Relocating to Cairo with a child and how did you do it?

Hi Janka, we are in a similar situation. We are also searching a school from abroad. We will move to Cairo in1 year. I have already done some research around the area of rehab and Madinity ( I don't want to live in the caothic and crowded center). I found 2 suitable schools there: Future school in Rehab and Madinity language school. These 2 have separated branches depending on the vehicular language you choose: English, French or German. I know a family in the Madinity school and they pay around 2000€-3000€per year I think. I am sure you can find similar schools in maadi or other nice district.
We will visit these 2 schools at the beginning of October, so I may give you a better report if you are interested.
Ariadna

Thanks Arieorga!

Very appreciated indeed. However both Rehab and Madinaty are especially not the areas I would live in. Actually I haven't been to Madinaty, but I've been to Rehab.

2000 - 3000 Eur a year sounds incredibly cheap as to what I've seen around so far (in those cases I have seen any fees). I've heard though, that language schools are cheaper than International schools. I'll be happy to be hearing back from you after your trip to Cairo in October. I'm actually thinking of going there myself then, due to the practicalities I need to sort before we actually move there. I'm not too keen to handle it all at once when we arrive there for our final move. That will be too much to sort at the same time, with a child tagging along

Good luck with your research and have a nice trip and please let me know what more you find, thank you. I'll add you as friend too now, so if anything, you can feel free at PM'ing me too.

We are planning to move to Cairo with 2 kids (4 and 1) beginning of next year. We are looking at Zamalek but I definitely want visit before the move to check accomodation, School and other facilities.

Zamalek is often recommended to expats, however having been there while on extended holidays, I was glad to only visit the area and not live there. Traffic is heavy and streets are narrow. It's a bottle neck at best. If you will work in or close by it might be a good option.

I'm sure I'm not an expert on this, as I've never lived there permanently, just throwing out my own observation from visiting the area and driving through it several times before, so I'm sure others could enlighten you far more on that topic. But this is what I've learned.

janka_75 wrote:

I'm already planning my move to Cairo, and I will bring my daughter there too, most likely in end of December/January 2016. Vital for us is that we will need a place to live not too long of a distance from the school.

Since many private schools in Cairo don't list their fees, I'm lost in terms of relocating there, without knowing which school to contact and also impossible to decide which area we should settle in. Many schools are in the too pricey end IF they even list their fees. I suppose a transition to a school in Cairo is a hands on project, where I simply have to be present there with my child while trying to find one.

If anyone of you out there have been in this situation, could you please share your experiences and how you did it please, and recommend schools and areas we ought to have in mind?

I'm a single mum, so the thought of paying 70 000+ Egyptian Pounds a year for a school is a bit breathtaking really

Hi,

I am living in Bergen- Norway

But I come originally from Cairo,

you have better opportunities in new districts like Rehab, Madinaty, shorouk, (eastern part and new cairo)

but also these schools are a bit expensive,

around (Maadi) area, you will find several international schools with more reasonable prices.

Best regards,

Hi there! And thank you for replying.

Yes, some time has passed since I first posted this, and I've gotten a little bit wiser. I agree with you're advice. The fees seems a bit breathtaking for a Norwegian at first, but then again, the living costs overall are nothing like in Norway though. So with this in mind...

I'm still a bit reluctant to living in a compound rather than lets say Maadi or Heliopolis. I like the vibrant life rather than being shacked up in a compound. As many new areas are built too, all the time, I would hate to live in a ghost town, finding myself getting out of there for the simplest every day things and social life without a drivers licence. I know Rehab is very self sufficient, however... it seems a bit boring. Was there in 2012. Many things could have changed since then of course.

Any thoughts on that would be appreciated thanks.

Hey Janka,

First welcome to Egypt and hope u will enjoy ur relocation...

First if u will drive here so u can stay in new cuties likennew cairo or madinaty,etc... but if ur not gonna drive stay in the city better like heliopolis or zamalek.etc...

I believe u need to search for international school so ur girl  can get along with teaching system...

Schools in new cairo with average 30000 egp

Elite international school
Bedaya
These r very good in the price range ajd if u can afford more u can go to british intl. School or AIS

Hope this is useful for u...

janka_75 wrote:

Hi there! And thank you for replying.

Yes, some time has passed since I first posted this, and I've gotten a little bit wiser. I agree with you're advice. The fees seems a bit breathtaking for a Norwegian at first, but then again, the living costs overall are nothing like in Norway though. So with this in mind...


. I like the vibrant life rather than being shacked up in a compound. As many new areas are built too, all the time, I would hate to live in a ghost town, finding myself getting out of there for the simplest every day things and social life without a drivers licence. I know Rehab is very self sufficient, however... it seems a bit boring. Was there in 2012. Many things could have changed since then of course.

Any thoughts on that would be appreciated thanks.

Hello Again,

hmmm,

I have been in Rehab last Jan.

I agree it is calm and can be boring, but in the same time you can have better services , more privacy and less complications.

of course life is much affordable  in Cairo compared to Norway, so u will have several varieties,

The most important thing, I think , is your main activities and ur social communications circle in Cairo

if you are going to work or study, then you have to align your self well within your work destination

if you have friends, or people you will communicate or socialize with, it can be also smart to choose a good centered location.

what are you up to is an important key for relocating.

I do not have very happy thoughts about traffic in cairo , especially at the rush hours, (which are not limited only to start-finish work hours)

moving through cairo from east to west, or south to north can be very challenging

so again..

location, location, location !

: )

regards,

We are American lived here for awhile now we are in Sheikh Zayed  we have a 14 and 16 year old we have looked into every kind of school out there American, Brittish, Canadian all way out of our price ranges American and Brittish are $25,000 per year Canada was half that but having 2 kids that still leaves me at 20k I refuse to pay that much for middle school and high school we did find an Egyptian language school for only 5,000 so might have to go with that but not til next year . so far we have just stuck with online school from America its free so I love that but the kids miss socializing . fingers crossed we will find something soon . good luck and welcome to Egypt!

I will be moving to Cairo in 2 weeks with my 2 youngest sons for work.  I will be going through the same process of looking for affordable schools,etc.
We should definitely stay in touch!

Hi there lisaann7878 and jteal3325!

Yes, I've narrowed down the area I want to live in to Maadi, and I'm going through the various schools nearby. Some are affordable. But since we're not living in Cairo yet, it's complicated to get the full list of schools and their respective fees. However I've found a few that I will look more into.

I'll be happy to stay in touch with you jteal3325. In your case, I would try to find a place to stay close to your work, and then look at schools close by in that area, as commuting can be such a pain with the heavy traffic in Cairo. Please keep me updated on how you are doing, and what you find. Thanks!

If anyone else has information and experience of enrolling kids in an international school in Cairo during mid year (january or similar) please post your experience, thanks.

Question in mind here is would it be better to look for schools and enrol while in Cairo, rather than contacting schools prior to the move? And also, do you know of schools willing to enrol a student mid year with only paying fees as of that moment, and how did that process go for you?

For families moving to cairo with children find a montessori school and nursery can completely ease the transition for parents and child.

for a child who still not yet used to his new envirnment being inside a montessori envirnment help them to hollistically immerse on their learning envirnment with all their senses. which makes it easy to adapt even though the language is not fully their yet