Day cares in Cairo.

Will be thankful for any recommendations...

Where would you be living and how old is your kid? Sure there are good daycares in Cairo!

Day care centres for children are all over Cairo.
Once you know where you are living it should be easy enough to find somewhere.
I would doubt that there is a day centre that employs only English speaking staff, if there was it would cost you big bucks.

Yes there are many international nurseries, some have better standards than others, many are English, American, French or even german, others follow a montessori approach. The thing is this is An Arabic speaking country so chances are that your child will be exposed to friends and staff members that address him in Arabic, no matter how inglish the nursery claims to be...there is nothing you can do to avoid this. This also happens in international shoots even when teachers are native in english and children are from many different nationalities. Good luck,

We'll be staying in Zamalek for a couple of months but we'll be moving closer to Ahmad Oraby, that's at Cairo-Ismailia road. So, i think anywhere near new cairo or misr algadeeda or obour will be great.

2 are 19 months old, not yet potty trained. And a 4 y/o, we are still looking for schools for him.

If they speak English 95% of the time at the day care, that'll be great, the young ones would not have a problem understanding Arabic (I think) but I don't want them to lose the English, as they are already communicating in English.

Thanks in advance.

Milouk84 said:

We'll be staying in Zamalek for a couple of months but we'll be moving closer to Ahmad Oraby, that's at Cairo-Ismailia road. So, i think anywhere near new cairo or misr algadeeda or obour will be great.

2 are 19 months old, not yet potty trained. And a 4 y/o, we are still looking for schools for him.

If they speak English 95% of the time at the day care, that'll be great, the young ones would not have a problem understanding Arabic (I think) but I don't want them to lose the English, as they are already communicating in English.

Thanks in advance.

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You are living in an Arabic speaking country and you cannot get away from it.
International schools/day centres etc all employ local staff, it is the law that Egyptians must be employed, they speak Arabic. Local staff who are employed as domestic help in schools etc will on the whole speak no English.
I do not think there is anyone on the forum who could afford to send their child to a school/day centre that only employed English speaking westerners.
Your children will not loose their English as they teachers will speak to them in English and I presume you will .. domestic staff will speak in Arabic to them.. so you will get language lessons for your children thrown in for free.

Maiden

I was brought up in a Catholic school and most of them were native italian, spanish or french speakers but since they are employing egyptians (they had to keep the fees moderate) up till now, we didn't get much benefit from the languages that were used among them.

We will be speaking English at home, definitely, but since the time they spend at school can be longer than that spent at home, their tendency to catch Arabic will be higher esp. the younger ones.

I know any international school will be very expensive, that's right, but I don't even know the average, would it be 6,000-7,000 LE per month or is it >10,000LE

Milouk84 said:

I was brought up in a Catholic school and most of them were native italian, spanish or french speakers but since they are employing egyptians (they had to keep the fees moderate) up till now, we didn't get much benefit from the languages that were used among them.

We will be speaking English at home, definitely, but since the time they spend at school can be longer than that spent at home, their tendency to catch Arabic will be higher esp. the younger ones.

I know any international school will be very expensive, that's right, but I don't even know the average, would it be 6,000-7,000 LE per month or is it >10,000LE

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I don't see how they could possibly lose their English if that is the language that you use at home. If I was in your shoes I would place them in a reputable nursery that employs english speaking staff and spend the rest of the Academic year reseArching, enquiring And comparing international or even language schools in your area that suits your budget.

incidentally, I cherish every new Arabic word that my kids learn.

I read about Esparanza, charlie chaplin's , busy bees, stepping stones..

Any reviews and/or fees and locations?

For our German nursery we are paying ca 20.000 LE per year (not including food or diapers). I think other international nurseries are similar, maybe a bit higher or lower. For this money we have a group of 15 kids aged 1-3, two native German teachers and one Egyptian helper.

There is a VERY good nursery at AUC New Cairo, but I know they have incredible waiting lists... That is probably the best one I can recommend in your area.

alexvw said:

For our German nursery we are paying ca 20.000 LE per year (not including food or diapers). I think other international nurseries are similar, maybe a bit higher or lower. For this money we have a group of 15 kids aged 1-3, two native German teachers and one Egyptian helper.

There is a VERY good nursery at AUC New Cairo, but I know they have incredible waiting lists... That is probably the best one I can recommend in your area.

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Thanks a lot, will give the AUC one a try. 20,000 a year is so much better than i imagined. Thanks again.

Do all day cares close that early?? 3:45. Or 4:45 for extra fees !! that's very early compared to US for example, day care centers close at 6:30pm, and the extended day is until 8:30 in some places.

They don't even open early, 8 am. So, for any working parent, it's less than 8 hours shift.

Milouk84 said:

Do all day cares close that early?? 3:45. Or 4:45 for extra fees !! that's very early compared to US for example, day care centers close at 6:30pm, and the extended day is until 8:30 in some places.

They don't even open early, 8 am. So, for any working parent, it's less than 8 hours shift.

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If you compare things in the US to here you will soon be carted off in a straight jacket..

You are not in the US you are in Egypt and most people use international day care as a way for their children to mix with other children and learn basic social skills.
If the parents are working the children are babysat by the maids after nursery school.

Also remember that a lot if not all international nurseries close for the summer, they may have summer school but it tends to be just that, kids come and play, there is no teaching and it is staffed by local Egyptian women not the teachers you have seen during the school terms.

MaidenScotland said:

If you compare things in the US to here you will soon be carted off in a straight jacket..

You are not in the US you are in Egypt and most people use international day care as a way for their children to mix with other children and learn basic social skills.
If the parents are working the children are babysat by the maids after nursery school.

Also remember that a lot if not all international nurseries close for the summer, they may have summer school but it tends to be just that, kids come and play, there is no teaching and it is staffed by local Egyptian women not the teachers you have seen during the school terms.

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No wonder all people I know in Egypt kept telling me you'll need someone (a maid) to help you. I'm still against the idea, or I'm not totally convinced but i think I will consider it very soon.

And closing the whole summer, that's crazy, this is not a school, it's a day care, it should not close at all (except holidays). If it's business, it should run all year.

So it's international during the school year and LOCAL in summer, and they still charge the same.

It's a very good business idea, international daycare, 6:30am to 6:30 pm, week by week. Splash day PLUS nice and light curriculum in the summer. 2 weeks old to 12 y/o, after school are welcome, a bus to drop off and pick up kids going to school. All teachers are First Aid CPR trained. PEANUT FREE facility.

Why there isn't any thing like this? it's hard but it makes money i guess.

There are places that stay open all day but what quality they are I would not know.
Quite simply Egyptians rely on family or maids to help out with child care so they do not put them into day care for 12 hours of the day..