Schooling Finalised - At last!

As you have probably worked out from my other posts relating to schooling, getting places can be an absolute headache.

Let alone getting two places for two different grades at the same school to make things easier!

Following the recent visit to Doha of Nadia and the girls during which time we took the opportunity to go and visit a few of the schools that we had applied for and also allow the youngest to complete necessary assessments that were outstanding.

Following these visits and some more discussion we decided on our final choice.

The girls will be joining the GEMS Education schools here in Doha (Al Wakra). Yes that is plural and here's where the plot thickens.

The existing GEMS school in Doha is GEMS American Academy, which as you can guess in an American curriculum. They are also opening a new school in September 2015, GEMS Wellington, which is a British curriculum and of course our preference.

However, the British school is not opening a year group for the eldest until 2016-17 session, this means that she will have to attend the American school for 1 year and then move across to the British school. The youngest will go directly to the British school.

Fortunately both these schools are on the same campus and next door to each other, so they can still travel together which makes life much easier. The schools are about a 30 minute drive from the villa, but they are planning on running a school bus with a proposed pick up point about 5 minutes from the villa. The school bus is essential, as I don't fancy 2 hours in traffic everyday!

One of the most confusing things is the year groups, the schools (not just GEMS) have different year/grades and use different methods for determining which group the children should be going into. I have a feeling that they might be skipping years, but the school will carry out early reviews at the start of the new school year to ensure they have been placed correctly and will move accordingly if possible.

The main thing is however, the school places have been confirmed, the seat places have had the reservation fees paid so now we can get after planning their relocation!

Here are a couple of videos relating to GEMS;




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