British School in Riyadh

It all depends on your expectations. Compared with the average state school in the UK it's pretty good.

The BISR isn't cheap so it is advisable to get the school fees included in your contract if possible.

Thank you Sandman for your prompt reply. My kids go to, what is seen as a very good state school in Surrey. As BIS is a fee paid school we would expect higher level of education. I found very contradicting opinions about British School in Riyadh on different forums. It seems that a new headteacher is doing good things. Can you please tell me if you have children there? Thanks.

Yes, I have children at the British School. My own experience has been mixed.

As you correctly point out there is a new head teacher at the the school who has promised improvements and I am keen to see what these may be.

The difficulty for this, and other schools in the Kingdom, is that Saudi is not really up there on most people's top 10 places to come and work. Consequently unless the school is prepared to pay top salaries they will not attract and retain the best teachers. This certainly seems to be reflected in the seemingly large number of "teachers" that came to the school originally as a spouse of someone already working in Saudi and then because of boredom (big killer) or whatever decided to 'fall' into teaching. Now I'm not saying that some of these aren't great teachers but the system seems a bit too hit and miss for me.

My other main critisism is that the school seems very crowded for the number of pupils. It seems that there has been a bit of a cram em in policy which must lead to a strain on resources.

On the plus side the whole experience has given my children a new cultural perspective that they would never have had if they had stayed in the UK. Also the British school is able to offer new experiences such as Arabic lessons which is fantastic.

Sandman, thanks and can you please tell me how many children are in classrooms. I had impression that school space is quite big on their web. Also, what about clubs at schools? They have listed quite few on the web site but I'm not sure of quality. If we move to Riyadh we would be living in a small compound, probably 40 minutes drive from school and I would rather my children attend some clubs at school than outside.
Thanks a lot.

Our second daughter attened the Brit School in Riyadh in the early 90s. It was excellent then. However, we are also hearing that standards have dropped and fees have gone up.

Our older gal went to the American School in Dhahran and then, later on, in Riyadh.

I still prefer the latter based on the two different branas we have on hand. They are now 35 and 29, respectively, succesful in life and working within their own careers in Riyadh. Yet, two entirely different personalities.

We need to wear two hats to deal with them, whenever we have to. Its been a re-education for the Mrs and me, too.

Thank you all for your replies. I have to admit that I'm a little bit disappointed, I was expecting that BISR would be much better place considering its fee. Well, now we've got to do some rethinking... If anybody else feels to contributes with their comments about school it would help us a lot. Enjoy sunshine!

nada, I talked to my daughter last evening and she stated that the main reason for the downturn at the BISR is the poor quality of the staff they have been hiring lately. God knows why?

I am sure the facilities, equipment, and state of the art technology is still available. However, it may be that the manner inwhich the curriculum is being carried out now has changed for the worse? Just guessing using some common sense.

The other daughter also chipped in by saying that the education standard at the Anerican School (SAISR) has also dipped but not as bad as the BISR.

Why is education taking a nosedive when everything lese is moving UP?

Nada,

I wouldn't be put off by my last post, I have to point out again the benefits of comming to a place like this. It really is a cultural eye opener. 

I think that the number of pupils per classroom is OK. Im not sure how many it would be but on average I reckon it's less than 20. However the number of classes per year is quite big. This therefore puts a strain on resources like the playing areas and sports facilities.

The facilities at the school are pretty good and the children have access to the swimming pool etc. (there's even a Starbucks on the school grounds so after you drop your children off you can get a coffee )

I think that the fundamental problem is the staff. The school needs to attract properly qualified and provenly capable staff. e.g. It's pointless having good music facilities if you don't have good music teachers.

Hopefully the new head master will take control of this issue.

Thank you Sandman for your reply. Now I think I have a good picture about school. It is sad that education is going down really and I just cannot understand why they do not pay good money to good teachers. Is it all about making  profit?

Regards.

I sort of sympathize with the School's position. The main pool of manpower for the School should be the UK as thse are the people experienced in teahing the UK curriculum however the standard of teaching in the UK has progressively gone down due to teachers being forced to be paper pushers and administrators rather than teaching. The very best teachers are recruited by the private sector therefore, in order to attract the best the BIS has to compete with the top UK private schools and it must take alot of incentives to get a teacher to come to Saudi.

Plus recruituing single women as teachers here in Saudi must be twice as hard as it must be very daunting indeed comming here on one's own as a woman.

If it's any consolation I have heard the same issues exist in many of the internatioanl schools here.

This may be an intersting event to atend in order to be able to meet with and also get an idea of the education system and standard at the American International School in Riyadh. We have bought six tickets for the event on Wednesday evening and hope to attend:-.

Another Event...

ARE TEACHERS HUMAN?

AIS-R High School Theatre Productions presents a comedy, written by James Reach and published by Samuel French.

Come join us on April 20th and 21st from 7:00 - 10:00 PM

at the American International School of Riyadh, Larkin Theatre

Tickets are 30SR each and can be purchased by emailing Mrs. Nidal Al-Moumen:
nalmoumen@ais-r.edu.sa
966-1-491-4270         966-1-491-4270 ext. 231

Thanks Musicman, that looks iteresting.

I have heard rumours of a new international school being set up here in Riyadh which will not be based upon any one nation's curriculum but will follow the International Baccalaureate.

More choice would be a good thing.

That would be very welcome. There are many rumors floating around about foreign Universities being allowed to set up campus in KSA similar to what UAE has achieved vry successfully. Lets hope it will happen and provide the much needed relief to the many hundreds of thousands of starved students here?