The International Schools Review Forum

Hello,
I am about to get an interview for this school for a position of French teacher and head of department. I have no experience as a head and first of all, I am scared!
Do you know this school? is it good or not? what salary is good in Bahrain to save aside as well? what are the ups and downs of the place?
any advice welcome.
thank you in advance. :D

Bahrain is a small island and I currently teach here at a different school. I haven't actually heard of that school. I've heard of some of the others, but not this one. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing, but it does mean it's not really heard of much. Bahrain is a great place to live. This is my first year here, but Insh'Allah I'll be here for awhile. It's very laid back. The people are friendly and it's much more open than lots of other ME countries. For example, you can buy alcohol at liquor stores without any rations or special ID's needed. You can also buy pork products. So, all in all, I think it's a very nice blend of west and Middle East. Not sure if you'd be paid in Bahraini Dinar. One BD is about $2.65 so I'd think a fair salary would be somewhere around 1000 dinar per month, but that depends on your experience. Plus if you'll be the head of dept. than you should get more. Since Bahrain is a small island you can't really drive anywhere, but the nice thing is we are so close to lots of great weekend destinations. Teachers at my school have taken some group trips to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Jordan to name a few. You really can travel easily from here. It sounds like a good opportunity for you, but I'd find out a little bit more about the school first.

Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you have heard of the Bahrain Banyan School Dawson?

[quote="Max007"]Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you have heard of the Bahrain Banyan School Dawson?[/quote]

No, i haven't, sorry

[quote="Dawson"]Bahrain is a small island and I currently teach here at a different school. I haven't actually heard of that school. I've heard of some of the others, but not this one. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing, but it does mean it's not really heard of much. Bahrain is a great place to live. This is my first year here, but Insh'Allah I'll be here for awhile. It's very laid back. The people are friendly and it's much more open than lots of other ME countries. For example, you can buy alcohol at liquor stores without any rations or special ID's needed. You can also buy pork products. So, all in all, I think it's a very nice blend of west and Middle East. Not sure if you'd be paid in Bahraini Dinar. One BD is about $2.65 so I'd think a fair salary would be somewhere around 1000 dinar per month, but that depends on your experience. Plus if you'll be the head of dept. than you should get more. Since Bahrain is a small island you can't really drive anywhere, but the nice thing is we are so close to lots of great weekend destinations. Teachers at my school have taken some group trips to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Jordan to name a few. You really can travel easily from here. It sounds like a good opportunity for you, but I'd find out a little bit more about the school first.[/quote]

Thanks a lot Dawson!

Yes, I know a little bit about Bayan School. Our school is quite new and many of our teachers came to us from Bayan. They are all outstanding teachers and if that is any indication then it appears they have a good staff there. I don't know too much about their curriculum. Another teacher told me that she thought it is a pretty good school and she wouldn't have any issue working there (and she's been in Bahrain quite a long time). I think they have a good package and like I said earlier living in Bahrain is very easy (a nice mix of Middle East and western). So I'd say it's a pretty good school.

@Dawson

Do you happen to know anything about IBN Khuldoon national school? I have seen several openings and was wondering if my own children would fit in here? Salary? Reputation? Thanks so much.

gbr1964 wrote:
> @Dawson
>
> Do you happen to know anything about IBN Khuldoon national school? I have
> seen several openings and was wondering if my own children would fit in
> here? Salary? Reputation? Thanks so much.

I know vaguely of it. I talked to some locals at school and they all said it is really good. Some of my students from prominent families have had older siblings go there so I think it's a good one. Sorry, but I don't know anything about their salary. If housing is included, which it almost always is here then a good salary would be around 800 to 1000 BD which would be in the $2000 - $2500 range. Given the cost of living here you'd be quite comfortable on that. As far as your own children I would think they would fit in fine. The students here who are Bahraini are not as stuck up as other countries in the region so they are quite accepting of others. I think your kids would be fine and you'd have a good quality of life with lots of travel opportunities.

gbr1964 wrote:
> @Dawson
>
> Do you happen to know anything about IBN Khuldoon national school? I have
> seen several openings and was wondering if my own children would fit in
> here? Salary? Reputation? Thanks so much.

Here's a great website from the Ministry of Education in Bahrain. They do their own reviews of schools, both private and public, and then score them from 1 Outstanding to 4 Inadequate. The reports are very detailed and give you a good idea what's going on in the school. Please note that not all schools are on there because they have not been reviewed yet. I think many schools are being reviewed this year.

http://en.qaa.bh/reviewreports.aspx