My daughter was one of the first European kids to go to QA. She was surrounded by Qataries, though now there are a lot more other nationalities there. I personally think it was a much better school than the "british" schools that she was in beforehand. First of all the classes were much smaller, the activities are extremely good. Some of the depertments are bigger than some of the British schools in total. The teachers are all first rated. Yes there is extreme wealth in the school, but there is difference all over no, and mostly my daughter was better accepted as a foreigner than some of the locals....Besides they have counsellors available at all times and whenever there was a problem it got taken care of. They had zero tolerance for non academic performance and I know of some kids that were expelled (locals).Academic standard are very high. The materials & books excellent. I have only good comments. I can highly recommend it. Yes it goes according to the islamic calender, yes Arabic is the language on the playground. But my daughter learned her Arabic this way and having arabic lessons and she is fully bilingual. I can say this is only a plus and could be very useful in the future. Also when your child is in QA she will automatically be able to go to the senior school, as well it is in close contact with the local universities.
So my message is, the QA is in my experience the best. But it is up to you, if you want to stay "pure" British, not want your child to have the experience of a different culture, friends etc, this school is not for you.
My daughter was one of the first European kids to go to QA. She was surrounded by Qataries, though now there are a lot more other nationalities there. I personally think it was a much better school than the "british" schools that she was in beforehand. First of all the classes were much smaller, the activities are extremely good. Some of the depertments are bigger than some of the British schools in total. The teachers are all first rated. Yes there is extreme wealth in the school, but there is difference all over no, and mostly my daughter was better accepted as a foreigner than some of the locals....Besides they have counsellors available at all times and whenever there was a problem it got taken care of. They had zero tolerance for non academic performance and I know of some kids that were expelled (locals).Academic standard are very high. The materials & books excellent. I have only good comments. I can highly recommend it. Yes it goes according to the islamic calender, yes Arabic is the language on the playground. But my daughter learned her Arabic this way and having arabic lessons and she is fully bilingual. I can say this is only a plus and could be very useful in the future. Also when your child is in QA she will automatically be able to go to the senior school, as well it is in close contact with the local universities.
So my message is, the QA is in my experience the best. But it is up to you, if you want to stay "pure" British, not want your child to have the experience of a different culture, friends etc, this school is not for you.
Aisha-Taweela