Looking for 'reviews' of schools for expat kids in Poland

Hi, we are new to Poland, currently deciding on where to settle longer term and looking for schools for our kids. They are in British curriculum schools now, but we are fine with IB also.

We have looked mainly at Poznan and Wroclaw, anyone have information regarding schools there? There are some threads on the forum, but many are old, I am really looking for up to date info on schools in these cities. I have obviously been on the websites already, looking more for peoples opinions :) Thanks!

How old are they?

Neither international school in Poznan is particularly great - both of them rely on Polish teachers, even to teach English. They aren't really international schools in the real sense of the word - more Polish schools catering for mostly Polish parents.

Really, it depends on their age. There are some very very good schools in Poznan that follow the Polish programme - if you're looking at Poland for the longer term, then these would be an excellent bet, particularly as there is a fantastic bilingual high school here with an IB programme.

We live in Trojmiasto and I have a child who is currently in IB at a school in Gdynia.
Happy to comment via PM/mail.
/cjj

Thanks both. The kids are 5 and 8. I dont want them in a Polish school, they speak no Polish but both already read and write.

Which school is this in Gdynia please?

Anyone have any experience from WIS or BISC (Wroclaw schools) please?

Thanks again :)

To be brutally honest, outside of Warsaw, you're not going to find quality English-medium education. Most so-called international schools are actually run with a heavy amount of Polish teaching staff with Polish ideas and methods - so putting them into an English language school won't really do very much for them here.

If you're in Poland for the longer term, I seriously advise looking at what Polish language education can offer them, not least because isolating them in the country like this that doesn't have much available for non-Polish speakers is a bad idea.

wow, thanks for your advice delphiandomine, but really, I dont need to be told how to parent, and telling me that putting them in an English school is a bad idea and is not even close to the advice I asked for. And thank you very much, but they are not and will not be isolated - what a ridiculous thing to say!

So again, if anyone has advice on WIS or BISC Id be most grateful - thank you :)

"Which school is this in Gdynia please?" :
III Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Marynarki Wojennej w Gdyni
As you will have seen from the web pages, the co-located Gimnazjum (nr 24) runs a MYP program and both schools provide general "bi-lingual" teaching possibilities.

There is also n American School in the area
en.szkolaamerykanska.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage

Graduates from this school are common in nr 24 so I would presume standards are reasonably high.
I have heard negative comments from the non-Polish parent of a pupil.

There is a British school in Gdansk but I have no information.

The kids are 5 and 8, they are hardly going to go to gimnazjum, let alone to liceum.
She needs a primary school.

Really, 5 and 8 year old will pick up the language quickly, a good Polish school should be fine.

i answer the question(s) asked. works best. it's up to the OP to do the rest. i'm sure she is able to work out whether or not an IB school offers PYP.

bisg.edu.pl

British school Gdansk.

pbis.edu.pl

British School Poznan

These schools should have supporting Facebook sites, try to link up and ask the parents.

Thanks again for your replies.

Seriously I cannot leave my opinion in this thread? Like that ex-pat kids should be send home for education. Unless lady in qestion mean English schools in Poland for children of British immigrants or migrants.

hang on, you want me to send my 5 and 8 year old off to be educated alone without their mummy and daddy? Isnt that a bit extreme? For university or even high school sure, but for primary school? lol

If you are ex-pat that would be a logical choice. Alternately you can go with them. We are not talking colonial India here.

WIS is not a very good school. Quite expensive and not worth it.

do you have kids at WIS? Would love to hear more about it as all the people I have spoken to with kids there are super happy :)

A lot depends on teachers and the rotation is quite big at school.
Classes are small... too small even as last year some of the grades were combined and some students left to British school.
If your kids are already on British curriculum than talk with parents from British school in Wroclaw or Poznan.

If you haven't decided yet on place to live, Warsaw has more to offer on every level of education and life in general.

you didn't answer my question, do you have kids at WIS?

Many people on this particular forum have a TON of opinions on schools they actually know very little about ;) The British school is fab, BUT, hardly any of the teachers are native english speakers which is a big problem for some.

Pani A, I see you started this thread about a year and a half ago. It's not really clear to me whether you were living in Poland at the time, or just considering it. Are you actually in Poland now and if so what sort of school are the children in at present?

Maybe Pani A is connected to school. most reviews online are made by stuff....

haha, Im most certainly not, as you will see if you look back on my previous post. But it annoys me when people say bad stuff based on hearsay when often they haven't even visited the school. I have visited Wis and Bisc and both look fab, but if you are looking for native english speaking teachers in Wroclaw, then WIS is the only choice. The turnaround of teachers is the same as most "expat schools" as teachers come on 2 year contracts, some extend for another year or more, but many are young and want to travel. Thats just how it is. If you are happy having your international kids taught by Polish teachers speaking English then Bisc is a great school.

Witam! All those so called "international" schools are purely Polish schools. They just hire 1 or 2 natives, usually from a "cheap" country but most of their teachers are Polish with poor command of English and poor salaries and conditions (= big rotation).

Besides the Bristih School and the American School (both in Warsaw, and very very expensive), there is no - real - English-speaking school in Poland.

Gosc, I disagree, WIS has only native speakers as well, this was not the case some years ago, but now there is only one teacher who is not a native speaker. (And no, I dont work for them - these are just facts)

The rest of the schools, totally agree with every word you said.

@Pani : I'm NOT talking about WIS but about so called "international" schools in Poland, which are in fact Polish.

yeah, I know the kind, sadly :(

I hope that there is at least on English school in Poland, as I am emigrating there with my family. More so, as I am a fully qualified English teacher, and I have been given a job in the BISG (British International School in Gdansk) - unless my maths skills have suddenly vanished the wages are not too bad (super in Polish terms), and I am one of several English native speakers teaching at the school. Also to secure my place, they have offered me places for my own two boys, so I hope my gut instincts and visits were based on my 15 years teaching experiance, as I would not move my children to a poor environment. I currently teach in a VERY successful large secondary school in Dorset, having moved from a VERY VERY (sic) expensive independent school in Somerset. The school I am going to start teaching in has native speakers for all English STEM lessons, and native Mandarin, Arabic, Russian and Spanish teachers for those languages. The Polish language teacher is of course Polish.

One - sorry ONE English school - and I am a teacher, shame on me.

well if your children have been offered a place at this temple of academia, what is the problem?

Came in here to read and obtain a bit of advice for English speaking school for my ex-pat son and leave here more confused haha. I will keep researching.