To ask what part of North West England should I move to?

[CanIHaveChocolatePlease]

I hope it’s okay to put this in here, I couldn’t see a dedicated section for relocating!

I’m Irish and live in Ireland, but have wanted to live in England for a few years now for various reasons (things like more choices of shops, types of schools, towns etc, not as casual attitudes to rules etc), but I’ve come across better job/training opportunities in England than I can get in Ireland, which makes me want to live there even more now

I’d be targeting moving there late this year/early next year (yes I know I’m mad with the uncertainty of Brexit coming up but I feel that personally it’s the best choice for me!)

My preference has always been the North West region (no offence to any other areas, I like the idea of there being so many areas/towns/regions near each other and feel that the climate, lifestyle etc would suit me best)

I am hoping to do the school-based primary teaching
degree at Edge Hill uni and then work as a teaching assistant during the week, and then maybe a Saturday job in a shop to boost my funds more.

So I would like to be accessible to Ormskirk (where Edge Hill is), but also accessible to more non-student towns and cities, especially Manchester and Liverpool .

I would like to live in a decent sized town rather than in the city or in the rural countryside.

From looking up houses in the area, I think somewhere like the town of Leigh would suit me well, but I would just like people’s advice and opinions so that I wouldn’t regret my choice

I’m single so wouldn’t have to be worrying about having to bring family members over with me

Thanks in advance, I’d really appreciate people’s insights☺️

Having lived in both places can I just ask, why do you want to move there?

Salaries in the NW are very low; much lower than what you'd earn working in a shop in Ireland. It's unlikely that you'd be able to get a job for more than £20k and you won't be able to afford a mortgage on that salary unless you live in a dive town. The dives in NW England are orders of magnitude worse than what you'd find in Ireland. Have you never seen Shameless? A relative of mine lived in a place like that, she got burgled All. The. Time. And the violence and antisocial behaviour was shocking. She was basically a prisoner in her own house.

Brexit is going to tank the UK economy and this area is already fairly depressed due to all the mills and factories closing over the past few decades, so jobs will be even harder to come by.

This doesn't seem like a good idea. If you just want to experience the UK then great! Go there, live in a shared house in a lively city like Manchester / Liverpool / Chester, get a job to pay the bills and have a fun time; but thinking of buying a cheap house in Leigh (!!), retraining and working two jobs to pay a mortgage just seems crazy to me.

I see the course is part time however it says this
The school-based route is suitable for well-experienced trainees who would prefer to spend more time in school and learn while working.
Do you have a lot of experience working in a school?
TA salary won’t support a £200k morgage.

It sounds like you have a lot more to think through before you get to the stage of finding an area to settle down and get a mortgage.
Is that course even suitable for you? Do you already have the necessary teaching experience for that course. And I'm puzzled as to how you would get a 200k mortgage on a TA salary. Isn't that around minimum wage mark?

These are the schools edgehill work with:
www.edgehill.ac.uk/educationpartnership/list-schools-available-subjects/

So you could look at these schools and areas.

I think you will need to have done work experience in a Uk school to apply as well.

To answer some of people’s questions on here;

I know that the salaries for TAs aren’t amazing but I’d earn more as a TA over in England than I would working in childcare here, even after going to the time, expense and effort of getting a qualification.

Although I have my end of school exams (the Leaving Cert) from last year, I don’t have a degree
I tried a semester of Early Childhood Care and Education at uni last year but hated the day-to-day uni life and the job and pay prospects at the end weren’t good, playschool teachers here literally often end up going on benefits during the summer months and can’t get mortgages despite being in full-time work as the pay is so poor). If I had a degree already, I’d definitely consider doing a SCITT type programme
And I don’t have the minimum points or Irish for teaching here so would have to go in through an access programme in a few years time, and then be at uni full-time for 4 years, which I’d hate and would severely limit my earning potential during that time

I would be hoping that if I was to go over late this year/early next year, that I could try and get a job as a TA (I know they’re hard to get, especially when you don’t have qualifications like me) and work in both that and retail for a while and then apply for September 2020 entry for that teaching degree so that I’d have built up school experience and have gotten to know a school in the area who would hopefully be willing to support me throughout the programme

Housing here is getting very expensive, and you have to have a 10% deposit so with my current retail wages I’d be living at home for years to come without easily being able to afford my own place, and there’s just less choice and incentives for getting your first house over here

I wouldn’t have family coming over so it would just be myself that I’d need to fend for (although obviously I’d want them to be able to come over and visit me)

Thanks again for everyone’s helpful and honest answers on these threads, I really appreciate them! ☺️

Thanks for that link KenAndBarbie - assuming that the schools for the Schools Direct programme are the same as the one I’d be hoping to do, that’s a great list to have

Just be aware that you will have more bills in the uk OP for instance Council tax and Water rates on top of rent/mortgage, gas/electricity, etc etc I honestly think bills are less over here in Ireland! But maybe that’s just me.

Widnes is pretty good for transport links, house prices are reasonable, and not far to get to Liverpool airport and ferry.
It's got some decent shops for fashion.

Widnes is not the nicest of places ,pretty rough.

I think you should rent before buying OP if you have never been to the areas you are thinking of. Everyone is different and will want different things from their home town, some of it you might not even think of until you are stuck there with a mortgage. You can save your deposit until you find somewhere you really like.

Ormskirk is my hometown it's a lovely place and definitely not just centred around students. It's packed out on market days! I'd just live in ormskirk to be honest, there's direct trains to Liverpool and you can get to manchester on a direct train from Burscough which is only ten mins drive from ormskirk. No need to look to live further out when you have those links available (unless you have other motivations!)

Try the other side of Wigan which is closer to Edge Hill - Orrell, Upholland, Billinge, Pemberton etc. Much better/more practical than Leigh and not too bad on house prices.

I used to live in Ormskirk. I found it one of the dullest places going, whether students were there or not! It's not town and it's not country and a lot of the people living there were very smug, small town mentalities.

Don't move to Leigh. It's not easy getting to edge hill from that side of Wigan.
There's plenty of far nicer areas.
Orrell/Upholland is great for motorway access to edge hill. Only 10-15 mins drive.

Crosby or Aigburth. Both accessible to Edge hill and on the Trainline to the airport/ links to other cities. Start there and get to know other areas. Steer clear of Leigh or Widnes...

Leigh wouldn't be the easiest... It's a very congested route... Well over an hour when the traffic into the uni is busy.
Btw I am a primary teacher who mentors trainees from Edge Hill and other universities, and I would highly recommend Edge Hill.
We also get lots of Irish students.
The very centre of Ormskirk is students, once you get just slightly further out its a very family oriented area.
Maghull and Aintree are nice suburbs of Liverpool that are easy to commute to Ormskirk from.
Also, lots of students commute from the Preston area as there is a direct train into Ormskirk.
Be aware that your placement schools are likely to be across West Lancashire, St Helens and Knowsley and North Liverpool. You will spend far more time on your placements than at uni if you are doing PGCE or school based training.
If you want to PM me as I live and work in the area feel free.
In the areas I've mentioned you would probably pay £650-750 pm rent for a smallish 3 bed terraced or £750-850pm for a smallish 3 bed semi.
Also, if you are doing full time teacher transfer you definitely won't be able to work part time. If this affects your budget you might want to look for somewhere cheaper whilst you train and look for somewhere more permanent once qualified.
Hope this helps x

I don't know the area but I do think there are some practical considerations. OP you mentioned applying to start in Sep 2020 - the deadline for UCAS applications for next year is January 20th. You would also need to have been working for a good amount of time prior to the application in order to demonstrate the teaching experience required for the course.
Maybe OP if you're still young (which you seem to be having only just done Leavers Cert & first year at uni) it would be a good idea to stay living at your parents for a while longer. This would enable you to do some voluntary work in a school locally alongside your current retail work.

As previous posters have said TA posts are often hard to get. In my experience they are often snapped up by parents who have initially volunteered in their children's school and looking for term time only paid work which fits around their young families.
Also have you considered the cost implications of studying outside of Ireland?

If you have just done your leaving cert then you must be around 19? There's no need to be thinking about buying a 3 bedroom family home in some random NW town at this stage!

If you're dead set on living and studying in the NW then I'd recommend living in a shared house in a city so you can meet other young people and have access to good transport links. As you do your placements you'll get a feel for the areas and start to decide if you want to stay there and build up an idea of where you would like to live.

Do you have childcare experience, even working in a creche? Have you thought about doing a 2 year working holiday visa to Australia? There are lots of childcare jobs if you have experience, and they're much better paid than what you'd find in the NW. You could spend two years there getting experience and building up a nest egg, which would give you many more options when you returned to Ireland or the UK.

waves at @Latersxx**

There's a train every hour from Preston if that helps, journey is 30 minutes ish. Wigan area to Ormskirk is longer so you'd need to be on the Orrel, Upholland, Skem side rather than Leigh which is nearer the Manchester. The closer you are to Edge Hill, the better the public transport links.

Thanks again for all of the positive answers, and for not putting me off the idea

To answer a few more questions;

I will be 21 soon (I was a year later than average starting school)

Because it’s a part-time course, you seem to apply directly to Edge Hill itself at any time (applications for next year are open already and up to a few weeks ago you could still apply for this year), so I wouldn’t have to apply to UCAS by January

Both me and my family know that I would hate living with other people/ strangers- obviously it is a sensible way to get reduced rent and to get to know people but I’m definitely the kind of person who needs their own space and place (even if it meant spending that bit more money)

As it is, my parents don’t particularly want me moving away from home yet as they’d be worried about me on my own, so I’d seriously doubt that they’d want me going travelling and working around Australia or somewhere for 2 years, and anyway I’m not a fan of the heat —or spiders— so wouldn’t do well in that environment so far away from home in a different climate, although I’d happily visit it for a quick holiday down the line!

I have already completed a small amount of school work experience in both a playschool and a primary school, and have done some babysitting and helped my mother when she used to mind kids, so have some experience of working with kids and I’d happily consider trying to volunteer and get experience here except that I mightn’t easily have a lift down to the local schools and even if I did, my retail job bosses are awfully disorganised, especially when it comes to rosters, so even if I asked for a set day off each week, knowing them they’d probably nearly forget and put me down for working that day (as it is I’ve asked and put it in writing can they not have me working one evening a week as there’s something I go to that night but despite that they sometimes still have, so I’ve either had to go try and swap with someone or else forfeit going to it

I can’t get over how helpful most people have been across my threads, so thanks again for that and for those who have said I can message them to get more advice, I’ll definitely take ye up on that offer

Chester is a lovely city, good rail links to Liverpool. However the house prices are expensive. I'm originally from the area and couldn't afford to get a mortgage so moved 10 mins down the road to Ellesmere Port. For £110k I got a new build 3 bedroom house, in Chester the same house would have cost over £200k

When I rented a 1 bedroom flat in Chester it was around £550 this was around 8 years ago. Council tax around £120 a month.

As for TA salaries just to make you aware they are advertised at 16k-18k but that is based on full time hours so you actually end up earning around 10k for the year.... TA jobs are hard to come across in the area especially permanent ones. There is a good agency called new directions that offers supply TA work but it does help if you can drive as you can often end up going to schools in the wirral or over the border in Flintshire/Wrexham.

I love living in the North West, doesn't take long to get to Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington etc...

Good luck

Re the share house.
I get what you mean about your own space, but I can assure you the difference moneywose can be a lot.
What's best on them is that most have short let available so they are perfect for the newcomer before you get your bearings and find are you like and which works with you when it comes to your placements and work. Plus deposits and everything is much lower too, not just bills. For example you can find a nice room in Liv city centre for about 400 incl bills, while 1 bed flat would be double of that at least. Obviously there are cheaper and more expensive options, that depends on personal preferences. If I were you I would certainly consider them for first 6 months. It worked well for me.

Former admissions officer here (different uni though). You won't get on that course with a few weeks work experience as a TA. It's designed for experienced staff members and the head would need to agree to the additional training you'd need in class as well as allocating a mentor. I guess you've looked at the entry requirements as being lower than a usual teaching course and it's because of the experience criteria. There's a lot of reading between the lines needed. An access course would help if you need more points.

No idea about that bit of NW but the region has a lot of Irish students in some of the unis so I'm sure you'd feel at home.

OP do you intend on coming back to Ireland eventually??

I think you need to forget about where to live for a while and just concentrate on what course to do. It doesn't sound like the course you have chosen is suitable or that you would be successful getting a place. Can you attend any open days where you can talk course choices and requirements through. Or even maybe email someone at the college for advice?