My children are half British and half Scandinavian, and it has been impossible to find schooling for them. Consequently, I have been alone here since August 2011. Firstly, the British schools won't entertain them because they are either not British (even though their Father is) or haven't undergone British National Curriculum study. Xenophobia at it's worst I'm afraid. The other pitfall is that whilst the schools cannot offer places for children such as mine, they are quite happy to accept the QR500 non-refundable application fee for each child - which in my situation is QR1,500 for each school application. One highly regarded British school - I will not mention the name - proudly announced to me that they have 1,000 kids on the waiting list. 1,000 x 500 = 500,000!! My advice...give Qatar a miss if you have school age children and your company has no "contacts" within a school. Good Luck!