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Post by Ferreg on Nov 25, 2013 15:00:10 GMT
Many thanks Catharine. Hopefully meet you soon. I will arrive on the 14th and my familly end March, ready for third school term.
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Post by Catharinete on Dec 1, 2013 8:08:01 GMT
Further to my long email about life on Rakah, there has been a change to the bus timetable.
Up until last week the school bus from Rakah to the DBGS/DEMS/DHS took 25-35 minutes. The bus times have been changed - it now takes 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to school and over an hour to get back. We have discussed this at length with transportation but we have not managed to secure a return to the old short time.
DBGS is Dhahran British Grammar School DEMS is Dhahran elementary Middle School DHS is Dhahran Academy
They are all on the same campus normally about 25 minutes drive away.
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Post by Catharinete on Dec 1, 2013 8:47:46 GMT
Hi Maursh, I've realised that I didn't answer your question about BISAK and DBGS.
They both follow the British curriculum and have a much higher proportion of British/British curriculum educated children than you would find in the US curriculum schools. The main tangible difference is that DBGS offers IB whilst BISAK offers A levels. BISAK has 720 pupils whilst DBGS has around 500. Class sizes for both are around 20-22. DBGS currently has 2 classes in each year for years 4, 5 and 6, and they are moving into new buildings this winter and hoping to increase to 3 classes in each year for next year but it hasn't been confirmed yet.
DBGS shares a campus with DEMS and DHS where as BISAK is next to the French School about 20 minutes from Rakah. DBGS was 25 minutes from Rakah but the but times have been changed so that it is now an hour and 15 minutes to school and over an hour to get back.
My son is at DBGS - I chose it because my impression was that BISAK was an international school running the British curriculum whereas DBGS appeared to be more like a prep school/grammar school in the UK. I can't update my view on BISAK, other than that parents with children there seem to be pretty happy, but I can confirm that DBGS has turned out to be fabulous. The 2 male teachers in year 6 have turned my 10 year old around academically, and I am slightly mystified as to how. He was a music scholar in a cathedral prep school before so I was expecting to be disappointed in comparison. On the subject of music, however, both schools are weak compared to schools in the UK. BISAK have told me that they have one person who offers tuition in instruments as diverse as saxophone and violin. DBGS offer piano and drum lessons but nothing else bar weekly general music lessons. I hope this will improve when they move to the new building.
The other thing of note is that DBGS makes good use of the internet for virtual schooling so when the floods stopped the buses the week before last, school continued uninterrupted on a laptop at the kitchen table, and goodness was my boy kept busy! I don't know what BISAK did.
I should add that both schools are currently full. DBGS as I've mentioned above has plans to expand by a third in the middle years. Hope this helps.
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cgyguy
Advanced Member
Posts: 90
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Post by cgyguy on Dec 1, 2013 15:23:41 GMT
Hi Catharinete, Can you comment more about the bus times changes, why that steep increase in timing. We are in the process to move to KSA (without compound assigned yet but thinking that it would be Rakah, as it is the norm for new hires, apparently) but this could be a turn around point I don't want my kids to spend 2-2.5 hours back and forth from school. We are planning to have them at DEMS. Thank you, cgyguy
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Post by vpainter on Dec 2, 2013 2:34:21 GMT
Bus times may not be posted in a public forum. PM or email only, thank you.
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Post by Catharinete on Dec 3, 2013 4:25:37 GMT
Good news! The bus timings have been changed back to their previous which means a sensible get up time and a journey which is about 25 -35 minutes to get to school and 20 -25 minutes to get home. The steep increase was due to an attempt to include another school on the same run but the timings didn't work. So to be clear, the school bus run for DBGS, DEMS and Dhahran High School, all on the ISG campus, is now short and simple. Don't quote me on this but I think it is actually a little shorter than the bus runs from Main Camp to ISG and Rakah to Dhahran Hills School.
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cgyguy
Advanced Member
Posts: 90
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Post by cgyguy on May 9, 2014 18:31:53 GMT
Catherinete et al,
I would like to bring this post back to life, specially after reading that the camp is around 60% full. What can be commented for kids around 13 years old? Are there activities for them? What about teenagers kids spending time together, what do they usually do?
Can they move from one camp to the other without parents presence?
Any other comments on Rakah kids attending Aramco schools is appreciated. Thanks
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Post by dtromp on May 9, 2014 19:32:36 GMT
cgyguy,
We have a 15 year old that will be arriving in August, and are also interested to hear what things are like for teens.
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Maursh
Senior Member
Posts: 169
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Post by Maursh on May 9, 2014 21:09:58 GMT
Organised activities for older children (just what comes to mind, not comprehensive) : Tennis Swim Club Soccer Club Martial Arts (not sure what) Zumba Girl Scouts
Non-organised activities / other facililtes Basketball Volleyball 10 pin bowling Snooker / Pool Table Football (?? I think) Gym (12 +)
I don't have a teenager myself so I can't comment on how they spend their time, hanging out with friends, riding buses etc. Perhaps another resident will come along shortly and comment about this.
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