When do children start school in Boston?

[RatherBe]

Hi - we are likely to be moving to Boston (from Scotland) in a few months time because of my husband's job, and I am hoping that someone with local knowledge will be kind enough to answer a question for me!

I have a child who will be 5 in March 2010. Does that mean that in Boston he would start Kindergarten in September 2009 or 2010? Do children starting school only do so at the beginning of the academic year, or are there intakes during the year as well?

I would really appreciate some info because nothing I have read so far seems clear on this!

[trollbeadaddict]

I lived there until my dds were 5 and 2, and I've just looked on the Boston.gov site and they have Kindergarten 0 (age 3 by Sept); kindergarten 1 (age 4 by sept) and K2 (age 5 by Sept), so looks like your child will go into K1 this Sept. Where in Boston are you moving? Schools in the states are run by the town council, so if it's Boston town, you need to look on boston.gov, but if it's one of the suburbs (eg Brookline, Cambridge, Newton etc) you'll have to check out their sites. There are also loads of private kindergartens there too. I think the state schools only have one intake in Sept.

Just be warned also - they don't do any reading / writing until 5/6. Unless things have changed sice we moved back here (8 years ago), the emphasis is most definately on emotional development and social skills for the first few years (very sensible too!!). If you need any other info - let me know - I also have friends out there if you need contacts.

[RatherBe]

Thank you, trollbeadaddict - it's all seems very confusing compared to the UK! We don't know where we'll be going at the moment because the secondment is still being negotiated so we are not able to house hunt yet, but have heard from someone who used to live there that Hingham is a good town for families. Does that fit with what you remember?

[trollbeadaddict]

I don't know much about Hingham to be honest - I used to work with someone from there who liked it and I got the feeling it was quite middle class. I think it's one of the commuter towns for Boston as it's on the MBTA commuter ferry route and commuter rail line, so has good transportation links. There are also some nice beaches to the south of Boston. Other towns closer to Boston that are good for families are Brookline (some parts), Newton, Lexington and Arlington. I would say that the transport links are the most important thing to look for first, as to be honest, there are loads of lovely towns within 30-45 mins of Boston. I think families are better catered for generally in that part of the US - more playgrounds / parks / outdoor activities. We lived right in the middle of Boston for 3 years with 2 toddlers and even that was easy and they had loads of friends. The people are very friendly and will make a real effort to make you feel welcome and are very forthcoming with information and signposting, so don't worry about settling in! We went out for a week before moving over just to walk around the place (alternatively google earth / streetview is excellent - you can get a real feel for a cimmunity without leaving your front room!). One last thing - most towns are called cities in Boston, so most of the so called cities will only have one main shopping street!

[RatherBe]

Thanks again for the info - It's very kind of you to have taken the time. I really hope that this secondment happens, it's so exciting!

[trollbeadaddict]

No probs - good luck (I'm very jealous - would love to go back!!)

[mananny]

I have just come back from 3.5yrs in Boston. My nanny family moved from Charlestown (very, very nice... expensive, walking distance to financial district, good family area considering it's in the city) to the Concord/Carlisle area (very pretty, expensive, excellent school district, 45 minutes or so on the train to North Station)

I would highly recommend either area. If you want more info, or my ex-MB contact details for more info please let me know!

[Amandaflora]

Hello there,

I am new to the message boards here, but wanted to say I live in Hingham MA and it is a fantastic town with great schools