SAVSMA
3/27/2015 09:24 EST
Hi everyone im new to this & looking for some advise.
In Jan we will be relocating to the Bahamas.We are looking to rent a home prior to buying in a good expats area with a good international private school and good tennis facilities close by.
Can anyone make any reccomendations?
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breija
3/28/2015 16:39 EST
Sandyport! Most homes are on the canal, there are 4 community pools, 5 community tennis courts, and Tambearly School has a dedicated entrance from Sandyport. Everything is close, and there are lots of expats. If you like it in Sandyport, there are also lots of homes for sale.
Old Fort Bay is a more upscale neighbourhood with more single family dwellings with larger properties. Properties in Sandyport are not large. Old Fort, however, has only 1 community tennis court (I think!) and no community pool. There is the Club though, and if you belong to the club you have access to a lot of amenities. Living in Old Fort does not give you club membership. There is no school specifically in/adjacent to Old Fort, but there is the new Windsor Academy (in their 1st year) nearby. For the younger students, the Meridian School (further away) is affiliated with the Windsor Academy. Again, many homes in Old Fort are on the canal.
Lyford Cay is a much more exclusive community, also on a canal. Lyford Cay is within the gated community. Not sure how many tennis courts they have, and whether you need to be a club member to use them. You do need to be a club member to use the golf course. As for pools, I'm not sure, but many homes in Lyford have pools.
These are all west. Out east, there are Port New Providence and Palm Cay, both on canals with tennis and pools. There is Treasure Cove, where you get much more house and property for the money, but it is not on a canal, and they do not have tennis or community pool (at least, did not many years ago). These three communities are almost side by side and very close to St. Andrew's School.
St. Andrew's and Lyford are the international schools for the whole range of grades. Tambearly is a really great international school up to Grade 9.
There is a tennis club mid island near the stadium, and some public courses about midway along the east west highway.
Hope that helps!
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SAVSMA
3/30/2015 09:23 EST
Thank you so much!
Your advise has been most helpful and certainly provided us with lots of avenues to explore.
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MDB
4/11/2015 17:34 EST
St. Andrews is the school you want your child in. We raised our children there and the other international schools just don't cut it. We lived in TreasureCove for 10years and it is a great place. It is safe and clean. There is no tennis but courts are plentiful.
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plsuh
4/12/2015 12:59 EST
Just to be up front, I'm the Technology Director for the Lyford Cay International School, so my opinion may be a bit biased. :-)
That said, there are five schools that I think fit your criteria:
Lyford Cay International School
http://lcis.bs/
Tambearly School
http://www.tambearly.com
Queen's College
http://qchenceforth.com/index.php
St. Andrew's
http://www.standrewsbahamas.com
Windsor Prep
http://www.windsorprep.com
I can't speak for all of the other schools, but Lyford Cay International School covers grades Junior Pre-K through 12, using the International Baccalaureate curriculum in an academically rigorous program. We usually send at least one student every year to an Ivy League or equivalent level university. The school is located just inside the main gate of the Lyford Cay community at the western end of New Providence. We draw students from all across the island, including Lyford Cay, Old Fort Bay, Charlottesville, Sandyport, Cable Beach, Goodman's Bay, and lots of other communities. The school uses technology extensively, tightly integrated into the entire educational process even in the youngest grades. Starting with grade 6, all students have their own laptops in a 1-1 program that they use in class and for homework. As part of the curriculum we teach the kids appropriate and safe use of the computer, as well as how to utilize an important tool in today's world.
Hope this helps.
--Paul
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BettyPinder2
12/6/2020 21:10 EST
At the time, we were ok with sending my kids to Windsor, but lately, we regret this and feel it’s the best decision made to withdraw them because they are doing so much better now. We have discussed concerns and experiences with other parents all over the island the past years and it’s been interesting to see just how many of us here have had similar experiences which is what we want to share.
First of all, the two schools pretend to be connected but they are not, and they have become a mirror image of each other. Ben Fox who insists on being called “Mr Fox” is the principal at Windsor Elementary. 2 years ago, He was joined with his unmarried partner and told people that their work with a London private school who had the British royal family in it would be innovative and an improvement of what we’d all seen before. The school had gone through countless principals before Fox, so anyone that could last more than a year would be an improvement, or so we were told by the owner. We were at the first parents’ evening when Fox himself boasted and joked that he got his job because of his friend on the board. Fox’s partner is his assistant, and we all see he does the work so that she gets paid for doing little, she is hardly ever seen and never teaches. Our kids couldn’t tell us where they saw her in the school, and when the Covid situation hit, we never heard anything from her until the school opened again many months later, so talk about the school paying her for months to teach her kids at home! To be hired at the school, Fox’s emails once said that they were brought in as “recommendations” from existing staff, and this made many people feel like it was jobs for friends and not bringing in the best teachrs, which didn’t really give us any faith in the system or in his ability to search for the best teachers for our kids. Fox also emails a lot during the week which ranged from bees near garbage cans to some program for riding a bicycle to school that lasted a month. We received emails so often that we stopped reading them.
Now the school has brought in another principal in the high school named Dr Mark P Ott. Ott replaced the previous principal who we were also told was world class and would take the school to the next level. Each year, parents were told some lie about the results and the explanations became more unbelievable each year. Like Fox, we have found out that Ott also has a friend who got him the job, but it’s someone other than Fox’s friend. Ott didn’t bring his partner with him to run the school, but instead, it’s his friend who has a criminal arrest record in Masachusets. Unlike Fox, Ott doesn’t like people to talk with him and he has no people skills. He doesn’t answer his emails, and when our friends tried to talk with him on the phone, they told us that he didn’t seem interested to speak with them and tried to cut the conversation off. They told us that Ott can’t even read from the script when the school met on zoom, and that it was embarrassing to watch him fumble to read from what he wrote. We have seen many staff leaving both schools since September of this year, and who knows will be there when the new year starts? Then again, the school had a pedophile as a sports teacher who liked to inappropriately touch the girls in the locker room, but they had to let him go when he stole a car at Albany. Unlike Fox paying the media to run a happy story about the elementary school, the Covid situation at the high school has been covered by the press, and parents are wondering who is next to become sick.
We left Windsor because we wouldn’t trust it with our childrens future any longer. Windsor was ok when everyone was our kids were younger and the results were not as important. But now that Covid showed us that we needed much more for our kid’s futures, if you’re interested in an education, go somewhere else. From what we have been told, unless your family is one of the in-crowd, you will not do well here. There are other options if you look for them.
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24joshrob
12/21/2020 15:06 EST
Excellent info
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24joshrob
12/21/2020 16:44 EST
Excellent info
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BettyPinder2
1/15/2021 19:15 EST
We talk to so many people on the island, and my friends wanted you to know their feelings...
This introduction below appeared on the Windsor school website just before Christmas, again introducing the new head of Albany school for the fourth time: “Windsor School at Albany is pleased to have Dr. Mark Ott join us as the new Headmaster. Dr. Ott is a distinguished educator and leader joining us from the United States where he was at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, one of the most prominent college preparatory schools in the country.
Dr. Ott has deep experience in curriculum design, faculty recruitment and training, academic affairs and admissions, and over the course of his 25-year career as an academic leader, he has held senior positions at The Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, The Blake School in Minneapolis, and Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He also brings deep international experience having consulted for schools in Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Dublin and Tokyo as well as teaching at the School Year Abroad program in Spain.”
Now let me tell you from a parent’s point of view, what he is really like. Firstly, I have no idea if he is a good educator, he has never taught a lesson to my knowledge, since he got here, but if his TED talk is anything to go by, well see for yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=16&v=WztLYVgjmy0&feature=youtu.be
I had occasion to go into the school to pick up some textbooks and was met by an abrupt man, who made no effort to introduce himself, he could have been the janitor for all I knew. When I tried to explain why I was there he rudely gestured me towards the cafeteria, where I could collect the books, so much for his people skills. I then had the painful experience during an online meeting for parents to meet the teachers, of watching him stutter through a welcome message which was obviously being read from a script, full of unconvincing praise for the outstanding work the children were doing. It was more like a lecture than a greeting. According to some other parents I have spoken with he has also built a reputation for not answering emails, regardless of the importance or the necessity for a reply. As for his faculty recruitment, to date he has brought in his friend to be deputy head, who has a criminal record. A pedophile rugby coach to teach PE, with a reputation for womanizing and who indecently touched some of the girls’. He was only dismissed when he stole a car and police were involved, and an odd assortment of others to fill gaps who do not appear to be qualified to teach these subjects.
Now we come to the part about his senior positions. I have googled him and found he has no leadership experience of running a school only an English faculty, hardly the same thing. He now has sole responsibility supposedly for the training of teachers and for my child’s education. Having spoken with one or two of the staff I have known for so many years, and despite the spin and whitewashing on the schools website, I have no confidence in Ott’s ability to run a school. Because of his lack of experience and growing poor reputation, I do not trust the school to educate my child to a recognised standard. How many times are Windsor going to give the leadership of their schools to people without experience. Another poor choice of leadership was Ben Fox in the primary, he also had no experience of running a school and because of this I see no option but to remove my child.
I will write more about the schools as the year finishes. Plenty is going on as I write and listen to others.
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BettyPinder2
1/20/2021 18:49 EST
A week ago, parents received an email update from Mr. Ben Fox about changes being made with teachers for our children. It made us wonder what was going on, but we all just came back from the Christmas holiday. Instead of rumors flying among parents, it was actually Ben Fox’s partner Lesley Owens who is his Assistant Principal that cleared everything up for us.
Lesley complained to our friends last weekend that she was having to do more in the school. She told our friends that one of the Third Grade teachers caught Covid and wasn’t coming into work for a long time. I’m sure it will be embarrassing that Miss Hilary was mentioned by name! Then, Miss Lesley told them why one of the Fifth Grade teachers wasn’t coming in. Basically, she had a test done at her doctors and needed to stay longer with her boyfriend who travelled with her to UK. Lesley told our friends of the private issue which was a “lady’s parts” test which is what made the teacher stay in UK for more lab work. I’m sure that Miss Ally will be embarrassed and angry to know that her private medical life is being discussed in public by Mr. Fox’s partner. Miss Lesley also complained to our friends that Miss Ally’s boyfriend was told that he had to return on island but he refused to come back for whatever reason. I’m sure that Mr. Colin will also be angry to know that his personal life is being discussed by Lesley Owens and that she complained that not only was he defying Mr. Fox but also that Mr. Colin was keeping his job.
It’s shameful that Mr. Ben Fox and his partner Lesley talk about Ms. Lisa’s teachers like this outside of school. It’s not new for them because the way have gossip about teachers and others in the community at SkyBar and at local parties is talked about in the community.
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