British Family Moving to Malaysia - Looking for Affordable Schools

2POSTS

7 years ago

Hello everyone,
Pleased to meet you!

My family and I will be relocating to Malaysia in about a month or so, which has been a swift decision so I haven't had much time to plan schooling and find a place to live yet. My husband is travelling to Malaysia next week to arrange schooling and properties to view, so I am doing as much research as possible beforehand.

We are a family of 5, my 3 sons are of primary age (9,7 and 5) and I am looking for a reasonable priced school, with a good expat attendance, and also experienced expat teachers. I understand that this doesn't come cheap, however I don't want to compromise on their education, and want it to be on par with what they have already received in the UK.

My husband's work place will be in the Damansara Heights region, and we have looked at living in the Damansara/Mont Kiara area, but the schools seem extortionate! so far, I am keenly interested in The British School KL, and Gems Tropicana, although this is further out for us. The Garden School is out of our budget. Mont Kiara School looks good also, but it seems to be American style? I would prefer British to make transitioning easier for our boys.

Please could anyone offer any advice to me regarding the distance, schools, and expat communities we should consider?

Thanks in advance!

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Gravitas ViP

9040POSTS

7 years ago

The British International School in KL is about the best fit academically. Check their busing arrangements to get an idea where it's possible to live. Pupils will come from a wide area in the Klang Valley to attend schools.

Just to put it in perspective, the https://www.expat.community in KL is 0.3% of the population so most schools are made up of Malaysian children. However there are plenty of British-trained teachers working in KL but they are spread around the top-ranking (most expensive) schools. The majority of international schools in Malaysia are British curriculum. Having said that, it's not exactly the same curriculum as in schools in the UK.

This article may help eliminate schools on cost-basis https://www.imoney.my/articles/10-most- … ang-valley

You may have found this website https://schooladvisor.my/

Do be aware there can be waiting lists at some schools for certain years. The terms have just begun here.

You may want to check out the international school at Desa Park City https://isp.edu.my/ and not on the most expensive list Sri KDU (which has had a lot of British teachers working there) https://schooladvisor.my/schools/sri-kd … al-school/

Together with Mont Kiara, DPC is another expat favourite area.

I would suggest thinking about your stay in Malaysia as a chance for your boys to learn Mandarin if possible

Member KiwinKL might be an interesting member here to DM https://www.expat.com/en/search/asia/malaysia/

Gravitas ViP

9040POSTS

7 years ago

KiwinKL wrote:
Hi - I recently put together a map showing the locations of (most) international schools in the city. This might be helpful to you?

https://goo.gl/Q6yt3k

Alice Smith is superb and certainly up there with the strongest British schools in the country. ISKL is also excellent. I'm sure your daughter would thrive in either school - I wouldn't probably consider BSKL due to the distance.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific school questions or if I can help in any other way!

Tootie-Frootie Member

2POSTS

7 years ago

Thank you for the information Gravitas, I will look at these more closely.

Nemodot ViP

2128POSTS

7 years ago

What's affordable? Average International school fees in Asia are 30,000 usd per year per child. A decade ago expat contracts included school fees but now there is a growing market for self paid schools. Most are rubbish though. Anything under 10,000 usd per year in Malaysia will be a risky proposition. Most of the higher rate schools now have growing numbers of locals as expats thinning out.