Help!! Moving to UK: good website for school entrance exams?

Have a look at this for some more info: www.theschoolrun.com/year-7-cats-what-every-parent-needs-know

You can't really revise for a CATs test. It's a test of problem solving and reasoning. You can download papers from the internet

Reading rest of thread back, it sounds like this is an internal test anyway, not for entrance assessment as you already have school places.

But not in the same way as learning maths or english essay writing. Bonds do samples of VR, NVR etc

CATS are reasoning tests, you can't prepare as such but working to time, multiple choice style questions, might help familiarise.

Let him know that NASA uses the metric system....

I'm not sure why the metric system is such a surprise. Most of the world uses it! It's a lot easier than Imperial once you get the basics down.

I think most people here can work in both to a degree.

School maths will all be metric but if you ask someone their height they'll answer in feet and inches, and distances are in miles not km.

You put gallons of petrol in a car, drink beer in pints - but coke is in 2 litres bottles.

I forget when we moved from lbs and oz to kilos... I still think in both. But either is better than 'cups'... American recipes are a mystery on that front!

Good luck!

Well done!

One small point. If you will then need to move them in a couple of years time, senior schools are perhaps more like US colleges. They will look for a certain level of academic achievement, but are more interested in potential and what a pupil can contribute to the school community.

But their schools will guide you.

Congratulations!

@NewUKmum the reason I suggested this is that depending on the age / ability of your children you might find they are quite behind compared to UK children. I can't seen to find your children's ages in this thread, if they are quite young then you'll likely be ok assuming they can reach the entrance standard (which varies by school, some are more competitive than others). Depending on how plan you plan to stay in the UK, transition back to a US curriculum can be problematic as again the UK one doesn't follow the same path as the US one. It's worth thinking of the long term unless your stay in the UK is permanent. I'm assuming your stay isn't permanent as expatriates never are, generally employers will support anywhere from 2-5 years thereafter if you plan to stay you'll be transitioned to UK terms which generally won't include rent or school fees paid. Obviously policies vary by employer but the perpetual expat is extraordinarily rare today and reserved only for those at the pinnacle of their profession (where paying the fees wouldn't be an issue anyway based on earnings).

The other consideration is that if your spouse (or you) are relocated elsewhere its good to have consistency of curriculum through out the child's school life as once they get to exams its very difficult bridge gaps.

But that all being said, I moved schools / country / curriculum every couple of years as did my siblings, its entirely doable and I personally now see this as having been an advantage. Taught me to work hard & adapt lol.

If your children are in the US curriculum they will likely struggle crossing over to the UK

They'll be fine! They are all still quite young. They have time to adjust before anything really important happens.

If your children are in the US curriculum they will likely struggle crossing over to the UK curriculum. I move US families professionally to the UK, and find most children settle / transition best into the American schools where the curriculum is consistent or flip to IB. Below are those I find most popular, catering to a wide range of needs.

www.acs-schools.com/ - they have several Campuses.
www.tasisengland.org/
www.asl.org/
www.southbank.org/

Marymount is another popular choice, depending on the age of your children.

Most have excellent bus networks, but you'll want to think about their commute time, and triangulation of home / office / school as travel across London can be very time-consuming.

If you opt of a UK curriculum school, you'll find most schools will be more than willing to advise you on tests. Some use the Common Entrance, others have their own tests. We did Common Entrance using Galore park resources for study and my daughter did some past papers. The past papers are a little pricey but eminently worthwhile. ISEB is a great resource.

In respect of taxes, it sounds as if you're being moved as an expatriate by your employer vs a 'local' basis. If an expatriate, and school fees are funded by your employer, this benefit would commonly be grossed up for taxes i.e. your employer takes the hit on the US taxes due, as well as any UK taxes on benefits / sourced income / tax gross ups etc. It would be very unusual for the employer to pass any tax burden to the employee under a true expatriate arrangement. Your liability ought to be limited to US federal & state taxes / FICA etc on employment income ( i.e salary / bonus). If on the other hand you're moving on a local basis, you will need to consider that at least for the first year you may have continued residence in the US, in addition to assuming UK residency. Beware that dual taxation can be an ongoing pain point for US citizens and / or green card holders. I specialize in expatriate arrangements, so feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

I haven’t read the whole thread so apologies if it’s already been said, but I know a few people started with the 11plusforum which can be filtered by the area you are looking at? From there you would probably get tips for the 8 and 13+ too?