Moving to Muscat with School Age Children?

If you're looking at moving to Muscat with a young family then I strongly recommend that you do so. Muscat is a lovely family friendly city. Oman in general is a beautiful country for the outdoorsy types as there's plenty of wadis(water catchments) to swim in, canyons to explore, tracks to hike, beaches to enjoy, deserts to venture into and the Omani people are friendly and do not mind sharing their country with us expats who are here to work for them. Single people is a different ball game. However I think it depends on how willing you are to go out and meet people. 

This will be an ongoing post, but in today's post, I want to focus on families that want to move here with school age kids. I'm sure the company offering you a job is offering a nice contract that includes housing, petrol(cheap as chips), power and water and school fees. The latter is what I want to bring your attention to. We have known many people who were met with the shock of the school exorbitant fees that they weren't aware of. Before I continue there are three main international schools in Muscat The British School(BSM), The American and British Academy(ABA) and The American School(TAISM). There is also The Muscat International School, Choueifet, PDO school, new schools that are still growing include TLC and Knowledge Gate International School. These are the ones I know of. There are many other National specific schools such as the Phillipines, Indian, Egyptian and Bangladeshi Schools but the Western expats tend to go for the first three schools mentioned above. 

BSM, ABA and TAISM all have what's called an 'establishment fee' or 'building fee' or 'maintenance fee'. This fee is what you have to pay on top of the normal school fees. Here's the catch. Some contracts offer school fees but they do not pay this establishment fee. Between the three schools this fee varies but they're all quite high. The least costly is ABA, BSM and at the top is TAISM. I'm mentioning this because if you land in Muscat with let's say two or three school age children then be ready to be slapped with this exorbitant fee when you add it all up. If your company includes all this in the hiring package then you are in luck, if not then you better have a bit of cash ready to pay this. I know a few families that have had to leave or put their kids in less established schools because they can't afford to pay this fee upfront. Also make sure your company clarifies how much of the actual school fees they will cover. Some only cover for example 80% of the school fees at a limit. For instance if the school charges US $3000 for the year per child, your employer will pay 80% of say $2000 is $1600, then you will have to pay $1400 out of your pocket. Most expats have the school fees covered in their contracts but there are also those that don't so just be aware of this and make your calculations before you jump on the plane. 

There is also a high demand for quality education and not enough supply however this may change due to more schools opening up but there is usually a waiting list in the three schools so this is another matter you might want to clear up before making the big move. Email the different schools to wait list your children in some cases you pay a percentage to guarantee the places for your kids.

Having said that, the quality of education in the three schools mentioned and others is very high. They hire qualified experienced teachers from around the globe and with multi-national children attending the schools you end up with a broad minded multicultural child. This, to me is the epitome of expat living; the broadening of our children's horizons along with ours beyond the established borders. 

Links to schools
ABA, BSM, TISC, KGIS, TAISM