To want to move back to the uk

[Huldas]

Have been in New Zealand many years, husband is a kiwi and kids were born here. My DDs are 7 and 10 now and I don't think the education system here compares to the uk. Standards for educational achievement are just not as high. Plus I want DDs to have a sense of their UK heritage. And I am very homesick. Dh has lived in the UK before, we could both get good jobs in the UK assuming we can get dh a visa (not easy when in 40s)
But- logistically is giant hassle to move back, I have no family in the UK at the moment, and right now it is just me who wants this. DH and DDs are quite happy here.
Would it be unreasonable to pursue this? Do my concerns re education/heritage have any actual grounds?
Any advice appreciated (including areas to move to- am originally from Devon, want to avoid London if poss.)

If you’re doing well financially then the UK is amazing. I think I’d rather be poor somewhere warm though.

DH is an Aussie. We live in London and both earn good money. Yesterday we took DC to a lovely roof top restaurant after doing a historical walk which we love to do if it’s a nice day and although cold it was very sunny. There was something to stop and read about on every other road, whether it was related to the Great Fire of London or Anne Boleyn. We then had lunch overlooking the Thames and we all agreed that there is no other place we’d rather live and between us we’ve lived in and travelled a fair few places. But as I said, you need to be able to afford to fully participate otherwise it’s not a easy place to be.

As an aside, from what I’ve been told, places like NZ, Sweden etc aren’t the utopias their tourist boards work hard to portray them as. Every developed country has strengths and weaknesses so I wouldn’t take the doom mongering about the UK as gospel. I find the UK is more honest and probably overly vocal about its negatives whilst forgetting positives whilst some other nations do the opposite. Again it also depends on your social and financial status and where you’re living. A just about managing person living in Bradford will have a very different opinion from a millionaire living in Surrey.

Culture would be a big factor for me. DH and I love the theatre, ballet, galleries and a country like NZ has relatively little to offer compared to the UK.

NZ isn't absent of culture though. It's simply different.

If you want good education, move to Singapore not the UK. I have lived in several countries and UK is by far the worst in terms of education unless you have bags of money to send your kids to private schools. And there is no go getter attitude here either unlike in America. It is quite depressing.

Good post unfinishedkitchen

Since we're talking culture I'd like to say that since moving to Australia, I've been supported far more as an artist than I ever was in the UK.

Multiple opportunities have come my way and my children have also been more exposed to art than ever before.

The government...at least where we live, invests in the arts quite heavily.

I think that if I have read things correctly the OP has not lived in the UK for at least 23 years. To move anywhere with no relatives or friends when you are reasonably settled seems one fraught with possible difficulties. I agree with others that you should look at a long holiday in the UK (in the British winter) to find out what you think about life here.

As for finding good jobs, if you move you will be the newest person in your respective jobs, and should the economy experience a downturn in the UK post 2019, it will be last in first out, and there is ageism in the workforce still despite EU legislation.

You may find that in the UK our abysmal retailing is difficult to get used to (many places do not have a proper butcher, clothes are expensive and of very poor quality, for example), and some other things are expensive.

I think it depends on the quality of life you want.
Being in an area of higher density of population does have advantages in that there is more choice on offer in a smaller radius.

I don’t agree about the overall education system in Singapore being superior to that of the UK. I have good friends who fell for that after being persuaded by other friends. They took their two children over there and were back within three years. They found that whilst yes the top Singapore schools were great, the average ones were below the average UK ones. They also found that many of the kids were fantastic in terms of work ethic and completing tasks but independent and creative thought wasn’t encouraged.

When people compare schools in other countries to the UK, they are often comparing the foreign equivalent of Eton with UK state schools which is an unfair comparison.

Animals in Oz are out to kill you While the outcome may be serious most animals in Aus are not out to kill you. 😂

The problem here is that most Aussies are raised with a real appreciation of this, I'd never leave clothes on the floor for example and almost knock my shoes out before putting them on, don't walk in long grass etc but tourists just aren't aware.

I feel for you because my family moved to Spain when I was 7 and I spent 9 years being homesick, dreaming of living back in England. When we moved back when I was 16 I finally felt content again. In my 20s I went travelling for 9 months and lived in Australia for 6 of those and I literally spent everyday asking myself what I was doing because I missed living in England so much. I knew then that holidays were as far as it would go for me and I would never live anywhere else again. When I met my Portuguese partner and it got serious I told him I would never move out of London and he accepted that and after 15 years together with a 9 year old daughter, I don't see that changing. The problem for you is your children have no attachment to England and so if you uproot them they might spend their childhood missing New Zealand. If you are the only one in your family keen to make the move, I think you may have to accept your lot for now and then consider retiring back to England when your kids are older if your husband is prepared to try. By then though you might want to be close to grandchildren etc. It seems an impossible situation to me. I do feel for you though.

Lovely sunny day again. But I was able to factor micro climate into choosing where I live in the UK. Sad for all those with no choice but to be in the wet bits.

Same choice exists in nz. It is due to mountains and weather patterns. Bit too much science for some on here, I fear.

Biggest reason we moved back from NZ to the UK? BOREDOM!! There's only so much outdoorsy stuff you can do, and there's sweet fanny adams else to do. Sorry dont mean to offend Kiwis as I guess its horses for courses, some people love that kind of lifestyle but i hated it. Yes the summer was good, beautiful beaches etc... But winter was cold and miserable (North Island), and the houses are not built for warmth, in fact the construction of a lot of houses is poor. Anyone we knew who had a decent house had it designed and built from scratch.

Anyway, its clear you aren't happy OP, and from my experience homesickness only gets worse. UK is not perfect - far from it, and the Tories are doing their best to bloody ruin it for good. But I dont regret coming home.

Agree with missy and boredom

Standards for educational achievement are just not as high.

Standards for educational achievement are generally higher in NZ than in the UK:

uk.businessinsider.com/pisa-worldwide-ranking-of-math-science-reading-skills-2016-12?r=US&IR=T

OP,

I pretty much posted the same thread nearly 5 years ago. I wanted to return to the UK. I'm still here. The advice I got was that I should make the best of things in NZ and not uproot my family and potentially make myself no happier. In hindsight, that was good advice.

My own view is that the NZ and UK education systems, although varying slightly in emphasis, are pretty much equal. So is the quality of life. Both the NZ and the UK are wealthy liberal democracies with a high standard of living and similar working conditions, and very similar social attitudes. If you are more interested in hunting, tramping and playing sport, NZ will generally have more to offer (unless you're stuck in Auckland). If you prefer intellectual pursuits, culture, and visiting Europe, the UK will be preferable (unless you're in Wellington - SuperBeagle, I don't think any one can seriously deny there's far less here in terms of theatre, ballet, and there isn't any alternative).

These are all details though. Unless you live in the hellhole that is Auckland and are able to sell a vastly overpriced cardboard box of a house with a huge mortgage, it probably doesn't make much difference. Or unless you're offered a job that represents a huge step up from what you have here. It's a hugely expensive and disruptive move, and you may find yourself wishing that you hadn't done it. Spend the money on something nice instead.

abilockhart

PISA scores only test literacy, maths and science, not any other subject. NZ has been declining over the last few years. I think the last National government have a huge amount to answer for. On their watch, subject-specific teachers disappeared from middle schools due to budget cuts. They implemented National Standards purely as a political tactic, and didn't give a shit that it was not only a complete waste of time, but a simple copy of the daft stuff that the UK gvt has been doing to teachers for the last generation. They have spent the last 9 years undermining the independence of the teaching profession, to the extent that, just like in the UK, experienced teachers are now leaving and new entrants are burning out. The education system is so starved of funds, that teachers actually have to pay for their own practising certificates each year, despite all being employees of the Ministry of Education. We are now seeing new schools built that don't have individual classrooms. In the town where I live a new school has been built that provides instead a large space for 70-80 children and multiple teachers. The parents do not like it, however, according to the Ministry it is the Great New Way. Personally, it looks like a cost-cutting exercise dressed up in some educational theory borrowed from some other country that is probably now abandoning it.

Basically, there are real questions to be asked about the decisions and the performance of Hekia Parata, the minister in charge for almost all of National's 9-year stint, but outside the teaching profession there has been this almost soporific silence: the most disturbing thing of all.

I expect there will be another drop when the next PISA rankings get published next year.

Additionally, I have heard that NZ (but can't remember where so can't cite a source) has aligned its teaching criteria to match the PISA methodology, with the result that its position may be flattering.

We lived in Hawkes Bay for 4 years and moved back to the UK 2 years ago. For us it was the right move to come back, though we loved NZ I missed my family too much to balance against the good bits of living there.

You say you have no family in the UK so I'm wondering what the motivation to come back is? Educationally I agree with you, from my experience our children were behind their peers here when we moved back, and I didn't rate the academic side of their kiwi schools BUT they were given a more well rounded (pastorally, sports wise, socially) education in NZ.

Think very carefully about moving back, we (mostly, dd1 would have stayed!) all wanted to move back, but even then found the readjustment hard by moments.

Don't underestimate the crisis in education in the UK.

Schools are reaching a crisis point. 10,000 teachers departed the profession between 2010 and 2015 and the pace of that loss is increasing. There is a serious shortage of physics and maths teachers and the situation is getting worse not better. Teacher training places are going unfilled.

I think this thread 'What jobs would you not want your kids to do' speaks for itself.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3177865-What-jobs-would-you-not-want-your-kids-to-do

This crisis will get a lot worse. Approx. £3bn cut to education budgets is anticipated in the coming years meaning that spending will reduce by 8 per cent per secondary pupil within the next three years.

I know dd1 will be well ahead when we return to Aus (currently y2) but it really annoys me how much they try to cram into them. I would welcome a slower pace and say often on MN the British obsession with formal education pisses me off.

I moved back to the UK two years ago after 20+ years in NZ and a few years elsewhere. I uprooted my family and we started here from zero. It was the best decision for all of us and we love it here. My husband is not kiwi and our daughter was 4 when we left, but they both love it here. I feel that the UK has a lot to offer, without the isolation of NZ. I also don't get sunburn here within 10 minutes, in the UK you can enjoy the sun more when it comes out!

Am always bemused about the weather comments. Having been to OZ numerous times, we have always had crap weather! Sydney has more rain than London, and that's a fact. But they like to delude themselves that it's fabulous somehow. DH has lived here over 20 years now, and we would never contemplate living there. When the sun does shine, you can't go out without getting burnt, and when it doesn't, there is sod all to do. Give me England any day...rain or shine!

Honestly things have worsened so much since 2008. Wages have flatlined, the price of my house has doubled, food costs are massively up etc. The NHS is in trouble, my kid's school is nice but you can feel the stress from teachers (through no fault of their own). Ten years of austerity and people are really feeling the pinch. Add to that the unstable political situation! The mood here is the lowest that I have ever known. Even London is licking its wounds after a horrifying summer.