More expatriates are choosing a tutor to help get their children into the top international schools.As entry into the top private schools becomes increasingly competitive more expats are hiring tutors. These modern tutors are often multi-lingual, artistic, sporty and accompany their charges all around the globe.
“London’s affluent expat population particularly seems to favour tutoring, which is making the market competitive,” founder and director of Holland Park Tuition, William Stadlen, told Spear’s Wealth management Survey.
“As there is now a bottleneck of kids competing for fewer places at top independent prep and public schools, people are turning more and more to tutoring.”
Finding a good school for your children as an expat is daunting - don't underestimate the role school administrators play.As expat parents we want and expect an international school to give our children a quality education, excellent sports programs, fabulous teachers, a school administration that listens and responds to parent needs, and a positive social network for children and parents. The bottom line is, we want our kids to be “happy” and we believe those components in a school will help achieve that.
It comes down to the fact that fees for international schools cost more than most four year colleges. Naturally, parents believe their expectations should be met at this price. At Live and Learn we are regularly approached by parents asking what makes a good international school or how they should decide which school is best for their child.
Expat household routines can be organised using apps. Image: falconreidAs an expat mother who lived in Singapore for nearly six years, I never actually had to worry about cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning and keeping the house organized. As part of the Singaporean expat culture, most families like us hired full time, live in, domestic help. So when we learned, early in 2011, that we would be moving to Northern Europe and domestic help was no longer a possibility, I had to figure out what I was going to do! I had never been a mom without the help!
Moving to a new country with a five and six year old is challenging enough, but to have never been a mom without domestic help, well, that took my learning curve to a whole new level. Morning routines, cooking, cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping, all the while holding down a full time job….needless to say, I was overwhelmed.
@elementaryexpat features expat kids Grace and Ellie tweeting about their lives abroad.We’ve found most expats are pretty keen on social media, given how useful it is for shrinking the distance between loved ones and helping them connect with others living similar lives. In fact there are countless expat bloggers and tweeters who focus almost solely on their personal experiences. However most of them are adults.
Or “were” adults, rather. Now @elementaryexpat features kids tweeting about… well… kids’ lives abroad.
Data from Lloyds TSB International shows that schools are most expensive in Switzerland.If cost is driving your search for an international school, don’t head to Switzerland. A new tool from Lloyds TSB International shows the country has the most expensive international schools in the world.
Average annual school fees are GBP 16,612.
Within Switzerland, Lausanne is home to the priciest schools. Average fees there are GBP 19,900, compared to “only” GBP 14,000 in Geneva.
Applying to international schools can be a challenge if your child has learning needs.When you have a child with special needs, your entire decision to relocate abroad may come down to whether you can find a school to accept him. All international schools have the right to accept or deny children at their discretion.
Before you accept your expat posting, you need to make sure your child can gain admission to a school appropriate for her needs. Most international schools have limited learning support, but if you believe this environment is best for your child there are a few things you should know before you contact schools.
Developing an action plan is key to helping an expat child with learning needs, according to Carrie Lupoli, an expat mom and founder of Live and Learn Asia.From the moment you decide to have a baby, the worry starts. I remember being nervous throughout my entire pregnancy, yet retaining the false hope that once the baby was born, I could relax.
Boy was I wrong. It’s only after delivery that the real anxiety begins.
And actually, it never ends. As our kids grow up and learn to crawl, walk, talk and run, our worries might even intensify. It’s a scary thing, realizing there’s a big world out there we need to prepare them for. Specific worries may change over the years, but the emotion remains the same. It’s love that causes us to worry–the intense desire for them to be happy and confident.
So when you see signs your child is struggling in school, it’s understandable that your worry is not only passionate but overwhelming. The key to overcoming it is to have a plan and a path to follow in order to lead you in the right direction. Unfortunately, many families struggle to find their way along this unfamiliar path. When it comes to expats, things are usually even more confused. Parents and teachers seem to recognize when something is wrong, but there are serious misconceptions as to what to do about it.
The staff at Live and Learn, founded by expat education specialist Carrie Lupoli to better serve kids with special needs.Over the last couple of years it has proven to be increasingly difficult for children with special needs to gain entry into international schools. Those who do get in often find support services very limited. As a group of educational consultants based in Singapore, it was difficult to sit back and watch this happen. There just has to be a better way, we thought.
In what was initially a intended as a “holding plan” until we could get students into “proper schools,” we ventured into the new world of online learning. We connected with the K12 International Academy, an accredited online private school program of K12.com, and together worked to train our inclusion support staff to facilitate the K12 online program in our center.
Based on our experiences with online learning as an option for children with special needs, we found this type of educational alternative may very well exceed the quality of instruction offered in brick and mortar, mainstream international schools. The key reasons are listed below:
- International schools are selective. Mainstream international schools often have discriminating admissions standards for children with learning concerns. The online program solves this issue because nearly all children gain admission. If siblings attend other schools, the online program can accommodate any holiday schedule.
- International schools offer limited learning support. Let’s face it. Even for those children admitted to international schools, very few can consistently plan, deliver and maintain a model of individualized programming that is at acceptable and appropriate levels. With online schooling (facilitated by trained learning coaches in our learning center) student needs, learning styles, behavioral trends and motivators are regularly accounted for.
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Live and Learn's model strikes a rare balance between individualized attention and social activities.International schools have minimal differentiated practices. Although international schools can boast cultural diversity, very few of them cater to diverse learning styles. Differentiated instruction is critical in heterogeneous classrooms. However, as we have seen, these techniques do not seem to be implemented as often or comprehensively as necessary. The supported online learning model we have developed over the past couple of years with K12 has afforded a unique opportunity to truly differentiate for each and every child according to her academic, social and emotional needs. Individualized programs are developed for the child as opposed to fitting a child into a school’s “one size fits all” curriculum. One-to-one facilitation allows for individualized learning, yet with more than a dozen children working on their own K12 programs in our center, we can implement social skills activities: common break/lunch times, morning meeting activities and drama/PE classes, to name a few.
Hong Kong's South Island School was one of three international schools recently profiled by The Telegraph.Recently The Telegraph‘s Warwick Mansell posted a guide to a number of expat schools in Hong Kong. He noted that a shortage of land has led demand for spots at international schools to spike sharply. These include Harrow International School (due to open in 2012), the South Island School and the Kellett School.
At about HKD 90,000 per year, the South Island School is the cheapest of the three (the other two run in excess of HKD 100,000 a year. This is the result of a fees subsidy.
Giving birth abroad often requires special paperwork, such as the US consular report of birth abroad.Giving birth at all (never mind abroad) is an all-consuming experience, so it’s easy to forget the details, such as filling out the proper paperwork. Many countries require documentation proving you’ve had a child abroad, allowing (among other things) for the child to be considered a citizen of your country of origin.
In the US this is called a “consular report of birth abroad,” and there are numerous variations of it across countries. This is not the only type of paperwork you may need to complete. If you are a UK citizen, for example, and are giving birth in another EEA country you will need an S2 or E112 form showing information such as your expected delivery date, NHS number and travel information.