Parent's Review of Al Bayan Bilingual School in Hawally, Kuwait

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

Al Bayan Bilingual School

In what town or city is this school located?

Hawally

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

Blended Bilingual + American

What grade levels are represented at this school?

N-12

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

By car. Either a parent or their driver will drop them off..

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

I read the last review and boy have things changed. The entire Hawally campus was rebuilt/remodeled from 2006-2010. The school has large classrooms with smart boards. It has campus wide wifi. The school sports 2 gymnasiums which contain 3 FIBA basketball courts, 3 volleyball courts, 10 badminton courts, 2 small outdoor soccer pitches, a 400 seat theater, canteen, blacktop basketball/volleyball court, and two play ground areas. The enrollment of this school is between 2100-2300 students. The extracurricular activities program at Al Bayan struggled to field teams until 2008 when they hired Mr. Zachary as their Athletic Director and Mr Phil and Ms Camelia as PE teachers and coaches. Since that time the school has won many local and international championships in track, basketball, volleyball, and soccer. They are members of the local KSAA and also ISAC at the international level. They started a student lead robotics team. Activities at this school include Model United Nations, speech & debate, and academic games.

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?

Al Bayan is a bilingual university preparatory school that sends 100% of its students to university. About half go to universities in the USA. My child is now attending a university in Caifornia after recently graduating from Al Bayan. The issue that we, and many others, have with Al Bayan is that the Arabic and Islamic religious courses are mandatory yet have no relevance to students that attend university in the North America or Europe. Many families take their children out of this school for that reason and send them to ASK or UAS where Arabic is taught like a second language and Islamic is not mandatory. The high school is rigorous and doesn't leave much time for extracurricular activities due to the projects and tests the teachers give......OFTEN! I got the feeling that every high school teacher wanted their course to be the priority.

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

The PTA was stopped at the end of the school year in 2013 but started again this year with new parents.

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

This is the elite school in Kuwait that the Kuwaiti people want to send their children too but students must be bilingual in English and Arabic to get in. They also must pass a difficult exam to be accepted if they are high school students.

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