{"id":4855,"date":"2015-10-11T08:17:05","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T08:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=4855"},"modified":"2015-10-11T08:17:05","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T08:17:05","slug":"comparing-the-schools-and-comments-working-in-kuala-lumpur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/comparing-the-schools-and-comments-working-in-kuala-lumpur\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing the Schools and Comments: Working in Kuala Lumpur"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around the world, there are cities that have more than one international school. Many times\u00a0there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum.<\/p>\n

Some cities, though, have MANY international schools! \u00a0When that is the case, how do the comments about each school compare to each other?<\/p>\n

This\u00a0blog series looks at comparing some of these comments, all coming from international schools in the same city.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0005\"<\/a> \"IMG_7951\"<\/a>
\n
\nKuala Lumpur<\/strong><\/p>\n

Currently,\u00a0we have 17 schools listed<\/a> in Kuala Lumpur<\/b>\u00a0on International School Community.<\/p>\n

Schools with the most submitted comments:
\nNewlands International School<\/a> (51 comments)
\nGarden International School<\/a> (21 comments)
\nInternational School of Kuala Lumpur<\/a> (99 comments)
\nMont’Kiara International School<\/a> (27 comments)
\nSunway International School<\/a> (15 comments)
\nTaylor’s College<\/a> (16 comments)
\nAlice Smith School<\/a> (8 comments)<\/p>\n

High Expectations for Teachers?<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

“The school’s workload is average. We certainly hear of neighboring (similar caliber) schools who expect a lot more out of their teaching staff. In addition to a normal teaching day, teachers also are expected to lead 2 after school activities (running 10 weeks long each) per year. Coaching satisfies this requirement. This is standard for international schools in Malaysia, as the government requires schools to offer ASAs. Some teachers work until 3:30 (official end of day), and others are consistently there until 5 or later. However, this is a matter of choice and personal work ethic, most often not because of additional duties required by the school.” –\u00a0Mont’Kiara International School<\/a><\/p>\n

“I dont think the workload is particularly heavy although the school has high expectations. A 100% teaching load comes with two non contact hours per day, slightly less in lower grades. In ES some of these blocks are taken up by co-planning and team meetings. After school meetings are twice monthly, relatively low compared to other schools” –\u00a0International School of Kuala Lumpur<\/a><\/p>\n

“Teachers usually take on one extra-curricular.” –\u00a0Taylor’s College<\/a><\/p>\n

“Teachers are trusted but a great commitment is expected. One after school club\/week\/term.” –\u00a0Newlands International School<\/a>
\n<\/a>
\nLanguage Background of the Students<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\n“The students are mainly from the expatriate community of Kuala Lumpur and come from over 50 different countries. Malaysian students are only allowed to attend international schools if they have obtained approval from the Malaysia’s Ministry of Education. The GIS roll currently comprises approximately 40% Malaysian students, the second largest nationality group is British.” –\u00a0Garden International School<\/a><\/p>\n

“The Principal reminds the pupils every day to speak in English but some lapse back into Chinese.” –\u00a0Newlands International School<\/a><\/p>\n

“Chinese dialects, Bahasa Malaysian, some international sts.” –\u00a0Taylor’s College<\/a><\/p>\n

“The school requires students entering after kinder have been previously educated in English. I would say about 75% of the students are fluent in English, and the rest are in the ELL program. Students almost all speak English, even if they have friends who speak their native languages. I am not sure of the exact number, but I would guess about half of the students are native English speakers.” –\u00a0Mont’Kiara International School<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Housing Allowance<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>“The school provides an accommodation allowance of RM2,500 per month for single teachers, RM2,700 per month for married teacher with no children whose spouse is not working, RM2,500 per month each for married teachers, both of whom are employed by the school and RM3,000 per month for married teachers with children whose spouse is not working in the school.” –\u00a0Garden International School<\/a><\/p>\n

“For married housing you get around 987 USD a month; For single housing you get around 846 USD a month; For each dependent child you get 109 USD extra a month. No utilities allowance is given.” –\u00a0Mont’Kiara International School<\/a><\/p>\n

“The housing allowance is paid with the salary and is taxable. After tax for a single it amounts to appx 750 USD, for a couple, or with dependents it is more, up to about 1300 USD. Depending on area and size, it is possible to find accommodation in this bracket, though many people treat it as salary and just rent the place they really want for a bit more.” –\u00a0International School of Kuala Lumpur<\/a><\/p>\n

Salary Information<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\n“As of next year, teachers will be paid in Malaysian RM. This is actually a positive change and will raise salaries that have gone down with the weak dollar. Taxes are between 12 and 20%, and teachers also contribute about 10% to EPF (retirement plan).” –\u00a0Mont’Kiara International School<\/a><\/p>\n

“Pay is good, with a great retirement (EPF) program that can go up to 42% of salary (including both employer and employee amounts). Teachers are paid 10 times (August through June) but in June they also get their July salary.” –\u00a0International School of Kuala Lumpur<\/a><\/p>\n

“Salaries are automatically paid into each teacher’s bank account at the end of every month, (usually on the 28th day of the month).” –\u00a0Garden International School<\/a><\/p>\n

“Beaconhouse have a real problem getting work-permits so much so that none of the eight foreigners at Newlands have made year two of their contracts. Some have been told to get out on returning from a Visa run. None have been able to stay to year two which means they have to pay a large fine to BH for breaking contract.” –\u00a0Newlands International School<\/a><\/p>\n

(These are just 4 of the 65 different comments topics that on each school profile page on our website.)<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0010\"<\/a>\u00a0\"IMG_0126\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you work at an international school in Kuala Lumpur, share what you know.\u00a0Consider becoming a Mayor<\/a> for unlimited premium membership!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around the world, there are cities that have more than one international school. Many times\u00a0there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum. Some cities, though, have MANY international schools! \u00a0When that is the case, how do the comments about each school compare to each other? This\u00a0blog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2065],"tags":[1330,2068,1174,492,551,1910,1872,2174,2175,1586,2173],"class_list":["post-4855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comparing-the-schools-and-comments","tag-alice-smith-school","tag-comparing-schools","tag-garden-international-school","tag-international-school-of-kuala-lumpur","tag-kuala-lumpur","tag-montkiara-international-school","tag-newlands-international-school","tag-sunway-international-school","tag-taylors-college","tag-teaching-in-malaysia","tag-working-in-kuala-lumpur"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_0005.jpg?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-1gj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":211,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/school-profile-highlights-10-intl-school-of-kuala-lumpur-shanghai-rego-intl-school-and-colegio-nueva-granada\/","url_meta":{"origin":4855,"position":0},"title":"School profile highlights #10: Int\u2019l School of Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai Rego Int\u2019l School and Colegio Nueva Granada","author":"ISCommunity","date":"November 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Members of\u00a0International School Community\u00a0have written some new and informative comments and information on the following international schools: International School of Kuala Lumpur\u00a0(2 new comments)\u00a0in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia New information or comment in the School section: \u201cEnglish is the primary language in the hallways. There are a number of EAL students,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recently Updated School Profiles"","block_context":{"text":"Recently Updated School Profiles","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/recently-updated-school-profiles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/screen-shot-2011-11-17-at-5-23-14-pm.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/screen-shot-2011-11-17-at-5-23-14-pm.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1 1x, https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/screen-shot-2011-11-17-at-5-23-14-pm.png?w=525&h=300&crop=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9062,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/isc-now-has-over-2273-international-school-profiles-listed\/","url_meta":{"origin":4855,"position":1},"title":"ISC now has over 2273 international school profiles listed","author":"ISCommunity","date":"February 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"At International School Community, we now have over\u00a02273\u00a0international school profiles listed on our website! The last 5 schools to be added:\ufeff Sunway International School (Iskandar Puteri) (Iskandar, Malaysia)International School of Rimini (ISR) (Rimini, Italy)The Lisboan International School (Lisbon, Portugal)The International School (Karachi, Pakistan)Tenby International School Tropicana Aman (Selangor, Malaysia) The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Information for Members"","block_context":{"text":"Information for Members","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/information-for-members\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-26-at-11.37.54.png?fit=1200%2C808&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-26-at-11.37.54.png?fit=1200%2C808&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-26-at-11.37.54.png?fit=1200%2C808&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-26-at-11.37.54.png?fit=1200%2C808&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Screenshot-2023-02-26-at-11.37.54.png?fit=1200%2C808&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1677,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/international-school-community-member-spotlight-22-laurence-myers-an-intl-school-teacher-working-at-international-school-of-kuala-lumpur\/","url_meta":{"origin":4855,"position":2},"title":"International School Community Member Spotlight #22: Laurence Myers (An int\u2019l school teacher working at International School of Kuala Lumpur)","author":"ISCommunity","date":"February 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Every 1-2 months\u00a0International School Community\u00a0will highlight one of our members in our\u00a0Member Spotlight\u00a0feature.\u00a0 This month we interviewed Laurence Myers: Tell us about your background.\u00a0 Where are you from? 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