Hmmm
Thank you British guy for being closer to the truth than the ridiculous post before you!
The fact is that schools like GEMS Wellington et al. Are simply not good enough for any child with reasonable academics who hopes to go to a good university in UK.
If your child is a non native English speaker be that subcontinent to Western European then GEMS will give them a basic education granted but that is all they will get.
The UK private sector is preparing your 4-11yr old for the 11+ or 13+ from when they arrive. I like British Guy have done a huge amount of research and due diligence as school for Mrs VT and I was a driving factor in whether to separate the family or move as a unit to DXB.
Granted the choice is better now (slightly) than 4 years ago but there are still only the schools that BG mentions as even being close to good enough and I would argue that whilst all of those mentioned are good enough academically that they are not good enough from a holistic product point of view. Schools are not even close to being solely about academics.
Foremarke (same firm as Repton) is 89,000AED per annum for a 6yr old. That is almost double Repton. The academics are excellent but nothing else is up to par. I am sure it will be in the future but the future is too late if your child is that age now! It will be ok in 3yrs time might be good enough for your children it isn't for ours!
And if it is good enough for your children then great then my children will have less competition in their future, so thank you for thinking it doesn't matter!
So yes can we complain if we are one of those who like BG flies with guys who have to top up accommodation and top up schooling etc. Well actually no as, we choose better schools for our own personal reasons but the same arguments exists for driving a Audi when a Yaris would do the job, as would a Kia. The very same argument exists for not living in a 2 bed in Sharjah or RAK as opposed to living in The Meadows.
We all have our own level of what lifestyle we are prepared to live. We all know pilots who live in Motor City 2 Bed appts with 2 children. Good for them they can live like that, I for one will not. If I have to live like that then I may as well at least do it from the comfort of my own home in my own country.
I do have an EASA licence and a EU passport so I do have a choice, I choose to stay here but lets not make it seem like we do anything other than tread water. I save nothing at all every month.
What 73heaven said is spot on if you come out here and have two school age children do not expect to save a single dirham left at the end of any month. In fact consider yourself lucky if you can afford a very small family holiday once a year.
It is not that life is expensive in DXB it is simply that life is expensive full stop. So it is a choice of spending everything you earn here and living lifestyle X or spending everything you have at home and living lifestyle Y.
If you come from a cheap to live in country or are one of those pilots whining about not being able to get home every month then my sympathy is not with you. You cannot reap the rewards of the ME if your family live thousands of miles away and if your wife and children are not here with you then you should ask yourself what the point in you being here is.
If you want a commute go to China, earn $20,000 a month a work 20/10 then at least you have cash to show for it!
There are many things wrong here at FZ mostly starting from the top but each year that we survive here is one year less of worry for the future of the family so it is what it is.
Re the DECs roster. Sorry I'll save that for another thread! If we needed DEC's then fine but we don't so basically I have no sympathy we all get paid the same, the roster is what it is.