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What to consider when Choosing a Quality High School

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International high school From their first breath on, parents wonder and worry about their kids. They dream about the future and try to imagine how their children will look like, if they will be healthy, how they will grow up and what they someday will be. Responsible parents never stop thinking about their children and plan the future of their offspring way ahead of time. This includes education, which will largely determine if a youngster will fail or succeed in life. By the time children reach puberty, most parents already have learned a few tricks on how to choose a suitable school for their kids and know most of the determining factors. • Is the school in a safe neighborhood? • How far does the child have to travel? • Is transportation affordable and convenient? • What programs and extra-curricular activities does the school have to offer? • Are the class sizes acceptable? • How high are the fees and other expenses? • Do children require a uniform and how much will that...

How to choose best international school?

It is true to say that choosing the best international schools for your child is all about finding the school which offers the best fit for their needs. While every school is unique, making comparisons between schools can be difficult. Big  international schools  are not always superior and the quality of teaching and learning is not always amplified. However, in today's world it is fashionable to pay high prices for schooling under the long term assumption that the needs of a child will be met through large scale commercialised education. So should parents choose a school based on the size of a sports field or on the activities that happen on the field? For some parents – the size of the building is more important than what is actually happening inside its closed doors or on its manicured sports fields. Some schools market their facilities in the same way unprincipled carpet sellers ply their wares under the concept of ‘forget the quality feel the width'!  Just because ...

How to Choose an International School for Your Child

As an expatriate parent how do you choose the right educational approach and international school for your child, especially the right international school for primary education ? When researching this article it was quite clear that despite the fact that the question of which school to send expat children to is high on the list of thousands of expatriate parents’ minds each year, few online resources have given much time to offering solutions and support to these parents. Sure, each international school in the world has a list of reasons why you should consider giving them your cash and entrusting them with your child, but before you get down to looking at the specifics of a single educational establishment, we understand that there are other issues to think about such as whether your child will cope away from home at boarding school, thrive better in a state school or need to go to a school where their familiar curriculum is being taught. Moving abroad is a massive undertaking, and w...

A guide to choosing an international school

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Expat parents can feel overwhelmed when it comes to selecting the best international school  for their child. Here are a few useful tips on finding the right fit. Visit a school and talk to the people who work there about the hopes, fears and expectations that you have for your child When it comes down to it, most of us want the same basic things for our children. We want them to be safe, happy, to have friends, to do the right thing, to learn something about themselves and the world around them, and to have the best possible future beyond childhood. Of course, there is much more we might go on to say. We might expect our children to learn a new language, become proficient in the creative arts, grasp an understanding of complex scientific knowledge or lead a team on the sports field. In the end, however, many of us will settle for knowing that we, as parents, had made choices that ensured our children became happy, successful and ethical members of society.

The World of International Schools

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What is an international school? International schools are private schools serving mostly expatriate children (diplomats, multinational corporation executives, NGO staff), and usually some local families (that can afford the steep tuition). Student population is usually diverse, with students from many different countries. Most schools offer grades PK – 12 (ages 5 – 18), but some are restricted to high school or primary school, depending on the needs of the population. International schools usually choose to follow a curriculum model from the US, UK, Canada or Australia/New Zealand. Sometimes you can tell by the name of the school (like the American School of Dubai) but others are more ambiguous (like the International School Bangkok). Still others choose to pull from all different curriculum options, finding the mix that best suits their student population. Many international schools also choose to run the International Baccalaureate program, which consists of the IB P...

Top international schools

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      A large part of this post is dedicated to finding the best independent preparatory school for your child, but in reality a fair share of internationals prefer their children to be educated in an international setting, particularly in a setting that nurtures entrepreneurship, groupwork and creativity rather than constant testing and test preparation. If this sounds like you, in order to provide useful information you, I also want to feature some top international schools in London. I will start by discussing the top options that start at the Reception age/primary level, but I will also mention the top IB schools in London and what choices of primary schools might lead there. Top international schools for primary education Hill House International Junior School  – discussed in detail here and  here, Hill House is a family-run Swiss school that does follow the National Curriculum of Britain and does prepare children for the British 11+ and ...

The Benefits of an International School Education

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The growing number of  international schools  around the world is allowing parents to choose an alternative kind of education for their children - an education for the real world of global communication, international opportunity and cultural diversity. This is an education which goes far beyond the confines of the classroom and sees in the learning process the chance for some remarkable lessons. International schools  are no newcomers to the educational marketplace - but there are certainly different "types" of international school. Some international schools serve a largely expatriate community and focus on teaching a set national curriculum that provides access to tertiary education back in a particular home country. Other international schools have far more diverse student populations and offer opportunities for young people to graduate into a world-wide educational environment with international curriculum . However, in recent years there has been a growing ...