Parent's Review of The International School of Choueifat in Muscat, Oman

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

The International School of Choueifat

In what town or city is this school located?

Muscat

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

Commercial buisiness, International

What grade levels are represented at this school?

All

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

House boy, Nanny, Bus, Parents

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

Excellent/Facade. Extra curricular activites are available.

What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?

Absolutely nothing! Our child was excelling at his previous school, after one year at this school he was failing.

The curriculum is such that it doesn't promote freedom of thought, expression nor any input from any student, it's all learning by rote. The syllabus is far too advanced for a child of his age, the basic concepts are side stepped leaving students confused and frustrated. There is no written work at all, the students are given 3 tests in all subjects per week which go towards a passing grade for the year. This system is a joke, it's all computerised and multiple choice, no chance for showing workings or creative thought in English. If a student gets correct answers these are counteracted by those which are incorrect, ie if you take a test with 10 questions and get 5 correct and 5 wrong your score will be zero. This does nothing to boost morale of the students, numerous students are failing and nothing is being done about it apart from making them sit more tests. The school offers a webparent system which is frequently down or not updated so you don't know how your child is doing, there is absolutely no feedback from any teacher, no end of term or yearly reports except a computer generated print out of marks! Discipline of students is ridiculous, small issues which should be dealt with between the teacher and student quickly and effectively result in a suspension from school being completely unjustified, eg picking up litter. Education should be teaching children lessons not punishing them for small issues which just gives them a day off school.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

There are no social activities for parents. There is also no parent-teacher organisation. The parents are not allowed to speak to the teachers, they have to go to the administration to find out anything, no parent teacher meetings are organised so you're left completely in the dark as to progress of your child except through the marking system which means nothing except to those who work there!

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

I would advise that anyone seeking to enrol their child at the school thinks very carefully before doing so, the school is quite clearly a commercial business with no thought or consideration for students or parents. This goes against the school's whole ethos, it's a sham, the school looks fantastic on the outside, new facilities and a new building but on the inside it is failing bright students! There was a previous post on this site attacking TLC which is also an International school, however this is a breath of fresh air with children being happy to be there and communication being encouraged together with all the necessary reporting on children and encouragement of parents to have input in all aspects of the running of the school. In my opinion there is no comparison and TLC beats Choueifat hands down every time!

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