Hi Chuck, I can't comment on the schools in Cayman but I lived there for 3 years previously (I used to be a dive instructor). As someone else has said, there is no income tax but it is an expensive island mainly because import duty is so high. I'm not from the US so don't know how it works for taxes for you guys. Rent is expensive. You need a car because the public transport system is useless. Grand Cayman is a small island and you start to get island fever after a while. Luckily it's easy to hop off to Little Cayman or the Brac; I used to go to Miami a lot. When I lived there up (I left 2012) there were no flights to Belize or Mexico so you might want to check psyguy's info if you're counting on flights to Central America. Cayman Airways do fly to Honduras, Cuba, Jamaica as well as a few US cities but flights are not particularly cheap so it's not a great place to base yourself to travel.

All that said I had an awesome time living there. If you like laid back beach life you'll like it. We used to BBQ on the beach, play volleyball and go to bars at night. When you get to know people (which doesn't take long) you can benefit from resident rates at some bars and dive shops. A lot of good restaurants too and a small cinema. At weekends we used to hang out on the beach, or dive. There is no 'surf culture' btw, you will be disappointed if you expect to surf much in Cayman. Diving is the most popular pastime. I found the diving quite average and somewhat boring but some people love it. As heyteach says, if you don't drink or dive you will most likely get bored.

As for the schools, I believe there are some good ones but I couldn't tell you which sorry. Do your research very carefully - one of my friends taught at a high school there and hated it. Her school had a lot of gang/drug problems but I don't think that's the norm!

I would also suggest that Hong Kong is worth looking at. There are loads of international schools here (I work in international preschool in HK), and most will employ native English teachers as class teachers as well as Mandarin teachers as 'floating' language teachers. As suggested, ESF might be a good school system to get into, especially if you are flexible enough to work at different locations.

Thanks, it's good to hear about positive experiences. From what I've been told, construction is largely complete but no idea on numbers of students. Like in your case, they've said they will open with 300 students but who knows. Housing is provided in an established expat area so I shouldn't have to worry too much about finding accommodation (the worst part of moving to a new country in my opinion!)

Hi folks

I was recently offered (and have accepted via email although not signed a contract yet) a position at a new international school that will be opening in 2016. The school has a good name behind it (for what it's worth) and the package is great compared to what I'm making now.

I've pretty much decided to take the risk but am interested to hear other teachers' opinions and wondered if anyone has any first hand experience of going to a new school with its first intake of students - good, bad or ugly?

Cheers, El