Talka

Hello! Our family is moving to Houston and considering sending our children to the British International School. I would be interested in hearing about experiences (positive and negative) that anyone has had with the school - particularly the Primary Section.

Also - I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a good counsellor / child psychologist who has experience in dealing with young children with ADHD / anxiety issues.

Thanks!

Yorkie100

Hi Talka, we're still considering an offer for Houston, but also looking at the British School but at the senior school. I asked similar question and got some good feedback to my question posted yesterday, if you search.

Yorkieabroad

As the "other Yorkie" ;-) mentioned, there was a thread on this recently, so wont repeat the comments on the British School.

On the other thing, I don't have any personal experience of ADHD with my kids, but I would say that from collating medical forms in our Cub Scout Pack and Scout Troop, a huge number of kids here are diagnosed with ADHD and are receiving counselling and/or medication, so I suspect if you get here, you will not have a shortage of counsellors to select from.

Pulaski

We looked seriously at the British American School in Charlotte, NC, which is under common ownership with the British International School in Houston, and we were very impressed. The resources and teaching appears to be top-notch, and the class sizes were great, with a 1:12 teacher to pupil ratio.

The deciding factor for us is that the Charlotte "branch" is still a growing school, and when we were looking 3-4 years ago only had 130 pupils in the whole school, so about 10-12 per year, and we felt that there were social and group activity drawbacks to such a small institution. The plan was to double the size of the school, but still year groups of only a couple of dozen is a pretty small school. If we were planning to return to the UK, or were arriving from the UK with a child aged 10+, then our decision would likely have been different.

Khoular

My two children attended BSOH for about three years. I don't really have any complaints, though I perhaps don't take as much interest in their education as I should.
The buildings were quite old - but note they are moving to a new site (near Katy) in September 2016.
I think in general the ISB and Awty schools were considered better.

Bomjeito

Our tots are almost three, but we've been here in Houston 5 years. We had planned to send them to BISH.

Since being here, talking to other families, we are leaning now toward the Village School.

What you haven't shared with us is the must have features of the school. Many do place their older kids there for the more seamless transition back to the UK schooling.

Are you here long term or on the 1 or 2 year rotation plan?

BISH tends to have kids on the short term - a few years. What I've heard from families is that the ones here long term find their kids quite sad when yet another friend leaves. And that has been happening a lot here the past 9 months - parents get often only 30 days to pack out.

Folks also aren't too happy on the present location and facilities, but that is being sorted with the new campus in 2016.

We like the Village School for the permanence of the students, the wider diversity, and the sharper focus on science/math/technology. But heck, our kids are not yet three.

BISH isn't as highly regarded these days - especially with so many other great places to send your kids - private or public.

And as to your question about counselors for ADHD - the USA (and Houston) is awash with counselors for it. Just be wary as they are very keen to medicate without 'counseling'. (JMHO.)