reason you're here is to work . If you get here and get the job sorted within 3 months and get yourself settled the rest will be a lot easier to handle . Any company worth it's salt would understand a delay in bringing you're family here so you can get yourself sorted .

Alexa

Try Compass, they are expensive, but you might have more luck there. Thing is, from what I hear, I am out of the loop because my son went to boarding school 2 years ago, is to go there with your kids. not to wait for an appointment, just rock up there, tell your story and hope for the best.

primularossa

Thanks Alexa, you already gave me this advice and, following it, we applied in March. Our daughter is the 13th in their waiting list, I don't know if it is the waiting list for the grade or for the entire school. I fear it is for the grade :-((.

I can't rock up there, being we still in Italy, but we will call them and write

thanks again