# New Horizon School Maadi



## Azgirl

Hi all,

Has anyone heard/ has information about New Horizon school in Maadi? Any info would be very appreciated!!!!

Thank you!


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## Esther12

Hi,

I happen to know two people who used to work at NH school.

One of them left the school due to the school administration. He/she said that the administration was very bad. 

The second person worked at the school couple of years ago. She said that the school only employed either foreigners or natives to teach the main subjects. The foreigners and natives in question were not qualified (English) teachers in their countries of origin.

Anyway, it is a well known fact that this is the norm in Egypt. If one is a foreigner and one can speak a bit of English, one can automatically teach at an international school. The person said that English was taught by a native who was a lorry driver in his home country. He still earned quite much for simply being a "native“.

I do not know how the current situation looks like, but I assume that many things have not changed because all the above mentioned things can be found in many international schools in Cairo.

I hope I helped a bit.


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## Azgirl

Thank you, Esther12!!! Thats very helpful. That sounds a bit scary...if lorry driver teaches kids at school. 

Do you know anything about kids going to that school? Are there any kids from UK or US there (any English native speakers)?


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## Esther12

Are you new to Cairo? Believe me, hiring unqualified staff who just meet the prerequisite “native” or “foreigner” is enough for most of the schools here. 


Schools must please their customers. Parents want foreigners and since there are not enough qualified foreigners to teach in Cairo, some schools take anyone they find in the street. The schools here are all about business. No one cares about the actual education of children. Still, there are some that try to offer some quality and that are actually worth attending. 


I don’t know if they have any native students, but I assume that if they had some there would be just few of them, and probably not in every class. But they do have foreign students. I saw couple of Asian and black students in some pictures. Still, bear in mind that like in most Egyptian international schools, the Egyptians are an overwhelming majority.


They do have a Facebook page. You can browse through it but it’s not that useful.
If you want to provide your children some native classmates, I suggest opting for Maadi British International School. Here's the link:
Maadi British International School

MBIS aims at expat families and tries to employ only qualified natives, so I am sure that it is much better than NH. It is pricey for sure, but one always tries to give one's best to one's children.


If you really require precise information, you can always go to school and ask them if they have any native students in grade you are interested in. The school administration can give you a list of students. It takes only two seconds to have the list printed. 

I would never put English native students in schools where there are no English native teachers and students. They cannot benefit from the curriculum because teachers always make sure to adjust it a bit to the majority of non-natives in their classes.

The level of English in these classes cannot be compared to the level of English in classes with native children.

It's just money spent in vain.


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## MaidenScotland

Esther12 said:


> Are you new to Cairo? Believe me, hiring unqualified staff who just meet the prerequisite “native” or “foreigner” is enough for most of the schools here.
> 
> 
> Schools must please their customers. Parents want foreigners and since there are not enough qualified foreigners to teach in Cairo, some schools take anyone they find in the street. The schools here are all about business. No one cares about the actual education of children. Still, there are some that try to offer some quality and that are actually worth attending.
> 
> 
> I don’t know if they have any native students, but I assume that if they had some there would be just few of them, and probably not in every class. But they do have foreign students. I saw couple of Asian and black students in some pictures. Still, bear in mind that like in most Egyptian international schools, the Egyptians are an overwhelming majority.
> 
> 
> They do have a Facebook page. You can browse through it but it’s not that useful.
> If you want to provide your children some native classmates, I suggest opting for Maadi British International School. Here's the link:
> Maadi British International School
> 
> MBIS aims at expat families and tries to employ only qualified natives, so I am sure that it is much better than NH. It is pricey for sure, but one always tries to give one's best to one's children.
> 
> 
> If you really require precise information, you can always go to school and ask them if they have any native students in grade you are interested in. The school administration can give you a list of students. It takes only two seconds to have the list printed.
> 
> I would never put English native students in schools where there are no English native teachers and students. They cannot benefit from the curriculum because teachers always make sure to adjust it a bit to the majority of non-natives in their classes.
> 
> The level of English in these classes cannot be compared to the level of English in classes with native children.
> 
> It's just money spent in vain.




I believe any Egyptian child attending the MBIS also holds a foreign passport. 
I know that they do employ qualified teachers from the UK. and of course they follow the British curriculum so your child is not left behind if he/she return back to the UK


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## Azgirl

Thank you for your replies. I am not new, I am not even there yet . We are considering moving but our child has special needs, so I need to make sure he is properly placed. 
You are absolutely right, he should be going to the environment with English speakers. Have a lot to consider......


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## Esther12

Dear Azgirl,

this new piece of information, namely, that your child has special needs makes the whole situation even more complicated.

Unfortunately, there is no adequate school in Egypt where a child with special needs would be taken care after.

He will be left alone to “sink” even in the best schools. I have a friend with the same issue as yours and believe me she suffers a lot.

The fees are pretty high and you will not get a satisfactory result in return. It’s very common to find couple of students with special needs per class due to the fact that there are no schools for the children with special needs in Cairo. These children are left on their own and teachers cannot do much for them even if they want to.

Homeschooling would be a better option, I guess. If you decide to move here, it will be very hard for you to find a satisfactory school. Trust me on this one.


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## MaidenScotland

Azgirl said:


> Thank you for your replies. I am not new, I am not even there yet . We are considering moving but our child has special needs, so I need to make sure he is properly placed.
> You are absolutely right, he should be going to the environment with English speakers. Have a lot to consider......


Try the Continental school, they have special needs classes


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## Milouk84

Azgirl said:


> Thank you for your replies. I am not new, I am not even there yet . We are considering moving but our child has special needs, so I need to make sure he is properly placed.
> You are absolutely right, he should be going to the environment with English speakers. Have a lot to consider......


Hello there, I have a friend who works there, and we discussed before the schools policy for special needs. She told me that autistic kids share the same class with other kids and that really helps them a lot. Also you might consider LRC ,learning resource center, in maadi. Most schools will have student support, so they help the child at school, also shadow teachers. And some schools work with OT and speech specialists who come to school on scheduled days, paid separately.


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## Azgirl

Thank you all for your replies. Sorry for not responding earlier, was away on a trip. I have spoke to LRC and contacted most of the international schools. Most of them considering, whereas couple of them refused.... which is very strange for me, as a) they haven't seen the child B) I am covering all additional costs and they don't have to do anything - so why would you refuse straight away. I am not yet sure about the move.... to many concerns... I am very knowledgeable about special needs myself, but don't know how open minded would schools be to parent input...


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