HELP!!Primary English schools and kids actvities in Agadir

khadija_ben wrote:

hello,
I guess I can help you finding your target..I live in agadir and I know some good International schools, and nice places for kids.. there is swimming , horse riding clubs.. so for any question I am available.. and I will give you the addresses in details..

Hi khadija
Thanks for replying:)
your help will be much appreciated
please provide me with all you know regarding kids and adults activities
also the schools and if you can give any review regarding any of them
Thanks a lot

hey dear sarah , First welcome to u'r country !!! there is one international schoool called ''Montessori Academy of Morocco '' The director is a Canadian lady The address is 37, Rue Mokhtar Soussi Cite Suisse Agadir !! There is also American Language Center Just type the name of this schools on google u'll find their website and some info about them!! to add , there are too many fun places for kids such as swimming pool , school to leran music , many gardens for families to enjoy and spend their time !!!ans so many area to practise sport, also there are clubs of karaté and school of tennis  if u'r kid want to learn it also there are liberay to read books and so more things !! any way khadija 'll help u as long as they live there !! i'm not right now there !!!
any other question don't hesitate to post it

Salaam moroccan1
Thanks for replying and thanks for the school adress i have read about this one but i needed some reviews from some parents or someone who had exprience with them
also i can imagine there are lots of fun place in Agadir but i really need some adresses
hope khadija will get back to me
Thanks again and hope you enjoying you life in Qatar

yeah right u need someone who has experience !! no need to thanx me!! welcome any time bant baldi !!! good luck !! thank you

I saw your post! I have the same question... We r talking about moving to agadir at the end of summer. I would love to hear what you found out regarding things to do for kids, schools, etc.. My son will be starting kindergarden this year and I would really like to get him into an English program if possible. Any info would be great.  Thanks

Brandej43 wrote:

I saw your post! I have the same question... We r talking about moving to agadir at the end of summer. I would love to hear what you found out regarding things to do for kids, schools, etc.. My son will be starting kindergarden this year and I would really like to get him into an English program if possible. Any info would be great.  Thanks

Hi
The only English school I found in agadir is the Montessori school in cite Suisse and its quite pricy ( I have 2 kids and I will be paying  about 8300£ a year.
It's a shame that the only English school here has to be so expensive!!
So the other option is home schooling my kids which will allow me to follow the British curriculum.
What will be perfect is to find a network of English speaking mums and meet regularly also get the kids to meet each other .
I didn't get much responses from the forum nor other forums sounds like no one is interested ! I believe kids education for expats should have been one of the most discussed topics .
Please feel free to contact me if you need anything.
X

Hi Sara mum,

I am a British expat here in Agadir, originally from Agadir too but I am going to return back to London very soon because for schooling it is hard to find the proper school , English speaking one in Agadir. I hope you were not trapped and enrolled your kids into Montessori academy. The director is a real crook, I paid for 1 year tuition for my daughter who is 3 years, and while ago, I realised that I cannot live anymore here, so I told him I need my money back. Basically, he asked me to pi** off and to forget about my money, can u believe it??? his name is [Moderated]. A typical crook. Now I following him in court for a refund. But I have heard later that many teachers run away from the school because he doesn't t pay their salaries. So all who are left are either new comers who don t know yet the real cruel intentions he has , who eventually will end up unpaid later or unqualified ones who has no experience or Montessori certification. So my advise, put your kids in la mission franchise rather than Montessori. At least they are qualified and recognised even if you decide to return back to UK.


Regards

Ihsan

ibens wrote:

Hi Sara mum,

I am a British expat here in Agadir, originally from Agadir too but I am going to return back to London very soon because for schooling it is hard to find the proper school , English speaking one in Agadir. I hope you were not trapped and enrolled your kids into Montessori academy. The director is a real crook, I paid for 1 year tuition for my daughter who is 3 years, and while ago, I realised that I cannot live anymore here, so I told him I need my money back. Basically, he asked me to pi** off and to forget about my money, can u believe it??? his name is [Moderated]. A typical crook. Now I following him in court for a refund. But I have heard later that many teachers run away from the school because he doesn't t pay their salaries. So all who are left are either new comers who don t know yet the real cruel intentions he has , who eventually will end up unpaid later or unqualified ones who has no experience or Montessori certification. So my advise, put your kids in la mission franchise rather than Montessori. At least they are qualified and recognised even if you decide to return back to UK.
Here is my phone number in case you need any help 0662627763

Regards

Ihsan

Hi ihsan

I can't believe what you telling me, that really horrible having to go trough this with a school!
I am lucky I didn't enroll there, I was very tempted thou until I heared they don't have yet the authorisation of the Moroccan ministry of education do basically their school is not recognised !
Ur 3 years old is very small thou for tuitions and in Morocco I ve learnt one thing, they love taking ur money but never give refunds.
I had a fight with customer service worker in marjane coz they refused refunding an item I bought by mistake !!
I will call you soon, when are u going to London?

Oh yes my dear. To tell u the truth I was gutted and I feel I am stranger here. Things has changed a lot since last time I left Agadir.  Especially if they know you r coming from Europe they think we just harvest pounds or euros from the trees. customer service, it s something that doesn't t exist here, once they take the money they turn the page on you. If u try to compare to UK , u will get mad really. Feel free to call me anytime.
And u know what, just by posting my experience in this forum I got many emails from people who had problems with that [Moderated]. and you are right it is disgusting to get this sort of behaviour from a guy who is supposed to be a role model, school director, very shameful. And u r soo lucky really. And by the way, he has no safety and security standards in his school, just one week before school started in September, he had a fire that came from the neighbouring building and all the first floor was burnt.  So imagine children were there, what would have happened. a disaster of course. You will see that burnt building in dakhla, in front of dakhla ameublement.
call me anytime u want.

Cheers

sadly , Morocco goes from worst to worst especially in education

I used to teach at The Montessori School.....not any more! it's a joke of a school: it has not in any way like a "proper" Montessori School; the Canadian lady left in June 2010 because of massive problems with the owner. I am currently involved in legal action against him to recover unpaid salary. So many teachers have left because he doesn't pay. He is a total liar and a thief. HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

Hi

Thanks for ur contact. Are you using maitre Oumast for ur case against this crook? when I went to this lawyer he said a lady is complaining too cuz of unpaid salary. I doubt I will get a penny back from this crook. I m devastated really. I just print some reports written by Ms Mila cruel from Philippines who was a victim teacher too and I will hand them over to all students parents so they know the real truth of this terrible man.

I really wish u good luck in getting ur money back.

Regards

Ihsan

it was probably me he was talking about but there are others also going to court. He is every bad thing you have said and much more: I know a lot about him,his family etc.In the end, he will run out of people he can bribe to make things go away. Agadir is a small place and his reputation is well known already.

all good wishes.

Yeah me too, I know a guy who knows everything about him, he was the one who opened my eyes towards his real truth , but it wa wa bit too late after I signed the cheque of the full year tuition of my daughter. U know, I feel so sorry for the patents who have their kids already in this school for year, at any time they might find themselves in the street. The worse is there is no English speaking schools in Agadir, so I don t know what they gonna do. now there is nobody in the school, no secretaries, completely deserted. He comes every morning like a scared rat to open the door and leave and then close the door when children leave the school. No security for those children, anybody can go inside and do anything.

Salam, I will be moving to Agadir sometime next year, I would really be interested to get a school for my daughter, who is 6, I am looking for a British school, even if it is private. Please can you help? Also what activities there are for her there to do, and any other useful information. Thanks so much.

There is not a British school in Agadir. Forget the so called Montessori school ( read the other messages about that!)English is gaining ground out here but is still the fourth language behind Arabic, Berber and French. My daughter is 6 and attends a school where she is taught in both French and Arabic. She's been there since Sept 2011 and is rapidly becoming tri-lingual. We intend to live out here for years so the languages just become part of her. 

I was very committed to this happening and so have had to "up" my language skills including learning to read and write in Arabic in order to support her.

I guess it all depends what you want for your children as to the amount of effort you are prepared to make.

Hi Amina,

Well, I came to agadir hoping to settle down and find an English school, unfortunately there isn't here. The only one that I thought was, was That school in dakhla in front of Najah ameublement, but the owner is a psycho crook, my lawyer told me it is soon going to bankruptcy because of his illegal activities. There is one that just opened but they just started, they will follow Montessori way of education now from 3 to 5 years. So I am afraid to tell u that there isn't here anything. I am going back to England just because of this luckily my child is still 3 so I am not in trouble really. There is an American school in Marrakech and many English speaking schools in Casablanca. But they are too expensive.
What I can advise you is to try to teach French and Arabic to your child, so if ou come to agadir she won t feel like an alien in the classroom. She can integrate if she feels comfortable about those new languages. She is still young , she can absorb quickly. There is a good school named Blaise pascal, I have heard it is a nice private school. But it is all depend on what you want really. Regarding activities, you can take your child to learn horse riding at the horsing club. She can do swimming lesson in the firefighter center , they have good trainers there with a good swimming pool. You can take her to ballet dance classes in club Felin. This is the only way you can keep her busy , by doing activities, cuz there is no play centre or anything like that here, so the best is to take advantage of the nice weather and learn these sport activities.
I hope that helps

ibens wrote:

Yeah me too, I know a guy who knows everything about him, he was the one who opened my eyes towards his real truth , but it wa wa bit too late after I signed the cheque of the full year tuition of my daughter. U know, I feel so sorry for the patents who have their kids already in this school for year, at any time they might find themselves in the street. The worse is there is no English speaking schools in Agadir, so I don t know what they gonna do. now there is nobody in the school, no secretaries, completely deserted. He comes every morning like a scared rat to open the door and leave and then close the door when children leave the school. No security for those children, anybody can go inside and do anything.

Hey Ihsen

Hope you doing well,as you said i doubt much you will get any penny back from this scammer but one thing is sure inshallah this crook will end up in a dirty stinky moroccan jail.
i didnt call you because i was away,i would love to meet you sometime if you free,i will also PM you my number.
for me the BEST way to teach my daughter is home schooling,its great and i am getting used to it slowly my daughter enjoys me being her teacher and as she is only 6 its very basic and easy.
we do english maths and Arabic and French.
i follow the british curriculum for english and the french curriculum for french and maths.
dont go back to London just for your kid education,if you cant teach your little one french then i can find you a private and cheap french teacher same thing for Arabic.
what i hate about private schools in Morocco is that they over charge the kids at a very young age,kids before 7 needs to play a lot and enjoy it.
i have seen 3 years old kid forced into learning writing and reading which is phsycologically not right.
i am a qualified french teacher my self and i know that kids need to learn slowly because they have a very long way to go trough studies.
over charging them at young age results the kids to be tired and slow down by the time they reach secondary.
blaise Pascal in a very good school and its the only one in Agadir that according to my pedagogical experience that offers what the kids need.
they also do english there and its really cheap for the teaching quality they offer.
if i have to stop home educationg my daughtermy choice  will be def blaise pascal.

Amina2013 wrote:

Salam, I will be moving to Agadir sometime next year, I would really be interested to get a school for my daughter, who is 6, I am looking for a British school, even if it is private. Please can you help? Also what activities there are for her there to do, and any other useful information. Thanks so much.

Salaam Amina

Blaise Pascal is a very good school,i know a lady who has 3 kids there,they are really well behaved and having a good standard education.
if you are intrested in home schooling your daughter then i can help you just let me know.
i know lots of women muslim and non muslim in london teaching their kids at home,their are plenty of very good link online that make the experience may be more enjoyable for the kid than going to school every morning.
my daughter goes to Karate and will be starting swimming soon,i was planing to take her to alkastalani school.
its very easy to get your child do every kind of sport in Morocco and very cheap unlike the UK and thats what the small kids need really.

Moroccan1 wrote:

sadly , Morocco goes from worst to worst especially in education

You know what,the problem is that the gouverment give easy authorisations to anyone to have a private school,i was educated in Morocco when i was young i started at 7 and was in Public school it was the good old time,no stress no exorbitant fees for my parents and i still managed to have a good education,parents are worrying too much,what the kids need is attention of parents and help and support and LOVE not only private schools where we pay lots of money thinking we will make a 5 or 6 or 7 year old kid an  einstein !
there is a private school in front of my house here in Agadir,it costs 400dh a month for the parents and guess how much they pay the teachers(who are not qualified btw and have no more than a BAC) 700dh a month!!!! is it a shame?
its looks good nice and colorful  building but the owner her self is not teacher and her husband is a military officer.
total joke!

Thanks a lot for your email and very pleased to hear back from you. Well now, I it s a bit too late to make a u turn , I just bought a place and I am moving back. I will be happy to meet up with you. Feel free to contact me whenever you are free .

Take card

I plan to move to Agadir hopefully in the early part of 2014. I married my wonderful wife in Morocco in 2011. She had been a Primary School teacher of English and French for 16 years  in private schools in Morocco when I met her. The poor Darling worked 50 hours a week for only 2,000dh a month ( about $180 USD ). Maybe she will try to get a Job Teaching in Agadir or open her own Preschool. She is a Wonderful Teacher. I will leave it up to her.
    I feel so sorry for you when I read of your experience with this Dirty School Owner. This man obviously has a connections with some Public Officials in Agadir that lets him get away with his thievery.
    I am also a little somewhat surprised in that you sound to me as if you have never had to deal with Moroccan culture or people before. I don't think that I would be alone if I say that Tribal Mentality is still very much alive in Moroccan Culture. That is to say, It is who you know , who you are related to, How wide family and political connections are that decide what positions one can aspire to and what one can get away with.
    I have found for myself that, while living in Morocco though not always but sometimes is the case many Moroccans truly resent Americans and Europeans living in their country for buying their choice property and coming on vacation just to chasing their women and spitting on their Flag. Many Moroccans truly think we are all rich. This is understandable as they only see the tourist and expats that can afford to live and travel to Morocco. The Middle East Wars did not help our image throughout North Africa and the Middle East either. Ounce a very old Moroccan man ask me; " Hey, Why is George Bush killing Muslims all over the World. Does he have a Jewish Girlfriend?" I replied; Yes, Her name is Dick Cheney" hhhh .I also can recall when a Friend  whom I was staying with in Casablanca at the time invited  me to  go with him to his friends house to have Tea. When we arrived at the door of the home of our host a little Boy of 6 and his sister of 5 began to ask their father , " Daddy, where is the Americans Gun, Is he going to shoot us, where is his Gun", So Sad.
      Here in Montana, USA where I live now. Many Montanans regard  people from California as Foreigners. hhhhhh, Many seriously resent people from California because they come to Montana, bring lots of money, buy up all the choice homes and land. Which in turn drives up the surrounding property Taxes. Which in turn means that sometimes the Taxes of a retired couples home is now more than they paid originally for their home which they can now no longer afford to pay.
    Here is a funny story. Last month my wife and I were in Walmart. A male friend of ours who was working there at the time was seen talking to my wife who always wears a  Hijab. Later, our friend told us that one of his coworkers said to him, Don't you know that you can be killed for talking to a Muslim Woman. hhhhhhhhhhhh.   
  I'm sorry if I strayed too much from the point of this Blog. Best Advice for anyone visiting or living in Morocco or MONTANA as well is.            " Let The Buyer Beware "

Hi there, thanks for your email. Interesting story really but I am not surprised of every single word u said. Well, latest updates, his school was shut down and all the licenses were taken from him. I am very happy but sad for parents who will be finding it difficult enrolling their children in French or arabic school after getting used to English.
Opening a preschool is not really a good idea, what I suggest is to open a nursery because now many mums are working so they need a good and a safe place where to place their babies. It has to be to the high standard if you want to be different from others because in agadir something woowww doesn t exist. and even those mediocre ones, make a lot of profit cuz mums have no choice. Whereas if u open a preschool, u need to expend to primary , then secondary and that requires a big capital.
as per me,  I couldn't t cope with the mentality so I returned back to UK , even if it s cold , but I am happy to be back.

Well, I hope that will help your wife because I am sure she will be able to do it but you need to help her and support her. Also, try to find a good location if you feel like opening this business, charaf , talborjt are good spots , keep close to city centre .

By the way, if you are thinking to rent , I have a fully furnished flat, in a nice building with excellent furniture , all imported from dubai. now it is a rented to a single young Russian businessman for the entire year. After he will leave to Russia.

But if you are thinking t buy, the this is another story, Iif. Think to build a villa, I have a nice land just 16 km of agadir and a quiet area where foreigners build big villas with swimming pools.

I wish you good luck and if you need any further information about anything , I will be more than happy to help if I can.

Cheers

Thank you for your reply and advice.

I'm moving to Agadir in Nov and need schooling for my kids 5 and 7.
What's available. I've heard some conflicting reports about the Montessori school and was wondering whether it was still the case that it was run badly.
If so, are there any other English language school options for my kids.
Thanks

Hi there.

Unfortunately there is no other proper English speaking school in Agadir. Believe me , you will regret it deeply if you go to Montessori school, the owner is a crook and has no manners. So just stay away from his school.

one of the main reasons I returned back to UK is because there was no English speaking schools in Agadir.
if you have the option to live in casablanca or Marrakech, then you will have no issue. They are very expensive if you will pay from your pocket, unless you are on an expat deal then that should be fine.

Good luck

Hello,

I've recently moved to Agadir and I'm currently looking at education options for my children.

I have two girls 6 and 4 who only speak English.

I know there are no English schools here but I as I'm looking at staying here long term I don't mind putting them in an Arabic/French school, so feel free to make recommendations.(Not expensive ones please)

Also does anyone know any private female Arabic teachers who could come to my house on weekends to help my children with their learning.

And lastly does anyone know a Moroccan Arabic teacher for me.

Many thanks,

AbuUmar

Hello everyone,

I read your posts with interest, since I am currently living in France and me and my partner (who is moroccan)are thinking of moving to Agadir and my dream would be to ground a school or a creche there. We are not very happy in France, it is expensive to live here and we are not adjusting well to this mentality. We use to live in Spain and loved it but now the situation in Spain is economically unstable. Also, we really enjoy warm climate! I am a licensed teacher with lot of international teaching/nursing experience. I have also instructed childrenŽs free time activity clubs for years. We are planning a two-month trip to Morocco next year before making any solid decisions, since we are still hesitant about some things considering the move and living in Morocco, so any kind of advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance ü

Hi,

Well , I don t know what I can tell you. But if you want to set up your own business, then if you go for an English speaking option, it would be ideal, simply cuz there is no school in Agadir that offers this service. You should study carefully the continuity of the project, in a sense that if you open an English crèche, you should after go for English kindergarden, the primary then secondary , then high school. For that, you need really a proper business plan and a careful study, it is profitable, I can guarantee that, but commitment is a must, cuz if you start and cannot finish, then the children will be stuck, as they have no other place to go and finish their studies, which they started in English initially (case of Montessori in Agadir, students were stranded after the school was shut cuz the owner was a crook). For this sort of project you need to contact American embassy or british one to help you with the project .  Otherwise if you wanna stick just to a crèche project then, Marrakech or casablanca are good spots as there are international schools there, so if they starts at your nursery they can finish primary section there, but Agadir, no way, u need to start from zero and guarantee the continuity of your project.
I will move from UK to casablanca this coming December so if you need any help please feel free to contact me back [email protected]

Good luck

Hi,
I'm also interested about private schools in agadir,
is there any place to study with english language?

Hello, can you recommend me a good lawyer in Agadir, as I also want to take legal actions against them  (Montessouri School in Agadir). I also want to know what is about this affiliation with Cambridge university. We paid the fees for the exam put never received any certificates. I heart from other parents that he took this money for him self and did not forward this fees to Cambridge so the did not deliver this certificates. I want to find out if this is true and how i can find out.

Hi,

So sad to hear what happened to you. And by the way he has no accreditations or affiliations with anyone, he is just using the extra money he gets from parents by fooling them about Cambridge certifications and in reality is all lies, I called them myself and they even don t know who this person is. Basically he is just stuffing the money in his pocket. It was Maître Oumast who got my money back from him. Unfortunately I don t have his number anymore, but I think u can get it from the phone information service. I returned back to morocco, but my kid now is at the American school of Marrakech, I can call it a proper school compare to that crazy place.

Good luck

Ihsan

Hi Ishan,

thank you very much for your quick answer. I was searching in telecontact for his ( Maître Oumast) contact details, but I could not find him. Can you tell me the street he is, so I can go and look.
I paid to Montessouri the fees for the Cambridge exam, but I never got any certificates back. Now i need one document from them for the new school and the don't want to give me this as I did not pay them the last month's of last year, until the deliver me the certificate from Cambridge.
I was thinking before that I don't want to make them more problems but now if iIto not get this document from them my kids will be suspended from school. (very funny this school system in morocco).
Now the don't leave me no other way as to make legal actions against them. And as you say they tell to parents they have affiliation with Cambridge and then also asking for exam fees - this means fraud.

How is this american school in Marrakesh and what are the fees. I am still looking to send them in a english school and as my wife has family in Marrakesh it could be a possibility.

Thank you

Walter

Have u tried ringing the number I gave you. If u don t speak french or Arabic it is a bit of a problem. U know that the brother of that Achichaou aggressed me last year, he was about to beat me if it wasn t a man in the street who saved me. So imagine what sort of people are these???

I swear I have no idea what the street name called but I am sure if u go to that court and ask anyone they will be able to tell you. The school in Marrakech is great, qualified teachers and highly professional people. It is an expensive school but I have no choice. Cost varies depends on the age of the kids, you can go to the website of American  school of Marrakech and you will have an idea about the fees.

Cheers

Hi there :-) . We are thinking in moving to Agadir for next year and although we have lived there my son was under 6 and he wasnt going to school but now he has been one year in school here in Spain and next year he will be 7 and he obviously has to continue. Is there any new school in Agadir where they speaks English or a French one kind of international... I think he can manage with french but not sure if with arabic also!

anyway, thansk a lot, I hope you can help me! I cant find anything at all about education in Agadir!

Hi there, if u r seeking an English school there isn't any In Agadir. As for french there is lycée francais it is sort of "mission francaise" so it s internationally recognised. If u r flexible in moving cities, Marrakech has a good american school where my child is at the moment, she just love it.

Hope that helps

Cheers

Hello Mr.Abu Omar !I would love to help your kids with Arabic during the Week ends if you still interested ,Email me please I would apreciate that ([email protected])I would love to inform you  that I have a bachelor degree in English(Linguistics) !thank you !

Hello all, finally a decent international school has finally opened in Agadir. It is called "M.... S...." the main language is English, and they teach french and Arabic too. It is extremely well equipped. Music classes, computing, drama classes, karate ... And it has a canteen yessssss they brought teachers from US , canada, UK .

U can find all their contact details on their Facebook page.