Moving to KL with three kids(13,11,9)

mont kiara, bangsar hartemas are a few of the good safe areas

We moved to KL 2 months ago with two kids - 16 & 13. We've been expats for 12 years but this is our first time on KL.

The one thing I've learnt about KL is that traffic is bad so it's best to decide on a school before looking at housing areas.

I see you're from Perth, are you looking at AISM (Australian International School of Malaysia)? Thats where my kids are and we're really happy with it. The school is small enough that the kids are not just a number.
AISM is south of the city though, so a lot of families choose to live close to school. The most secure are close to school is Gita Bayu, a number of Aussie families live here so kids have lots of friends close by. The other areas near school are Country Heights and IOI Estate. We love Gita Bayu, very friendly neighborhood, and very secure which means a lot to me since my husband is away most of the time.

If you're looking at Bristish curric schools you'll want to look in Mont Kiara.i don't know anything about that area so can't help there.

Feel free to email me on ozzijen@live.com if I can help you with anything else.

sry if u mind but the truth is that , dont move if u r already in perth, u will have regrets once u moved to KL

Thanks dee deee I have been looking at the AISM school, which is our first choose. Will have a look at thoses areas you mentioned . Thanks heaps curlyoz

Are you able to come over to KL to have a look around before you move? You really have to see the different housing areas for yourself before making a decision. There is not much information available online.

And I do not agree with atikaahmed1. I have lived in Perth as well as other countries and KL is just fine. Like all expat assignments you need to have an open mind and lots of patience but the cost of living and quality of life is supurb.

My children attend Tenby International School which is south west KL, it takes me 25 mins to drive them there from Mont Kiara. They have been there a year and are extremely happy. We love living in Mont Kiara although the traffic can be a drag sometimes (although at the times I travel we are pretty lucky with the traffic) we love that we can walk down to supermarket etc .  I've heard that Mont Kiara International, Gardens, ISKL and BSKL are all pretty good, my friends children are scattered amongst these schools, it comes down to personal preference, I'd suggest you visit them and go with your gut instinct.  I also have many friends that live in Bangsar, Sri Hartamas and of course Mont Kiara, I'd visit them all and decide on what suits your needs.  Good luck with your prospective move and DM me if you have any further questions.

We are also looking at moving to KL from Perth in the new year. We are considering both AISM and Alice Smith. DeeDeee I would love to hear more about Gita Bayu as we thought that might be a good option for us if we go with AISM - eg how far away are the shops, how bad are the mozzies, are kids allowed to ride bikes around in the streets and walking track, are there any grassed areas for kicking balls or paved areas for skateboarding or rollerskating, is there much to do if you aren't working??

We are looking at  Gita bayu and country heights where a co worker lives. KLadventure  I Will not be working too. I have heard of a group  just can't remember the name at the moment that met up for lunch, which has many Aussies and NZ families members.

I belong to a group called MANZA, (Malaysian, Australia, New Zealand Association) have built up a fantastic network of friends through it, they do dinner and drinks nights, Melbourne cup days etc, they also have a subsidiary group called Mini MANZA for stay at home Mums and Dads with children under 5, they meet every Monday morning at a different play venue around KL and sometimes at people's homes.

Also know a few families from Perth living at Duta Tropika in Sri Hartamas, seems to be quite a big Perth contingency based here.

Thanks kiwi4 .

No worries curlyoz, oh should also mention that my daughters are 8 and 12 but I still attend the playgroups on a Monday (I'm the only one with no kids LOL) for a chinwag and coffee, great social network and a few of the mums also have older children at school so during the school hols we usually have a pool party for all the older kids. I also don't work so if and when you make it over would be happy to meet for coffee at some stage.

Just remembered a friend of mine who's children attended AISM and are very happy there, she looked into living at Gita Bayu and decided against it and the one thing I remembered her saying was that there had been several reported cases of Dengue there, just because of the big lake in the middle of the complex, a natural breeding ground for mosquitoes, this is of course hearsay so you may want to check it out for yourself.

Thanks kiwi4 . I would love to catch up when we do move over. My younger daughter is 8 too. I am  always in for a coffee and chinwag.

MANZA is a great organisation, have been to a couple of their events in my 2 months in KL. Definitely worth joining.

We spent 2 full days with our relocation agent looking at different housing areas and viewing houses. We chose Gita Bayu for many reasons
- Security, a big deal for me because my husband travels A LOT. We tested each neighbourhood security to see if we could talk our way through in. Gita Bayu was the only one who would not let us in without an the real estate agent. A number of the Aussies have lived here for years and agree that there has never been a break in the 8 years that they have been here.
- Close to school, literally 5 mins drive. Might take 10 mins if traffic was bad.
- Social aspect. There are many organised activities like Halloween, Oktoberfest, Santa's Grotto. Also the Clubhouse on Friday nights is a real social get together. The kids all hang out and chat/swim/run around while the mums and dads chat, drink and eat. Its a great way to make friends.
- Peaceful. When you drive through the gates of Gita Bayu it's just really peaceful. Not busy and noisy like everywhere else. I feel like I can really relax here. The neighbourhood has strict rules on when contractors are allowed in (9-5 daily and 9-1 on Sat) so there is no noise in the evenings.

To answer the other questions. My house backs on to the lake but we don't have a mozzie problem at all. A friend is not near the lake but has an open drain behind her house and she does have some mozzies. So depends on where the house you are looking at is.
There is no grassy park to kick a ball around. The Clubhouse does have a small amount of open space but not enough for a game of football. The footpaths are paved so not good for roller blading or skateboarding Everyone rides/runs/walks on the road, the cars drive slowly enough that there is no safety problems (that I have seen). The shops are anything from 2 minutes away to 30 mins, depends on what you are looking for. I mostly do my grocery shopping at Carrefour Mid Valley, about 25 minutes away and Village Grocer at Bangsar Village, about 25 minutes away. Giant at the Mines (great for basics) is about 10 minutes away. The local 7 Eleven carries a pretty good range of emergency stuff and is 2 minutes down the road. I also go to Aeon at Balakong sometimes, about 10 minutes away.

Most of the mums in Gita Bayu don't work so there seems to be plenty going on during the day, especially if you enjoy craft/sewing. There's also a group of mums who do a lot of charity work with the Chin refugees. MANZA have a lot of activities too, and sports groups. So there's plenty to do once you get here. I'm always happy to meet up for a coffee when you get here :-)

Thanks heapss Dee Deee for the information.  security is a big deal to us so thank you for that information. i would love to catch up when we move over.  i enjoy craft and sewing and charity work so i will have to look into MANZA  When we move over.

cheers curlyoz.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply DeeDeee - great to get the views of someone who actually lives at Gita Bayu. Although, you have confused me some more now as I was leaning towards Alice Smith and Bangsar. Might come down to the toss of a coin. Curlyoz we also have an 8 year old daughter and 5 and 9 year old sons.

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kiwi4 wrote:

My children attend Tenby International School which is south west KL, it takes me 25 mins to drive them there from Mont Kiara. They have been there a year and are extremely happy. We love living in Mont Kiara although the traffic can be a drag sometimes (although at the times I travel we are pretty lucky with the traffic) we love that we can walk down to supermarket etc .

Hello kiwi4,
Does the school offer any bus service to mont kiara? it's very hard to be on the road 4 times a day, isn't it?
As you mentioned 25 minutes drive to tenby, do you know how much it would be to elc? after all it's 10 km closer.
One more thing, can you compare mont kiara with ampang? you know, ampang is very close to my work but I prefer to be in better neighborhood rather than just be close to work. But I don't know the differences. By the way, I've never been in KL before and I'll be there in 2 month.

Crikey tenby isn't a real international school. It's cheap for a reason. Best to home school if you can't afford international school fees of 60k plus per kid in secondary per annum - 3 children makes 15k RM a month average in fees. So I hope company is paying fees for schooling or pay is high enough (35k per month) otherwise best to stay in aus.

Merry Christmas

Nemodot do your children attend Tenby? If not then you really can't comment, my children have been attending for a year and we are very happy with the education they are being provided. We have a large number of teachers from UK, with also many others from NZ and many other parts of the world, all with appropriate qualifications.

Rezasme wrote:

Hello kiwi4,
Does the school offer any bus service to mont kiara? it's very hard to be on the road 4 times a day, isn't it?
As you mentioned 25 minutes drive to tenby, do you know how much it would be to elc? after all it's 10 km closer.
One more thing, can you compare mont kiara with ampang? you know, ampang is very close to my work but I prefer to be in better neighborhood rather than just be close to work. But I don't know the differences. By the way, I've never been in KL before and I'll be there in 2 month.

Hi Rezasme

Yes Tenby do provide a bus service but unfortunately I do not know how much it would cost. I think for us to get to ELC was about 20 mins and they also offer a bus service. Initially ELC was our first choice but I found the admissions lady to be quite rude so we then went with Tenby.
I'm sorry but I can't give any advice on Ampang as I have only been to that area for visiting friends and restaurants so I really couldn't compare it. The best thing is for you to visit both schools and living areas personally, I rely on gut instinct and each person has their own opinion for what best suits their needs.  There are some people who don't like Mont Kiara but we personally find that it suits our needs and are quite happy to stay living here, I have friends in Bangsar, Sri Hartamas, and spread throughout KL, and they all seem happy where they are situated. It will come down to personal preference. Good luck with your search!!

yes kiwi4,, you are absolutely correct, if someone hasnt experienced ,,they should not assume and comment

Hi Everyone..
We just moved from Taipei two weeks ago.. Can anyone advise me on Kingsley International school and Sri KL? How are the fees compared to each other? I cant find Kingsley's fees on their wbsite. Appreciate if anyone can share their experience on those two schools. My children will be attending Year1 and Year3. Thank you.

Hi lotus

I visited Kingsley and it was still at its interim campus as the new campus had yet be be built, and unfortunately we did not like it however the new campus may be ready now, I am not sure.

I visited Sri Gardens, not sure if this is the same as Sri KL, we liked the education they offered but did not like the premises, there were no grass areas to play only artificial grounds, no on site swimming pool and to do sport they had to cross the road to use grounds that did not belong to the school. I have many friends whose children attend all the other more popular international  schools and they are all happy with where their children are placed, ranging from Mont Kiara International, Gardens, ISKL, French, BSKL, Alice Smith, Australian, ELC and Tenby. It all comes down to personal preference and what would best suit your children's needs.

If I remember correctly Kingsley fees were a little more than Tenbys but less than the likes of Gardens. Sorry it was over a year ago that we looked at it.

Good luck with school hunting!!

Hi Kiwi4,
Thank you so much for your reply. Really appreciate it.  The new campus will only be ready at the end of 2013. Will pay a visit to the school next week. Meanwhile, we will have a look at the other schools that you have mentioned. Hope we will find one that we like very soon!(fingers crossed). Thanks again:).

kiwi4 wrote:

Nemodot do your children attend Tenby? If not then you really can't comment, my children have been attending for a year and we are very happy with the education they are being provided. We have a large number of teachers from UK, with also many others from NZ and many other parts of the world, all with appropriate qualifications.

You sound like their marketing person! I am suspicious of your comments now

For all prospective parents check out International School Review website. Tenby has a lot of entries detailing it's problems (although one or two -ve refs may be taken with a pinch of salt Tenby has quite a long list of complainants which is always a stay away sign).

hi curylyoz
there is a new one, which is in the process of starting or started up, not really sure,,, i know a british guy named mark something started it,,,not sure where it is or how good it is
0193174471/0193039074 this numbers might help

Nemodot I am merely a parent who was looking for the best school within my price range, I have also mentioned other schools and stated that my friends are happy with the schools their children attend. Every school has had bad things said about it at one time or another, Tenby is no different but it comes down to personal preference and feedback can only come from people whose children actually attend. By the way I had a look at your website and it can only be viewed by members and the reviews are written by teachers so unfortunately a teachers point of view is quite different to a parents point of view so doesn't really give us a true indication of what the school is like.

Bangsar is a nice area with a good mix of expat and local haunts. The middle of Bangsar itself (around the two Bangsar Village malls) has a wide variety of mid-range eating places and bars while the much cheaper (but just as nice) lmore local eateries are just a street away.
Just walking through the supermarket in Bangsar Village will make it clear to you how that there's a lot of expats around (as a teacher in an international school it's rare thatI can shop there without bumping into a school parent!) but as long as you don't live your whole life in the mall you don't have to live completely within the expat bubble in Bangsar, it is a nice mix.

The main benefit of Bangsar compared to Mont Kiara or areas around AIS is it's location. While it can suffer from some traffic issues on th main street it's nothing compared to the jams that can occur around MK (especially on rainy Fridays!)' It is within seconds of the shops of Mid-Valley, has it's own LRT (metro) station and within easy reach of the city centre.

As others have said though, choose your school first, then your area. Bangsar is perfect for Alice Smith (less than 15mins) and OK for Garden and MK (20mins, but can be much worse in rush hours)but AIS is much too far away to live here.

lotus1234 wrote:

Hi Kiwi4,
Thank you so much for your reply. Really appreciate it.  The new campus will only be ready at the end of 2013. Will pay a visit to the school next week. Meanwhile, we will have a look at the other schools that you have mentioned. Hope we will find one that we like very soon!(fingers crossed). Thanks again:).

Sri KL is a very experienced school, started running the Cambridge program for their primary years a couple of years ago. Many claimed their academic focus is a little on the heavy side. You will have to visit the premise to decide yourself.

Kingsley International school in Putra Height started by a developer who is currently building semi-D and bungalow on the Kingsley Hill. Some said the school was built to boost the sales of those future expensive homes. There was a recent landslide at the Kingsley Hill, the side where they're clearing land to build the home (not the side where they're building the school). It's all over the news.

Our children were in Kingsley Intl school (operating out of shop lots, which you would have found out if you've gone to visit). We were told the permanent campus will be ready by end of last year or early 2013 when we signed up in May 2011. Before we left, they said if weather permit, they will move in Q1 2014. I find them lacking in their understanding and experience in running the British National Curriculum/Cambridge syllabus, academic and non-academic wise. CCA selection is very lacking due to the lack of space right now. Due to the above, we left.

Our children are now in Tenby and are very happy there. Having been in for the 2nd term now, I find that the comments made by parents online are made by specific bunch of parents, who would have appreciated a much more academic school.  At the end of the day, it's a matter of preferences. My children are enjoying the balance of good academic learning and also the wide variety of CCA exposure.  We also love the space we have in Tenby, and the general professionalism of the staff, teachers and management.

ookui,
You made it easier for me to choose Tenby. After lots of remote research I come to conclusion that Tenby is good choice. But I'm starting to worry about their waiting list now. I'll come to KL next month but trying to register for next education year. Do you think there would be space for my 7 grade child there. Also considering my office in twin towers and my child's school is Tenby, where is the best place for home? Not the child be in bus 1 hour not daddy stuck in traffic every day.

In international school circles Tenby is fourth tier at best -some say not even that - it has only 30% expat staff. Any international school has to have at least 50% expat staff to even really start to be considered an international school.

The reason why Malaysian "international schools" hire locals "teachers" is that they are cheap. At places like Kingsley or Tenby we are not talking cream of the crop here. We are talking about those that failed to get other jobs or failed to get into state schools (that pay far better). They are often paid so little and receive no training it is a really fake version of western Education. Tenby is more established, fare betetr than somehwre like Kingsley (prob will stay that way) but isn't an international school. Also expat wise they pay way below market rates only attracting inexperienced staff and those past their prime (or running away etc - it happens!)

Sri KL counts as a third tier (third rate) school mostly as Taylor does try with it - same owner as GIS. But that brings it on the radar of real international schools at least.

Another aspect of Malaysian fake "international schools" is that they rip off parents. They make 70% profit margins (also why they hire mostly unqualified local staff) and if parents knew how little of their monet actually gets spent on their child they may get mad. But TIM effect here. In Malaysia you overpay for cars and education. Cars is due to tax - Education is because the consumers are so unaware.

Actually the super high profit margin is why every property developer is building schools if they can eg Tropicana. Also like HELP Int School they will be a a very fake and poor attempt at international schools run by those who have no idea how to run a school.

Like the rest of Malaysia cronyism - sons of owners as heads of curriculum/years/principals (usually half idiots or worse) - seems to be ignored by the consumer. Maybe that is what is usual in Malaysia at work? But in education all you see is appaling waste and inefficiency. For 12k a year a child could receive a fantastic western education if run not for profit.

once again Nemo, spot on.

Nemo..you must have lived in Malaysia long enough...too bad you can't vote in Malaysia ..

I think you mistaken Sri KL for another school as Sri KL is a Malaysian school in English, which is how they proudly promote themselves. I believe most of their teachers are local too. Did you mean Sri Garden or Nexus which are also owned by Taylor's group.

It is true..there are way too many 'international' schools mushrooming around of late. Have a word with someone from the Education Ministry and you'll be amazed at how friendly they approve those new 'international' schools to operate. 

The best thing to do is to shortlist the schools and then visit them yourself to decide.

Rezasme wrote:

ookui,
You made it easier for me to choose Tenby. After lots of remote research I come to conclusion that Tenby is good choice. But I'm starting to worry about their waiting list now. I'll come to KL next month but trying to register for next education year. Do you think there would be space for my 7 grade child there. Also considering my office in twin towers and my child's school is Tenby, where is the best place for home? Not the child be in bus 1 hour not daddy stuck in traffic every day.

Why don't you call up the school and enquire?

There are some schools in Ampang, nearer to twin towers. A friend stays in Putra Jaya and commute via the highway to twin tower for work..he said stress free drive. There are a few schools there too, such as ELC, Nexus.  Tenby can prove to be quite a distance away to twin towers.

I would suggest Bukit Gita Bayu, a good and quiet place to stay which is nearby international school, i had a townhouse vacant last week but unfortunately it has been taken by an Australian. If you are thinking what I am thinking, yes there is many Australian that live at this gated place. If you are interested to know more feel free to email me at andrew.wwc@gmail.com, perhaps I can send you some pictures of the place.

Wangsa maju villa Wangsamas . Near by two international schools : fairview and Sri Utama .. Both is fine .school bus arrive near security gate .

Hi Curlyoz,
We moved here 4 days ago and have  children aged 6, 9, 12 and 14. The children will be attending AISM, we were there yesterday and the school appears fine. We found a house at Gita Bayu as well. My husband looked at many houses in different areas on a previous trip but he decided Gita bayu was the best for our needs and he will do the commute to work.
Hope your move goes well.

Hi Minni, welcome to Gita Bayu! I live here too with my husband and 2 children, aged 12 and 15 who also got to AISM. We moved from the UK in August so are still quite new to the place, we have lived at Gita Bayu since November and love it.

We will probably bump into each other at some point..