American family moving to London with 3 little kids...

[Arty3542]

Hello all!

I have no idea where to post this... My husband and I might relocate to London at the beginning of next year. He has a job opportunity in Covent Garden. Our kids are 6, 4 and 2 years old. We will be moving from the NYC area. We are very excited but I'm very nervous at the same time. I'm so worried about being isolated and lonely.

Which area is best for American Expats? Do we try for a church/Christian school? Do we attempt to apply to the American School? I heard this is very hard to get into. Will we be in for a culture shock? Do you think it will be easy to make friends with people? Only asking because a couple people told me it's very hard to make friends, the British keep to their own. I didn't know what to say to that and thought it was a bit silly.

AIBU? ;)

Thank you in advance!

No you can't park on pavement, but as a resident you can get a parking permit for the area you live in which is only around £100 for the whole year

There is an American School in Cobham, Surrey, which is lovely and very commutable to London. Have you considered that? Tonnes of Americans round there, and your budget will buy you something very nice.

one thing you should note is that people are very optimistic about commuting times (this is true everywhere I think, but bigger cities have it the worst), so if you are seriously considering a place you may want to do the commute once yourself. Or type it into the TFL. They are sometimes wrong, but not that bad usually.

Hi OP loads of great advice on here already, am a Londoner so can't contribute in terms of arriving in London but most of us are pretty friendly and don't work on generalisations of nationalities. Thought you might find this site useful: www.commutefrom.com

You can select your end station and gives you all the possibilities within a defined time of commute

Getting out the way to check your map or stare at your phone is common courtesy everywhere. Not just London.

Yes I agree that Blackheath is a great call for you. It's beautiful but easy access to Charing Cross and Covent Garden.

I live in C London, not far from the Regents Park place treadsoftly linked to. I do love living in C London with children as we never have to get in the car and I effectively have no commute (walk to work). Obviously there are downsides (noise, traffic and increasingly, homeless people begging which never, ever used to happen here). But I wouldn't trade it. We walk everywhere, the children have access to loads of stuff, it's great.

There are also lots of nationalities here - lots of Americans (for the American school) but also lots of Americans just using local schools. My children go to a C London church school and there are lots of Americans there as well as almost every other nationality you can think of. Westminster tends to have lots of church schools so if that's important to you, have a look at Westminster (the borough - not just the area around Big Ben which is also called Westminster). You have to prove very regular church going for the most popular ones though.

I agree that it would be good to know what sort of lifestyle you like. Are you urban or suburban? Theatre goers or horse riders? Do you need to park your car on your own drive or do you not care about cars and prefer to walk everywhere?

Thank you!

BackingVocals, I guess I am more urban. Although, with kids we'd like a little space and a small garden. A 3BR will be great. 4BR even better but not counting on it.
I don't want to drive during the first year. I want to get acclimated first, so we don't want somewhere where we have to drive.

We are very "West Village" and "Brooklyn" type people. Not surrounded by high- rises/skyscrapers but would like a neighborhood with cute brownstones/row houses with everything close-by... i.e. school, the market, pediatrician, etc. And a nice park!!

Off topic.. but how often do children see a pediatrician for a routine visit? Here in the states, a newborn sees the doctor every week, then every 2 weeks, then every 3 months, every 6 months. By 2 years old, the doctor sees children once a year for a check-up.

After baby checks you only see your GP as needed (general practitioner) in the event of a consultant or specialist being needed they will refer you.
There is also accident and emergency, (a&e sometimes still called casualty) these are either ambulance or walk in departments at hospitals.

I've child gets Ill, you ring the surgery and they will give you an appointment normally for the same day, we do not have yearly check ups just baby checks and jabs (vaccinations). I'm not sure how it will work coming from the us but you generally register with a local surgery as soon as you have proof of address.

Depending on the area it may be easier to pay for a private dentist.

One word of warning.... NEVER utter criticism of the NHS (national health service) in front of a British person they may moan about waiting times etc but just nod and change the subject, joining in will never go down well!

Baby's get check ups, then at 2 year they get a basic developmental check. After that no checks at all. Just go to doctors when ill. No pediatric doctors generally. You just go to doctors surgery and see same doctor regardless of age. Only pediatric if they went into hospital where they have children's wards etc

Oh ok. Thank you! The pediatrician here checks their height and weight every year. So if your child is ill, you can see the doctor that day, correct?

And I won't ever say a bad word about the NHS😉

Most surgery so prioritise children so it's generally same day service, there are out of hours clinics at evenings and weekends if you can't get your dr, the system works in its own quirky little way!

So there's the NHS and private healthcare as well?

Both systems run over here, there is private providers and our nhs, I have very little experiance of private but it's generally the same consultants. They work for both sectors. I only use private dentists as at one point it was impossible to see an NHS one as an adult, they were only taking on children.
I would think you would get a private package through your husbands company.

you may find this useful (NHS advice for people moving to England:

www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/uk-visitors/Pages/access-services-in-England.aspx

You should be eligible for NHS services free of charge as you will be "ordinarily resident" in the UK.

However your whole family will most likely get private health cover with your DH's job. It may or may not include access to a private GP service, which is excellent for getting immediate appointments, but they can't issue NHS prescriptions so you need to pay full price for any medicines. Private is also better if you are referred for further tests or treatment as it is much much quicker.

I doubt it would include regular check ups for the children if they are otherwise well though.

His HR dept should be able to explain the terms and conditions.

I also just remembered that there is an organisation called FOCUS which exists entirely to help expats in the UK settle in, understand the systems and make friends (aimed at corporate type immigrants like you). Their website is here:

www.focus-info.org/

Amusingly I am a member despite being UK born and bred and having lived in London for over 15 years, because DH and I lived in Hong Kong for 6 years and we got corporate membership when his company transferred him back to London. Your DH's company may give him the same.

Thanks, Gowgirl for the help!

Jessie, this info is great! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

And again, if we like the West Village and Brooklyn in NYC, should we look more toward the center of London? From what I'm gathering, the suburbs aren't the same as here. Areas like Chiswich and Dulwich are still very walkable and do resemble Brooklyn?

Chiswick is very much like Brooklyn. Park Slope-ish.

Try Kew in Richmond also.

Dulwich may as well be Hong Kong to me so I'll let someone else answer.

Chiswick is handy for Heathrow (20 mins by taxi to terminal 5 if you're catching an early flight) and good for the tube/taxis at night. £17 into Berkeley Square the other day. Proper butcher, fishmonger, greengrocers as well as delis & supermarkets (M&S, Waitrose & Sainsbury's) so no need to use a car. Gyms etc all available locally & a good public pool with gym & aerobics classes. Housing is expensive but fine on your budget. Try to stay north of the A4 for less aircraft noise & better tube access. Parks with play areas for children and can cycle by the river.

Most places in London are walkable in terms of being able to get to local services on foot from your home.

I think Islington and Clerkenwell would be in the Brooklyn/West Village mould. Shoreditch is similar to Williamsburg.

Chiswick and Dulwich both lovely, also Blackheath, Highgate, Hampstead, West Hampstead, Barnes, many of the other places mentioned are great but don't really have an equivalent in NY I don't think. You'll probably get temp accommodation very centrally for a couple of months when you first arrive so plenty of time to explore.

In general I'd say North of the River is nice from the central part all the way up to around Muswell Hill level and a bit ropey after that. South of the River is ropey to begin with and gets nicer as you get into the outer reaches of Zone 2 or move further West towards Battersea and beyond. East is up and coming and there is a nice pocket around Victoria Park village, but it's still highly variable.

We live in Clerkenwell, I love it here. My dd's are in a great primary school and dd1 just got into a brilliant secondary. It's walking distance into the west end and Angel and equally easily commutable to Aldgate or Mayfair.

Yes you would probably go private with work. We have private health care, it's basically the same as NHS but quicker.

So NHS and private here With children both you would just take to doctor first, and likely same doctor for all of you, not by age. Then doctor would diagnose or send for tests/ hospital if needed. Private would send you to specialists much quicker as no waiting lists in comparisons. Obviously regardless of NHS or private you can go straight to hospital if needed

Generally everyone would use NHS in emergency for ambulance and straight to hospital. They would then upgrade you to private ward etc one they Found out you have private. But the operating theatres etc would usually be same facilities and surgeons in emergency

Another suggestion for lovely Cobham!There be American quilters there,OP!