The Atlantic International School group has now almost completed its fourth year. In the three previous years negative reviews have been written about the school and how it is managed. I feel it is my duty as one of the directors of the school to try to balance the argument. I am English and have been a director of Atlantic, for one year, having been a previous head teacher and curriculum manager. I have assisted with the development of the school into a highly respected member of the international school community of Moscow. I work very closely with the other directors in moving the school forward. Atlantic has established itself as the only provider of the University of Cambridge Curriculum in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the most recent inspection in St. Petersburg by the University of Cambridge they reported the school as excellent. We had our second AS/IGCSE external examination inspection this year and again we ticked all the boxes. This year we have become a member of the European Council for International Schools ECIS and are working towards accreditation by Council for International Schools CIS. We are an active member of the Association of European Businesses AEB and are working with the association to establish and education committee for the group. Our recruitment policy has evolved over the past 4 years and now we work with respected recruitment agencies and the Times Educational Supplement TES. We have had to change our policy to meet the demands of our parents. We now look for experienced English speaking teachers who will be able to contribute to moving the school forward. Attracting the best staff to Russia is not easy due to many factors so the school will move to a three year contract to try to improve retention amongst staff. There have understandably been problems in the early years but as we open new schools we recognise the problems that have occurred and try to ensure that we are not repeating earlier mistakes. We have had difficulty bringing resources to Russia. Importing books is difficult, and meeting with agencies to have e-learning takes time. Our curriculum is beginning to bear fruit as our children begin to succeed with the Cambridge Curriculum. Our children are formally assessed as early as year 2 and have Cambridge assessments built into their learning programmes. Children do external ESOL exams from year 2 and Cambridge Checkpoint exams in year 6 and 9. We have children in upper school attending IGCSE and AS classes and we are optimistic about the outcomes. Our children this year will go to study in universities in the UK, USA, Asia and Europe. This year our school, came first in the European Maths Challenge beating over 500 schools with 22 000 competitors The school is evolving. The directors are listening to staff more and more and are adjusting to the demands of being an international school. The package the school offers is now very competitive with other international schools; our staff all have comprehensive medical insurance with Zurich. The contract is protected by Russian law; the school pays the income taxes for its employees. Each member of staff receives a working, multi entry, visa for up to 3 years The developments of Atlantic will continue at some pace with many people in Russia wanting to have Atlantic as their education provider. We will probably make mistakes, but less and less as time goes on. If you feel you would like to apply for work at Atlantic or would like to get more information about one of our schools or kindergartens please visit our website or contact the school and we will be more than willing to answer your questions. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Damien Butters Atlantic International School Sadly, it's about hiring native speakers. This is the case with Atlantic. Many teachers are not native speakers. They hire Turkish or Russian teachers who are cheaper but have no knowledge of Cambridge curriculum. It IS supposed to to be a Cambridge curriculum school. But they are cheaper and so more profit. Not a good school to be honest.

HEY GUEST, I do not have a negative view of Russia. I LOVE MOSCOW. What makes you think I have had a bad experience? I guarantee my life in here is much more prosperous than yours! GUEST, you really say nothing helpful to anyone, why did you waste your time posting? I think Zorillo420 may have quite a negative view of Russia, my experience has been much better than this.

I have heard many people talking about the same issues but I cant say i agree or disagree since my child doesnt study at AAS.

We are expats and are former parents of this school. We were so excited to have our daughter in this school but it turned sour this year. The school is not professionally run by it's head of school. The teachers who actually teach the children - or guide them-are lovely and working hard to ensure that while the children are there they are treated well and able to learn. At the end of the day, with a school this small, connections with the parents are huge and how the child is treated by the head of school is important. We were treated disrespectfully and unreasonably as parents but most importantly how the head of school showed little regard for our daughter's well being was really shocking. It just showed how really unexperienced the lady who started the school is in education management, especially her comprehension of how her extreme personally driven decisions impact the child. She's very very extreme in her dealings. Not a good match for a school with young impressionable children. Sad, because we love the Montessori method.

I am also a parent of this school and my child has been attending since the second year that the school opened. The school have been through an enormous growth. I am very happy witht he way the school is run and will now be sending my second child to this school.

The report written about Atlantic International School (May 20, 2013 06:55) is understandably pro-school. This is because it was written by a director of the school. This director is the only English director; the others are Turkish. This director was given this position in order to give the school an 'English gloss', and to 'legitimise' the school. Also to promote it. There is no way that this school wants parents to know that they are dealing with Turkish businessmen who are simply there for profit, with limited to no educational background. The fact that the school has come out on the back foot and has to defend it self and say that it is listening to its teachers, goes to show that it is exactly not doing this. It's rather unconvincing stuff to the least. Unhappy teachers = unhappy school = unhappy students = Turkish management worried about profit. It's amusing to see that this defensive stance also has a recruiting line in it for prospective teachers. I guess while you're writing it, why not hustle, hey? LOL The report written about Atlantic International School (May 20, 2013 06:55) is understandably pro-school. This is because it was written by a director of the school. This director is the only English director; the others are Turkish. This director was given this position in order to give the school an 'English gloss', and to 'legitimise' the school. Also to promote it. There is no way that this school wants parents to know that they are dealing with Turkish businessmen who are simply there for profit, with limited to no educational background. The fact that the school has come out on the back foot and has to defend it self and say that it is listening to its teachers, goes to show that it is exactly not doing this. It's rather unconvincing stuff to the least. Unhappy teachers = unhappy school = unhappy students = Turkish management worried about profit. It's amusing to see that this defensive stance also has a recruiting line in it for prospective teachers. I guess while you're writing it, why not hustle, hey? LOL

Absolutely