Cambridge International School, Moscow Campus Reviews (8)
Average Ratings
Reviewer Nationalities
Russian (3)
How would you rate Cambridge International School, Moscow Campus?
One out of very few schools which continue operating in uneasy situation, keeping all teachers international. Cambridge curriculum+Russian curriculum, study hard but can get two diplomas at the end. Has all needed facilities.
The teachers are fantastic. We can understand that they focus much on our children and work very hard to give them the best Education. The facilities could be bigger, but the small school atmosphere is good for young children.
Reviews from Google
Recent reviews posted on Google.
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Nico J Alberts, 4 months ago
Pay attention to what Daisy May and Former teacher wrote, everything mentioned in their reviews are true. No teacher deserves to be treated the way this school treats their teachers. It is absolutely disgraceful.
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Daisy May, a year ago
As a former employee, this school is absolutely awful. DO NOT COME HERE TO WORK! They offer you a good salary, but don't tell you once you get there that they hold most of it until the end of the year. TRICKERY! Also, if you leave early they do not pay you what they owe you. There is no support from the admin team in any respect. When it comes to parents, they will support them over teachers. If you have personal issues, they don't seem to care, in fact they may even try get themselves involved in areas that are really none of their business, there is no head teacher to act as advocate for teachers, no deputy, and no supply teacher for when you are away/ill for a longer period of time. The education is marginal, specialized curriculum made to impress parents and their money - but it doesn't involve children being creative or using their brains in any way. Overall morale on campus is low. Foreign and local teachers alike are usually unhappy with the regular goings on of the school. Parents and potential employees: Save yourself time and energy and money by looking at other international schools in Moscow - there are many! Good luck :)
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former teacher, 2 years ago
Reasons not to work at CIS: HR. They constantly use the Euro exchange rate to cheat you out of money. They do not help you find housing. They did not extend teachers' health insurance and tried to hide it. There were constant mistakes with visas, registration, payments, and documents. The HR director ignores all emails and is incredibly rude to anyone who dares to ask her to do her job properly. Organization. CIS is completely disorganized. Events are announced and canceled at the last minute. The schedule of lessons changes constantly. Even head teachers have very little idea what is going to happen during any given week. The top management adds working days and hours without consultation. Whenever there are no lessons, everyone just sits around for 8 hours because there is nothing to do. There is no professional development but you still have to come to work 6 Saturdays a year for “PD.” Budgeting. The school spends lots of money on PR and extravagant events for parents. At the same time, the secondary school did not have a working printer for three months and I was never given textbooks for two of my classes. All teachers have a hard time getting basic supplies including pens, notebooks, and paper. The internet, coffee machine, and copier were constantly broken and yet never replaced. The staff computers are at least 5 years old. Classes. CIS does not separate kids based on linguistic ability for most of its classes. It is not uncommon to have a native speaker in the same class as someone who can barely speak English. The school makes very little effort to help kids who struggle with English. Yet teachers are expected to manage classes of 20 children with such a wide range of basic abilities. Staff meetings. The school holds bi-monthly staff meetings after school at which the head teachers essentially read emails to the staff. There is no consultation, no discussion, and no input. Anyone who offers an opinion is either ignored, rebuked, or punished later. Double standards. Those who are friends with the management get special privileges such as the right to leave early for holidays or not do planning. Meanwhile, the head teachers harangue teachers whom they aren't friends with about minor rules. One teacher, for example, complained to the head teacher that she was being harassed by another member of staff; the head teacher refused to do anything because of his friendship with the person doing the harassment. Nepotism. The director of the school gives out cushy sinecures to his relatives. These people are typically incompetent, do very little work and yet are rewarded with promotions. The buses, for instance, never came on time to pick up staff, but because the person who organized it was a relative nothing ever changed. Discipline. Head teachers do not properly enforce the rules or deal with problem students. When teachers have problems with kids, the management does not support them and often treats staff members as if they are the problem . The school's basic posture is to treat students as clients/customers who are (because they represent profit) always right. Basic point: It is not an accident that 75% of the teachers are leaving the school but staying in Moscow.
