Newbie - possible move to Jubail

its nice place to save money and , there are lots of schools offering A level , my wife also teaching  in international school A level classes...so . may i ask 1750 SAR or any other currency? if it is SAR then its hard to have any compound accommodation or to live in Bahrain .. compound accommodation is the best for westren expats , inside walled living u can live and feel the westren culture .. have nice days

I have only been here a week and not somewhere i would recommend in my opinion. I guess it depends if you can find a nice place on a good compound but most seem to be full. Some of the family people on the site i work in either live in Bahrain and do the 2 hr drive each way everyday or live in a different part of saudi.

Im sure there are others who can tell you more who have been here longer.

Hi,

Only international school in Jubail that might work for your daugter is the ISG - Jubail. You can look them up on http://isg-jubail.org/. The quality of educations is very good, although costs are quite high. I think fees are currently in the range of SAR 50K plus per annum. Most decent employers though cover cost of education as a perk for expats.
There are definitely a larger range of schools aligned to the British system in Bahrain though.

Acco- I guess 1750 PM is GBP which covert to about SAR 120K per annum. For that, there are compounds available in Jubail, but are not what are called "Western" compounds. These still have a educated professional residing in them but are tpically more from the Eastern hemishpere with a couple of Westerners. For the more typical "Western Compounds" you are looking at SAR 180K PA as a starting point for a 2 bedroom villa.
120K would get you a decent apartment (fully furnished) Bahrain, but the commute is 1hr plus each way plus the added costs. Fuel is dirt cheap (.071 GBP for regular and .125 GBP for premium). Toll fee to cross the causeway to Bahrain is 3.4 GBP each way, so that kind of adds up (3.44 x 2 x 22) ~ 152 GBP PM or 1665 GBP PA (11 months)
Driving 2 hrs plus each day at highway speeds with unruly drivers is a risk that I have personally decided not to take.

Public social life in KSA is very poor. All socialising takes place within the confines of the home or residential compounds.

Do note that this is all current info and what the status is by May/June 2014 (a year from now) could be very different.

Regards

Honestly, don't come with a 15 year old daughter, life would be miserable for her. She would have to commute for an hur and half to go to school in Khobar. There is no normal social life for a teenager here, all the kids of that age on my compound have all just left to either go to boarding school or to repatriate with their mums leaving the dads here. Life in Bahrain of course is totally different with an excellent high school offering both British and IB curriculum. If your budget is 1750 uk pounds?  You won't find anything decent. Sorry to be negative, just trying to be truthful as some other people on this blog will tell you it's all wonderful., as they may come from different countries with different expectations. I am a fellow Brit which is why I have responded, I now expect a ton of posts ..........

Ok rest my case people answer when they don't know the facts, ISG Jubai, does not offer high school education. The only high school is local or Indian where she may feel lonely and out of place.
Commuting to Bahrain every day woud be very stressful as the highways is aptly named death highway. there are major accidents every day as there are no driving rules and no one enforces bad driving habits.  So for either or both of your husband or daughter to do this trip every day would be awful for them and for you.
Sometimes, money just isn't worth the sacrifice of quality of life.

Hi,

If you were referring to me when you state that "people answer when they don't know the facts.." then please read on... if not, my aplogies and please disregard this post.

I only commented that ISG Jubail might work and provided a link to their website for the OP to check. Never commented on what they offer or do not offer... so don't really see what you mean by not knowing the facts.
I do not have any teenage kids and as such cannot provide insight from that perspective, but I do believe that it does not preclude me from providing whatever input I can.

I guess we do agree on the 'Highway of death'. I have to mentally gear up before getting on that highway. Do tend to use the parallel 'Abu Hadriyah' highway though as it has less traffic although just as bad drivers on it.

Definitely do not want to be providing incorrect info to anyone. Wrong info is worse than no info.

Do appreciate the time you have taken to given detailed feedback that I am sure would be of help to the OP.

Cheerio