Any info on Sayfol or Fairview schools? (And Cempaka)

Hellooooo - any info much appreciated

Hi...this  is   not  that  good...maybe   u  can  try  for  one  term...then  u  will  know  more  detail  by  your own.

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I just wondered if you could clarify which you think is not that good (o do you mean all of these schools!)

Thanks again

Escapee

too  may  korean  student  there....students  are  rude..

My child studied in Fairview for a number of years.Throughout the time we were deeply unhappy with the school but did not want to transfer to sayfol since that too did not have good reports.Our nightmare culminated in a totally mismanaged year11 syllabus.We had to send our child to tuitions and somehow complete the syllabus.The school has no organinsation and substandard low paid teachers.The teachers themselves are unhappy and non motivated. We are only relieved our nightmare is over and wouldnt wish this on anyone even if it means sending your child to a more expensive school.

We have friend who teach at CEMPAKA. They are so deeply unhappy that they are leaving after just 6 months...do you need me to continue?

Fairview has started International Baccalaureate programme(IB).It is so badly managed that both teachers and parents are deeply unhappy.Things have become so bad that now teachers not even trained for IB are teachibg the IB classes. If this isnt playing around with children's future then what is.Education at Fairview has become totally money making enterprise.

I'm a present SAYFOL teacher and all I can say is that this place is terrible for teachers to work at because of total management incompetence.

Teachers are gratuitously shouted at and curriculum and syllabi are totally out of hand, and not used correctly.

If you send your child here you should also be prepared to pay for extra tuition as we have severely inexperienced staff teaching subjects they have no knowledge of at public examination level.

Pay for expats is ok, but local staff are severely discriminated against with much lower, local wages.

With most expat teacher jobs you're granted travel money and some sort of housing or flights money. Here you're lucky to get paid a "home" wage.

I cannot say this enough - DO NOT work or send your children to SAYFOL. They're bad managers of staff and amateurs at education management of pupils.

Too much emphasis on Pomp and "face"; not enough on an Education.

Hello sayfolteacher!

Welcome to Expat.com.

I've seen that you have got bad experiences.

I hope that it's alright now.

Harmonie.

Hi sayfolteacher, I would say for everyone there are websites like ISS that are dedicated to reviewing schools but then these become slagging off sites for disgruntled employees. It can be hard to distinguish genuine concerns from one persons upset. Also of course some unscrupulous competitors can register and slag off competiting schools or indeed managers from a school register and say how wonderful a school is!

Also sometimes cultural clashes between local management and expat staff occur which are partly the fault of both parties not being flexible. Having said that UK state schools are run by misguided management, sometimes totally nutty management, and favouritism and unprofessional behaviour occur in the UK state system! It's the nature of teachers I think to become dictatorial and slightly childish lol.

I would suggest that all prospective parents talk to other parents and the teachers of a school not just senior management and the school brochure.  If a school says you can't then why not???

Hi Nemodot,

You're absolutely right about competition and poor reviews etc. I understand your concerns about my reply to the thread.

My main, indeed only, concern is that anyone who does consider working at the school should know what they're getting into.

I assure you that there is no culture clash as the "senior" management are Western educated expats, not local. Needless to say we therefore have a similar backgrounds and know what is acceptable and not acceptable - yet these rules do not seem to apply...

Again I understand it's hard to distinguish between genuine comments and those of teachers that are disgruntled and sift through all the fathoms of information bombarding us; But I assure you - this is NOT the place any teacher wants to experience teaching for the first time, or approach it with ideals of changing childrens' lives.

Yes I also agree, everyone should decide for themselves - in that case this is a fair assessment from an insiders perspective.

PS try asking to speak to the teachers!!!

We have just come back from a survey trip in KL looking for schools for our children and we visited Cempaka, I think it depends which location you choose as we preferred the one based out at Cheras, however in saying that, we decided that ELC was a much better school for our children and have crossed Cempaka completely off our short list. Sorry I can only offer you info based on what we have seen and as a staff member it may be completely different for you but as a parent we felt ELC was a much better school.

Oh forgot to say we took one look at Fairview and basically walked out the door, were not impressed at all with this school, wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Earlier posts from sayfolteacher sum it up well. Know that we are not just teachers with axes to grind here. Never in all my years of teaching (and I've taught at some dodgy schools in the past) have I had an admin that on a daily basis, starting from the morning meeting, berates and belittles its faculty and students so. SAYFOL is not a school that delivers on promises. It is ruled by hypocrisy and fear. I have never before felt so unsafe and so mistreated. I cannot stress enough: prospective students and teachers must steer far, far away from the campuses in both KL and Sabah. It is an unhealthy environment for those who value education.

I also as an Ex-Sayfol teacher will support all that has been said.Do not on any account send your children there or apply for a job there. You will regret it I assure you!!