Primary Schools

Some schools advertise maximum of 22, but in reality they have about 24 in each class. I'm not sure about Compass but Doha College and DESS are meant to be good. My friends went to Doha College (they grew up here and seemed to like it!)

I would recommend that you start applying now as places are pretty hard to come by (unless, of course, you know the right people!)

Thanks for all the info...anyone know if there's limits on class sizes? I'm hoping to find somewhere that doesn't have more than 25 kids in the class (though 20 would be even better!).

Any inside knowledge on Compass? As from the websites I'm leaning towards that as the best option for me since it's the only one talking about differentiating the childs learning according to ability rather than age groups...

Frida

There are many British Curriculum schools to choose from but I would get their names down on the waiting lists now!

We have been here for 2 months and my children have only just got into schools. It has been a massive undertaking. From nursery to year 4 there are HUGE waiting lists. They are currently taking applications for September in most of the schools.

In my opinion and experience so far the following schools are all excellent and reasonably priced.

Parkhouse School, Doha Montessori and British School, Doha English Speaking School (DESS), Newton British School (not Newton International), and Doha College.

hope this helps

Pass on Compass--huge fees that line the pockets of the profiteering international company.

DESS is the best. Doha college is second. Parkhouse is worth a look.

DESS is the British-Embassy sponsored primary school and it fellows the national curriculum of England and Wales. British passport holders have priority. All teachers have their qualifications from the UK.

Doha College is similar to DESS, but it also has a senior school.

Compass has an international curriculum, but a strong British presence.

DESS is definitely not a for-profit school. I don't think Doha College is, but I believe Compass is (it's part of an international group with locations around the world).

All of them have waiting lists, so I would advise getting in touch with the schools soon.

Hello,

I've been in Doha for a while now and I'm not sure of any small schools as most of them are run as businesses so the owners want as much money as they can (which means cramming children into classes unfortunately). As far as I know there is nothing comparable to a small 4-class school in Scotland. It will be more likely that each year group will have 4 or 5 classess in it!

On a positive note the schools with a larger mix of children would be Qatar International School (I know a few teachers there who are very good). The non-profit school in Qatar is called Qatar Academy and has amazing facilities (don't know many teachers there). Gulf English School has a fantastic infant department, which would be where your children would start off and the teachers are fantastic. The deputy head of infants really knows how to run a school and all teachers are either Scottish, English, South Africans or Kiwis.

Coming from Scotland you'll be used to what is probably the best education system in the world so you'll obviously want a high standard for your children to continue their own education. The Gulf English School has a large Qatari population but the few 'Western' kids that are there have fitted in fine.

Also DESS has a fairly mixed band of pupils at it too.

I hope this is helpful to you, Doha's a fantastic place to live. Just don't be put off by the extreme heat when you arrive here! (the winter is awesome)