Lulu 1964

Hi there,
We are relocating to Houston from the UAE, we are british and we will be looking for a school for our 12 and 14 year old kids. Can anyone tell us their experiences of schools in the Katy area. Should i stick to international schools or have any expats put their kids into public schools ?????
Many Thanks

Weeze

We used public school. It was excellent. Generally Katy ISD is very well rated. Ours are younger though (kinder and 1st grade).
The British school is in Houston but they are just starting work on the new location in Katy.

Owen778

We are in Cypress Fairbanks ISD, which is also good, though my kids are actually American. Your biggest criterion maybe needs to be how long you expect the kids to be in the US - do you expect them to be here until they graduate high school? Do you expect them to attend college (i.e. university) in the US? A change in education system from the US system back to A levels would be difficult.

Suexpat

The British School of Houston will be moving to the Katy Campus in the summer. We were not impressed with the school but it has new management now so I understand it is much better.

Cainess

Unless things have changed drastically, when we investigated sending our kids there a couple of years ago (before we moved to Arkansas), it was EXTORTIONATELY expensive, way beyond what I could afford, and I'm an engineer....

Unless you or your husband/wife are minted, I'd say forget that and look to see what you can do either with public schools or, esp. in Houston, home-schooling- there is a huge home-schooling network in the city, as many parents no longer trust the public school system either academically or in terms of safety of the kids...

Owen778

I can't comment about the British School, but you're wildly over-generalising on this. School quality and safety in Houston varies both between school districts and, to a lesser extent, within them. Houston ISD itself is certainly sometimes pretty bad, but even there my, admittedly very limited, understanding is that some of the schools are OK. Out in the suburbs, the schools are usually very good, and the few bad schools are in the rough areas. Katy ISD is one of those suburban school districts.

Cainess

Fair enough...I'm only speaking from 'knowledge' my wife has, and she grew up in Katy...perhaps it was different 30 years ago.

I DO know the British School is very, very expensive, though, so unless people are very well off, or are prepared to spend a sizable portion of their 'disposable' income on their kids' education, forget that as an option (alas).

Owen778

Fair enough. I believe you on that.

Suexpat

I think you will find that there are very few parents at the British school paying the school fees themselves as their companies are paying them. If you are there long haul and the green card route then most would send to another school.

Cainess

Yes, that's me....long-term, green card 'legal alien'...

There's no way anyone apart from the VERY wealthy could afford those school fees....

Weeze

Strange. Most of the families I met that used the British school paid for it themselves. They said they used it because it kept them more in line with the British system and they didn't know when they would return to the Uk. There were very few families I met that had it paid for, and the ones that did continued paying for it themselves after their expat deals ended.

It was never a consideration for me as my kids never knew the Uk system.

Cainess

Did you 'hob-nob' with the rich & famous, Mrs. Weeze...??!!! (ps. your hubby is currently gone AWOL from the football thread, though with 'Smiler' McClaren as Geordie manager, that's not a great mystery.... )

debbie1992

My daughter was born here and did "regular" school through elementary. Once she hit middle school we changed her over to the Harmony school system. Their standards are higher and they are public charter school, no fees and smaller classes with more focused education. They may be an option for you and I see you have one in Katy.

-Deb-

Weeze

Well, I don't think so! They all seemed regular.
I asked him. He shuck his head and said he has been busy.

markcst

As someone who has gone through the conversion to the Texas School system just make sure you are prepared to do some work beforehand to make sure your kids get what they need and deserve.

1) Get reports from their current school which breaks down their current level of education, the subjects they have done, the amount of time they spent on each and their achievement in each. Ironically its the hours things that seems to matter most to councilors who will place your kids in class and give them credits.

2) Be prepared, no matter where you think they are for your kids at High school level to be put in a catchup lab or classes. This happened to my son, who is WAY ahead on Physics and Maths compared to kids here and is now, ironically because he zoomed through the catchup, got bored, and did a load of other modules in catchup, even further ahead, such that the Physics teacher he now has wants him in year above classes, but the councilor is refusing... US schools don't get that GSCEs are ahead of what they do, at the same age, is the long an short of that anecdote.

3) Immunizations. Texas schools are strict. If your kids haven't at least started the course of injections, they'll stay at home until they have. BTW they also have the saying no kid left behind...

4) ACTUALLY when you are in the system its great. My daughter is blooming and my Son, despite all the messing him about, is getting a more rounded education rather than him being able to become Sheldon Cooper. (Not that I have a problem with knowledge, I'd just rather he understood there was more to life than String Theory).

5) Just remember where you live picks the school in the Texas public system, there are no exceptions. Make sure you check that your area is NOT being rezoned in the next few years too. The biggest criticism I hear from locals is rezoning of schools. It can literally just be a change of a couple of feet and your door is in a different zone next year.