Dear Malaboman,

Both of my parents were from Yorkshire, so I think that you should be proud of coming from that famous county.

On a more serious note, have you had any luck with Newton International School? The new school (or second school - I am not sure which) is supposed to be opening in September, so there ought to be some places available. Yes, I agree with you that N.I.S. really ought to have a school website. I made that very point to Mrs Cardwell, the principal of N.I.S., when I spoke to her on the telephone a few weeks ago. She said that a website would be up and running "soon", but of course this is Middle East and therefore things do not always happen when you would expect them to.

Of course most schools in Qatar will have closed for the long summer holiday. If you ring up now, all you will hear is a recorded message or a secretary who will try to be sympathetic but will most probably say, "I am sorry, but I cannot really give you any information about places for next year until the principal returns."

Having said that, keep trying. It may well be that lots of parents have put their children's names down for scores of different schools, so there may well be some vacancies sooner or later.