South African moving to Jeddah

Hi Yolande,

Welcome to Expat.com!

Thank you Christine

hello Yolande!!! welcome...
i hope the members in Jeddah area will provide some insights concerning your fast approaching relocation in Jeddah.Good Luck!

Thank you for your reply funkydelicguy

So looking forward to the move. I am reading as much as I can about KSA. Taking in the positive and ignoring the negative. I think if you go with a negative attitude, you may as well stay home.

My only worry at the moment is the school, but the moment we get that sorted out I will be a happy camper.

Kind regards from a cold South Africa

Welcome to Expat.com and to Jeddah.

about the school, I think every school has school bus.

Hi, Myself and my wife are moving out in August with our two youngest. We are going to be teaching at Jeddah school of knowledge. I was there for a couple of weeks recently to sort out visas etc.. It really is a great school, also with South African teachers. We are going to be living on the Sharbatly Compound, great leisure facilities, and a bus that collects the kids for all of the local expat schools I believe. If you want to see images of the compound then inbox me your Facebook address if you wish and I will accept you then you have access to all the photos I took.

Thank you 1967tazz. Sent you a pm. Will have a look at the School you suggested

1967tazz...a question. My son is in grade 1 in South Africa. Our home language is Afrikaans and English but he is in the Afrikaans class. I have now started with extra classes for him to be able to read/write in english by the time we move to Jeddah. Our school year will finish here in SA early December, so we will only move to Jeddah once he has passed grade 1. Do you think he will have to re-do grade 1 there. As it is I kept him back a year because his birthday is only in November and he will be turning 8 this year. The kids here usually starts grade one when they are 6, but he just was not ready to go to school and we kept him in pre-primary for another year...the poor child can not redo grade 1 again....he is going to be the  old man in his class....
I am a worried mother.

welcome to Jeddah, i just arrived 2 weeks ogo from CA

Hi Zackisback
My hubby is leaving for Jeddah in 2 weeks.He is excited and nervous...all in one. I wish we could come with him but we will have to wait awile
How are you finding Jeddah?

Hi Yolandi

We have just moved to Jeddah, still going through the process of getting our kids into school, as they all seem to say sorry we are full, but i must say that once you are actually here they do seem to want to help you out a bit more, none of the schools are really that far apart, has your husband already moved here? Is he already in a compound? Would be great to meet up when you come over. Another thing is unless your permits arent in order i wouldnt worry too much about your son finishing school in SA as the sooner he gets here the better so that he can fit in with the new curriculum. Also email the schools anyway regardless of the messages on their websites.

Regards, Dominique

Hi Dominique
Thank you for your reply
Yes, my hubby is in Jeddah, he has been there for 6 weeks now.
He is going to start looking for schools next week. It was a bit difficult with Ramadan and Eid but it seems like everything is back to normal now.
He is in a temp. compound at the moment and we are trying to get into Sierra or Sharbatly. I am still worried about the schooling, and hopefully he can sort something out before we get there.
Gary is still waiting for his work visa, and as soon as that is done we will be able to get into a compound. We are going to apply for the work visa here in SA....it is going to get processed much quicker.
Please let me know what compound you are in and how you are finding it.
Kind regards
Yolande

You dont have to worry. I got so many south africans near arabian homes...it is closer to south african embASSY..just pack an come....iam from kenya

Welcome to Jeddah
If you need any help please ask me
I was in south Africa 4 years ago for a holiday
People were so helpful there : )
Don't hesitate to ask me about anything but I can't help you in schools cause my son just 3 years old so I don't have any idea about schools in Jeddah

thank you Skydream and msela.

Just waiting for hubby to get his iquama sorted and then we will be there.
So looking forward to it...hubby has been there for 2 months now and I can not wait to see him again.

Will surely ask for help when we get there.
Many thanks

Skydream wrote:

Welcome to Jeddah
If you need any help please ask me
I was in south Africa 4 years ago for a holiday
People were so helpful there : )
Don't hesitate to ask me about anything but I can't help you in schools cause my son just 3 years old so I don't have any idea about schools in Jeddah

Skydream, if your son is 3,you need to start to look around and get him a place - most good schools are full 2 years in advance in Jeddah.

1976tazz
Really...... I didn't know that before
Thank you for your advice
can you recommend any good school in jeddah
Thanks

Skydream wrote:

1976tazz
Really...... I didn't know that before
Thank you for your advice
can you recommend any good school in jeddah
Thanks

Hi, my thoughts are always that it is best for you and your son to go and look around the different schools, you will both know which schools suit your son. As you will know, all children are different and so what is good for one child will not be the best for another. Personally, the schools that I have had contact with are limited, but I can say very many good things about, Jeddah Knowledge (JKIS), The British Continental School (Conti) and where we send our children is Jeddah Prep (JPGS). JKIS and Conti teach to the iBac JKIS is American and Conti a British school, while JPGS is a British school that teaches to the Britsh GCSE(i) examinations. However as I said all are popular and a waiting list for places in some years exists.

Hope this helps.

did you try the english/british school in jeddah??? i know there is one next to its compound where i use to hangout i dont remember the name but i will try to get it for ya

oh sorry i just read the rest of ur post yeh i was talkin about The British Continental School

oh .. i love capetown
i visited it many times

Hi all.

Well more than a year later and we are finally in Jeddah. Hubby has been here for more than a year already. Been here a week and getting use to it now. Hubby went back to work today and I started home schooling my son. We could not get him into the American school. The standards are so much higher than the South African standards. Tried all the other international schools and they are all full. For now we will do the home schooling and try again in December to see if we can then find a place for him in the school.
Moved into a bigger place in the Arabian homes compound. The compound is amazing. everything is here...from a supermarket to the hair salon.
The heat takes some getting use to.When we left South Africa it was winter...and then we stepped off the plane into the hot hot summer. Spend most of our time indoors where it is nice and cool.

Hi, Glad to read that you made it. It must be a relief to finally be here and together with Gary. Hope all goes well for you all, if you need anything or just want to finally get together then let me know. Have a good time.

Hello Yolande

My naam is Elaine en ek bly deesdae in die UK. Ek het saam met my man vroeer in Saudi gebly terwyl hy gewerk het daar.

Ek hoop dit sal goed gaan met jou...kry vir jou genoeg vriendinne en dit sal sommer beter gaan.

Die internasional skole is baie goed en duur daar...maar jou kinders sal dankbaar wees eendag daarvoor.

Liefde

Elaine