Mark Pep

I realise that this is subjective, but I would appreciate some honest comments about pros & cons of the schools that you may have children at.
Our daughter is 5 in November and we would be looking to get her into a school in the new year.

I suppose I want to know which you consider to be the best and maybe the reason that you chose that particular school?

thank you in advance for the wise words to follow

Blue Cat

it is more down to location and availability these days than which one is the best, it is which one you can get into that counts! Where will you be living?

Mark Pep

We are trying to tie in where we live with where the school is (if we can) to cut down on travel (traffic!).

We probably will end up in a 2 br apartment, so could be JBR or Springs, but we are also open to advice on this.

Blue Cat

where is your office? and would need to know budget for accomodation really. There are plenty of schools in this area. Let me find the link for them.

Blue Cat

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

there are some on here. Of the top of my head - British Curriculum ??

Jebel Ali School
Wellington
Dubai British School
Regent - my daughter is here and is same age as yours.
Raffles

Mark Pep

Thanks BC

Yes British Curriculum.

We are hoping to get something for about 180,000 aed per yr.

Did you choose Regent just based on location or was there any other factors?

Blue Cat

you should be able to get an apartment on that budget. Yes I have to be very honest and admit that I picked The Regent for it's location. I can get to school in 3 mins! getting home takes way longer though. BUT it has turned out to be a great decision. Rachel is in her second year at the school and so far I have to say I am really really pleased with it. My first choice would have been DESS but it is the opposite end of town.

Fairydust

Personally I would try and sort out choice of school before housing location I'd rather drive 45 mins to a decent school than 5 minutes to a sub-standard one. Just my opinion though

Blue Cat

I do drive 45 minutes everyday - to get home!! DESS was my first choice and it was out of the question due to traffic. After that it was really a toss up between The Regent or DBS. Regent offered a place first and I preferred because it was smaller so I took their offer. I wasn't too worried to be honest with you, she was only 3

Fairydust

Ooops sorry just came back to edit what I'd written again as I thought it might seem as if I meant you when I re-read it. What I meant was if you are just arriving and have to try and find school place, accommodation etc. I personally think its better to find a good school (if you can) first and sort the accommodation later. I should know mine is in her 4th school now in 5 years (last move was to secondary though so that doesn't really count!!). Another good one down Marina/JBR area (ish) is Kings but as I said the other day heard they were building a new school soon????

Blue Cat

forgot about Kings! all the schools up this end are much the same, well that is the feedback I am getting from other Mums. There is quite alot of choice but not alot of availability. We were considering staying in Satwa so we could send her to DESS but husbands office moved to DIP and the driving was getting a bit much. I am happy with my choice at the Regent though and she loves it, which is the most important thing!

Mark Pep

Fairydust, thanks for the comment, but could you elaborate on which schools your child went to and why you moved her.
We are trying to do exactly what you suggest (find a good school then try to find appropriate accommodation).
Thats why the details are important

Thanks

Fairydust

OK she started off in year 2 at Horizon in Safa area (i know some of you on here have children there but this is my opiniion) after the first year they built a new school, which was a bit chaotic to say the least but hey it opened then she ended up having 4 teachers for year 3 as they kept getting sacked!!! Had a chat to HM (same person as today) and was told if you don't like it move elsewhere so hey off we went.

Then moved to Wellington International primary (year 4) again new school (GEMS) just opened supposedly state of the art etc etc had a chat to HM before joining telling him of probs with staff at previous school and he assured me all staff would be UK trained or 3 yrs UK experience. So year 4 was good although none of the facilities advertised, ie observatory, climbing walls gyms etc etc were used more than twice throughout the year and were all paid for after school activities. Year 5 dawns and I realise that her new teacher is from NZ trained there and only taught there - contacted HM to voice opinion (god i sound like a really stroppy bitch but i'm not really ) only to be told by him "I choose my own staff and with 16 yrs experience i think i'm qualified to do so" - so I said well thats not the conversation we had last year etc etc. What to do!!!! Anyway wasn't having any of that so moved her to DESS which was fab and she picked up by at least 2 grades in the next 2 terms. Did year 6 there and is now just started as DESS college.

Sorry for the longwinded response but thought I would say it as it was

Mark Pep

Fairydust, thank you for your opinions, that is exactly the sort of information that we were after.
I am sure that you are not a stroppy bitch.

Anyone else got any experiences, good or bad?

Madam Medusa

yeah, i've got 2 children at horizon school...the eldest has been there for 2 years, and i guess they have sorted out any initial teething troubles, because it's a fab school now. Very progressive, and inclusive, multi-national, school...i'm really happy with it...

MM, xx