School visits and assessments begin.

Today was the start of the school visits, two on the list today, of which the first also included assessments.

The first school appointment was just round the corner from hotel, we headed up and into the school reception. Aspire British School, is a relatively small school (compared to what we are used to in the UK and Qatar), with only 1 class per year. We took a tour round the school with the Admissions Registrar, viewed the facilities, popped into a few of the active classes and had a good general discussion about the place. Then it was time for the kids to do the assessments, they settled down into separate offices and went though maths and English question papers, we decided just to wait in the reception area, but could have easily disappeared out for a wander. About an hour and a half later, the kids were done. We had a follow up appointment with the Principle the following morning to review the assessments and feedback and determine if we had secured places/wait list or rejections etc.

Next up we headed west for the next school appointment, fortunately this was just a visit and no assessments, don't think the youngest could have handled another one. We arrived a bit early so took a drive round the coast a bit to kill some time.
TLC - The Learning Centre, is a very small establishment, with classrooms set within the main building and a number of smaller outbuildings. We met a number of staff on arrival and the principle, then had a sit down and discussion with the registrar, followed by a tour of the facilities and another follow up chat. We hadn't booked an assessment yet, and was going to wait and see what all the schools looked like before deciding if we should put the kids through more assessments.

Both schools had a there own unique characteristics and differing approaches, but the main thing was we felt positive about them both with nothing that induces panic in us or the kids!

See what the next couple of days bring!