entrance exams for schools

This seems to be the strange thing. How important is the entrance test? Or is it as you say a British passport and cash gets them in. We have visited the schools that follow the british and international curriculum - on the whole most have been very helpful and friendly - but one in particular (the name of our city is in its name) was particularly unhelpful and cold towards us. Some schools have said a formal test on Math, English and some science - others have said multiple choice - I don't know if my daughter is at the right stage or if she needs to do some extra work - and if so what work - if anyone has any information on the exams - I would very much appreciate some guidance - it is beginning to worry me - or am I worrying unecessarily and just the passport and money will get her a place!?

My old sparring partner Squarepeg is quite right, of course. A lot of schools in Doha have little or no provision for SEN children and there is not much in the way of EAL support either. Trying to get the students through a curriculum that is in their second language is no easy task, so of course many schools would prefer to have more students for whom English is their "mother tongue".

If a school has a significant proportion of Qatari students, then of course the Supreme and Absolutely Perfect Education Council of Qatar will want to make sure that the little darlings are getting lots and lots of lessons in Arabic and Islamic Studies. (That's a fat lot of use if your family are not Muslims and and you speak English as your first language.) Learning Arabic may sound like a fun thing for your child to do, but it isn't because the Arabic teachers follow the Supreme and Immaculate Education Council's orders and therefore they teach it in a really dull and useless way, instead of concentrating on conversational Arabic that could be useful and enjoyable. As for Islamic Studies, the teachers (who are usually Egyptians or Lebanese) do not want to lose their jobs and so they let the students see the exam papers before the actual exams, so that they can memorise all of the answers. Then the students get amazingly high marks and everyone is happy.

Hippo, do I detect a hint of cynicism in your references to our wonderful and wise Supreme Education Council? Surely you know that when the SEC says "jump", the proper response is to ask "how high?". And don't forget to wash your hands first.

To keep the forum on track... you are from the UK so I wouldnt worry in the least about the entrance exams. These exams are general knowledge tests which determine what level she is at and her english abilities.

As for Islamic and arabic studies, they arent mandatory at a lot of international school (only in some instances are arabic lessons mandatory but certainly not Quran).

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock - Will Rogers"

Hippo, what you are telling her has absolutely nothing to do with what she is asking, and to be honest a british passport does nothing for her if she is applying to a non-British school and then may not have much weight if the school does not have a policy of allowing entrance to it nationals first.

Also, the huge pile of cash is baloney as well. If you have the money to pay the fees, or the company pays thats sufficient.

The exams are also for the 2010 start, which she will have sufficient time for climbing the waiting list. It isn't as cynical as you make it seem, and I may add that the Qatar canadian school is governered by the Ministry of Education and offers neither arabic nor Quran at this point, but do offer french as it is the second language of Canada.

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock - Will Rogers"

Again Hippo, has absolutely nothing to do with what the poster is asking. I am sure she is aware of the school fees if she is sitting for an exam for 2010.

The rest is nonesense as well. I have been here 10 plus years and my children have been given places in more than half of the schools you mention and we dont have British passports nor is our school funding coming from our company.

People who complain about not having a spot in school are the ones who wait until the last minute to register. She is registering for September 2010. If I do recall it is now November 2009, more than 10 months in advance.....

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"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock - Will Rogers"