Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone could be of any assistance at all...

I have a candidate who has accepted an offer to work in Qatar, he is moving from Oman with 2 children, aged 14 and 11. He is a British chap, and is looking into schooling over there.

I know that like Dubai places in schools with a British curriculum are hard to come by, I am wondering whether anyone knows of any schools with spaces, numbers worth calling, people worth speaking with etc? I said to the candidate I would see what I could find out so wondering if anyone out there can help at all!

Thanks a lot

Try www.qatarliving.com

Qatarliving will have links in threads to the schools that are out there. But as far as experience goes, there aren't many British Expats on that site.

Here is another site which details the British Schools in the ME

http://www.bsme.org.uk/schools/

My husband is out in Qatar now and has been for 3 months and our 2 boys and I are moving out in the late autumn. We have applied now for a place in January 2010 at our 2 preferred British schools. As your candidate's children are older he may have a better chance of getting places sooner rather then later.

But there are also a lot of people who are moving from Dubai to Qatar so that will put more pressure on school places.

Good Luck

Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated

My kids are a lot younger so I'm not sure of all of the UK curriculum high schools but I think the first choice would be Doha College. http://www.dohacollege.com/ It's well thought of and hard to get into. There's also Park House http://www.parkhouseschool.com/

Hmmm, I think that may be it unless you wanted IB schools or The American School. Sorry I don't know more but these are a good place to start.

I agree that qatarliving is a good place for info but you will get more "western" ex-pats on the expatwoman forum. http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/topics.aspx?ForumID=24

DESS is the best school in Doha. Several friends with kids there and they are doing very well.

Long waiting list, run by brit embassy, waiting list might come down after summer due to current economic crisis.

Qatar OK for people with families. I have grown to hate the place recently, hoping a holiday will change my mind and make me stay

Good luck with your move

DESS is a very good school but is only primary (up to age 11). Most DESS kids go on to Doha College (if they can get it in to it that it!!) from what I can tell.

If the kids hold british passport they will get the priority to get in DESS. Or you can just place your kids to any school that give them a seat, then once you get here you can put the kids in your preference school.