I dislike having to disagree with a fellow hippopotamus, but I do not think that Pink hippo17's comments are very sensible. Many expat parents in Doha are not trained teachers. They are engineers, doctors or whatever, but they are not teachers. That is why they pay lots of school fees and send their children to school, in order for the children to be educated by trained teachers who are supposed to know what they are doing. Yes, of course very young children learn a lot from their parents, but a lot of parents simply do not have the time, the training, the experience or the resources to teach their children at home.
As for SEN children (those who have Special Educational Needs), I think that it would be true to say that there is a lot of pressure on many schools in Doha to focus on the more able students and to ignore the needs of children who are struggling. This is particularly the case in fee-paying schools. Schools that want to boast about their "high academic standards" do not want to give school places to children who might not be able to live up to these high expectations. SEN children usually need additional individual help and (surprise, surprise) that usually costs money.
For many children in "British" school, primary education is, first and foremost, all about language development. Even a Maths or a Science lesson is really all about the English language, as English will be the medium of instruction and a good grasp of the English language, both spoken and written, will be needed by the students if they are going to participate in the lesson and produce written work based on what they have learned. Therefore there is a lot of pressure on schools like Park House to reject non-British children and to offer school places to nice, white English-speaking children who have nice, white English-speaking parents.
I dislike having to disagree with a fellow hippopotamus, but I do not think that Pink hippo17's comments are very sensible. Many expat parents in Doha are not trained teachers. They are engineers, doctors or whatever, but they are not teachers. That is why they pay lots of school fees and send their children to school, in order for the children to be educated by trained teachers who are supposed to know what they are doing. Yes, of course very young children learn a lot from their parents, but a lot of parents simply do not have the time, the training, the experience or the resources to teach their children at home.
As for SEN children (those who have Special Educational Needs), I think that it would be true to say that there is a lot of pressure on many schools in Doha to focus on the more able students and to ignore the needs of children who are struggling. This is particularly the case in fee-paying schools. Schools that want to boast about their "high academic standards" do not want to give school places to children who might not be able to live up to these high expectations. SEN children usually need additional individual help and (surprise, surprise) that usually costs money.
For many children in "British" school, primary education is, first and foremost, all about language development. Even a Maths or a Science lesson is really all about the English language, as English will be the medium of instruction and a good grasp of the English language, both spoken and written, will be needed by the students if they are going to participate in the lesson and produce written work based on what they have learned. Therefore there is a lot of pressure on schools like Park House to reject non-British children and to offer school places to nice, white English-speaking children who have nice, white English-speaking parents.