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 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

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

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.

I was not trying to prove anything and be sure I am a parent not a troll. However reading what you write kind of convinced me what the administrators tell is true. I agree you have good inside information. I even saw your comments with the same nickname in different websites complaining about salary. This is very strange.A parent would not know this. Come on you have not even wrote you are not a teacher you are a parent yet. Write down what happened what did they do to make you so much angry ? I am a parent and I wrote what I saw. Sorry If this made you angry . I only shared my experience and there is yours. By the Looks of Whitsun, I would say this is a post by a troll in administration. I stand by what I say. I know the school very well. I have good inside information about the school and how it works. I also know that the school is currently going from bad to worse with the Turkish administrator Mr Ufook in Dubrovka having no idea how to relate to people or run a school except by threats and bullying. He prefers to hire local Russian, Turkish and Kazan teachers because they are cheaper. Some cannot even speak English properly. I also know that certain students in the secondary school and their bullying parents are trying to control the school, resulting in little to no discipline for their children. All foreign teachers are up to standard buthey have and are working under tough and unfair conditions. What is not up to standard is this Turkish run fake international school. It's an esl school.The Turks have no idea how to run a school, nor are they interested. It is simply about money. .Now, if you want to send your child/children to an unstable Turkish run esl school that pretends to be British, with unhappy teachers and little to no discipline, then that is your choice. But there are better schools about. More for information, go to International Schools Review.

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.