Is it interesting to look at? Inspiring to walk on?
Maybe it is full of trees and greenery, or maybe it is lined with apartment buildings that all look the same.
Where an international teacher lives is important, but you don’t always initially get what you are looking for…your dream neighborhood.
But some international school teachers luck out and find the perfect area to live in which matches their hopes and dreams.
Even if it is not on your dream street, wherever you live often becomes your home. And when you live in a certain area for 1+ years, that area creates many fond memories of that time in your life.
At ISC, we are really curious to see the streets our members are living on. The next time you leave for or come back from work, take a picture with your smartphone of the street that you live on. We’ll have a vote and then chose the top 3 photos that are the most interesting to win the photo contest prizes!
So, what is your best of the street you live on? Submit your photo to us and enter our photo contest! All participants receive free premium membership to our website!
Photo contest topic: Best photo of the street you live on
The PRIZES: 1st prize: 2 YEARS FREE of premium membership 2nd prize: 1 YEAR FREE of premium membership 3rd prize: 6 MONTHS FREE of premium membership
(Those submissions that are not in the top three will receive 1 free week of premium membership just for participating.)
Send your photo to editor @ internationalschoolcommunity.com. Please remember to:
• Write your name and email address • Attach your picture and write a short description about it • Enter these words in your subject: International School Community Photo Contest Entry: Best photo of the street you live on
or Tweet the photo and mention our profile @IS_Community to make sure we will see it. If you are on Instagram, tag us when you post the photo and/or use the official hashtag #iscommunityphoto
(Deadline to submit your photo: Monday, 23 May 2022. Maximum one photo entry per contestant.) Winners will be contacted around 4-5 days after the contest deadline and that is also when all participants will receive their free premium membership prizes.
Around the world, there are countries (like Kuwait) that have more than one international school. Many times there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum.
The big question always is…how do the comments about each school compare to each other?
This blog series looks at comparing some of these comments, all coming from international schools in the same country.
Kuwait
Currently, we have 26 schools listed in Kuwait on International School Community.
17 of these schools have had comments submitted on them. Here are some that have the most submitted comments:
“Teachers can save 15% of their salary on average and you could definitely support a non-teaching spouse on this salary…” – The Universal American School
“Saving money here is doable if you are conservative. Many staff tutor which almost doubles their income. I know of many staff that tutor enough for their travel and cost of living so they bank near all of their salary. As a single provider with a family tutoring would be a must to save…” – American Creativity Academy
“I can save around 1000 to 1500 USD each month. Kuwait can be an expensive country, but because the dinar is strong (it’s the strongest currency in the world), it doesn’t fluctuate much at all when compared with the dollar…” – Al Bayan Bilingual School
School Campus
“The school is in a new state-of-the art purpose-built building; with a multi-level cinema with a capacity of 80 seats, 2 floors theater of 400 seats, 2 swimming pools, 4 science labs, 4 computer labs, 2 basketball courts, 4 libraries & a 3 cafeterias…” – Ajial Bilingual School
“The school is now in a new building with new equipment and furniture, rooftop playground for seniors and two play areas for Early Years providing climbing equipment, bicycles and imaginative play area…” – Cambridge English School Mangaf
“The school relocated from Surra to its present location in Salmiya, Kuwait City in 1995. The campus, sheltered by a brick wall from the wind and weather, has middle and high school buildings that open onto an interior court in the Arabic style and three elementary buildings that surround an open play area. A 1200 seat auditorium, an indoor gymnasium and a sheltered outdoor gymnasium form another part of the complex. The roof of these structures holds a third story soccer field and running track…” – American International School Kuwait
Housing Information
“Staff housing has very basic furnishing. Nice places though. Need to pay the caretaker 5KWD a month for services. No utilities to pay…” – American International School Kuwait
“Shared accommodation for teachers or a housing allowance. Management have single accommodation. Utilities paid for except gas which is very cheap. There is internet but poor connection so most teachers provide their own…” – Cambridge English School Mangaf
“Foreign hires get single furnished apartments that are well-equipped and very nice…” – Ajial Bilingual School
Benefits for Teachers with Children
“Shameful that an expatriate would have to pay 50% for their child to attend a school where they would be the only non Arab and only English speaker. That 50% means you would still pay about 6000 US…” – American Creativity Academy
“Teachers without IB experience may find their workload higher than usual until they adjust. Teachers are usually expected to participate in and/or lead extra curricular activities, one day per week…” – American International School Kuwait
“Most staff are there for the money and don’t have high expectations. They arrive as late as possible and leave on the dot…” – Cambridge English School Mangaf
“When I worked there, core subject secondary teachers taught an average of four 45-minute periods per day, with occasional subbing duties. All teachers were required to supervise one after-school extra curricular club or activity for six weeks per year…” –Ajial Bilingual School
(These are just 5 of the 66 different comments topics that are on each school profile page on our website.)
If you work at an international school in Kuwait, share what you know. Consider becoming a Mayor for unlimited free premium membership!
When there is a supportive environment at a school, then everyone thrives.
But times can get stressful and things can change at the last minute in schools which can cause teachers and other stakeholders to seek help and support.
If there is a supportive environment at a school, then these stakeholders are likely to lend a helping hand to others in need.
There are many stressors at an international school: new students starting all of the time (some that are even new to English), endless meetings (sometimes not so useful for everyone), workload, having to reply to concerning parent emails, etc.
During the COVID19 pandemics, all stakeholders at the school really needed help and support to cope with all of the changes (sometimes very last minute!) to how your school runs their day and teaches their students.
But luckily, there are some international schools out there that have quite nice and supportive environments for their students, teachers, staff, and parents.
So which international schools then have these supportive environments for their stakeholders? Can you guess which countries/schools around the world would make for the best supportive conditions?
Luckily, ISC was designed to help international school teachers find the information they are looking for. Using the Comment Search feature (premium membership needed), we found 166 comments that had the keyword “supportive” in them. Here are 11 of them:
Vietnam
“The school meets my expectations due to on-time and competitive salary / benefits; broad range of Cambridge curriculum, excellent facilities, supportive administration, involved and supportive parents, mostly cooperative colleagues, excellent IT support, fresh and free Vietnamese lunches and incredible students…” – VinSchool The Harmony (18 total comments)
China
“The school has been supportive during the pandemic. During the height, when many teachers we outside of china, the school often let us know that our jobs were safe, which was much appreciated…” – Keystone Academy (189 total comments)
Italy
“For starters administration is awesome. The head of school and principals are supportive and empathetic. Now that the epidemic is ebbing we are starting to have community-building events such as happy hours…” – American Overseas School of Rome (40 total comments)
Argentina
“Appraisals are held by the HoD which are usually very supportive and motivates teachers to improve and develop further their teaching practices…” – St Georges College (27 total comments)
Turkey
“Very well established IGCSE Cambridge school with lots of international teachers. Few students are Turkish. Others are foreigners. Even though students represent many different countries including England, Venezuela, and Korea, they are mostly from Middle Eastern countries. Very supportive staff. No hierarchy at all. You feel real like working in USA or Canada. As long as you treat your students as your King and be loyal to them and master IGCSE you d be doing great there…” – Istanbul International School (15 total comments)
“There is a probationary observation after about 3 months then a mixture of formal observations and drop-ins by senior and middle managers. The system is generally positive and supportive…” – Lanna International School (LIST) (55 total comments)
Czechia
“There are sufficient staff children that the school is very flexible and supportive to working parent needs. For example, there is a shuttle bus across the various sites, so if a staff member works at one campus with children at another, the children are transported for free on the shuttle bus…” – Prague British International School (65 total comments)
Bahamas
“If you are active, there is a wonderful community of open water swimmers, bikers, and runners, etc. to connect with. There’s also the annual Conchman triathlon that takes place every November that is a great event to train for and participate in. It really brings the community together and everyone is very supportive. Great for the kids, too. There are other events to look forward to as well, including the annual Bernie Butler’s swim race and beach party in August…” – Lucaya International School (30 total comments)
United Arab Emirates
“The Headteacher is always approachable and will back you and support you. My department was amazing, a great group of people. Very supportive. There is a community feel around the school…” – Ajman Academy (44 total comments)
United Kingdom
“Excellent, caring, supportive teachers who truly understand their students and how they learn best! Lots of wealth & mostly traditional families but it is growing more diverse…” – American School of London (49 total comments)
