Moving to the U.K. for a year? What do I need to know?

[hummmuna]

Posting here for traffic.
My job has asked me to move to the U.K. for the year. We were hoping for a September move to coincide with a new school year. My dh is ok with this and he has had permission from his job (in Ireland) to work from home, from the U.K.

So we have started to look for somewhere to rent and near schools so dh can collect dc. And then we won't need childcare. What do I need to know about bills in the U.K.? Our only bill is here electricity and mortgage. We don't have water bills. What is the average water bill for a 3 bed house? What else do I need to know?

We have 2 dc and one will be in what I can see as year2 as she is in her 2nd year of schooling here now so if she starts there in September it will be year2. The youngest will go straight to reception. Eldest is just turned 7 now and the youngest is 5 in July.

What else do I need to do/be aware of? Thank you

@hummmuna

I'm worried about the school years now. I can't really have them moving up a year they will be out of their depth completely!! Dd5 doesn't know letter sounds at all yet as she hasn't started so how can they put her in year1? 😫

It’s based purely on date of birth. There’s no flexibility on this one (sorry).

Schools are used to teaching a huge range of knowledge/ability in any class. Our school has a mixed year group for Reception/Y1.

Don’t worry about it. (And yes, you may be able to put them in the lower year groups.)

I haven’t read all the comments so someone might have mentioned this but if your daughter is 5 in the summer you can ask if they can go into reception. Many areas let you defer a year for a summer born child. You can email the education department at the council where you are moving to ask. Best to contact them now anyway to ask about places.

We’ve been looking at moving to Ireland from England and most people have said that the cost of living is generally cheaper here. Especially if you aren’t paying rent.

Move here?

The covid capital of the world?

Nope. I’d be trying to escape if I were younger.

Please think very carefully about your plan to come alone and fly back at the weekends. If travel is restricted at all during that year, as it is now, you could potentially go for weeks/months without seeing your children...certainly not a risk I would ever take.

Don't stress about the schools. My parents moved us back and forth between countries, randomly home schooled us for a few months, I didn't get through a single year of primary school in the same school. Worked out ok. I made friends fast because I had to!

@hummmuna as your child is summer born you can request a reception rather than year one place.

What country are you living in currently? With the way the pandemic is at the minute, I wouldn't bank on being able to cross the border every 2nd weekend.

If they think your kids aren't ready for year 1 or year 3, they will either put them in the year group below, so reception and year 2, or, if they have the staff, they may have teaching assistants helping them out. The best thing to do is to phone around a few schools close to where you will be living and have a talk with the head teachers about this.

Will your landlord not pay the council tax as they own the property? We are in the UK but from Ireland. Don't stress unnecessarily about the children going up a year group. They will be well able for it, Year 3 is first class. Year 1 (Junior infants) was very play based, basic reading and maths.

I share the view of @Muchtoomuchtodo. There is no guarantee that England’s school system will be back to normal in September. You may end up having to homeschool your children whilst trying to do your new job in a new country (presumably without a support network). It’s not something I would personally want to do. Equally coming over without your family could result in you being apart for a long time if the borders are closed.

A lot of posters seem to be thinking about this from a pre-Covid point of view. In my opinion the situation is too fragile and fluid to know what things will be like in September.

Maybe I could go solo and fly home every 2nd weekend??

I really wouldn't unless you have to. DH work is accommodating, the children are young enough to settle in quickly and potentially enjoy the adventure. I wouldn't think in terms of school years so much as curriculum levels - at this age starting points vary across Europe but although UK starts formal ed very early it shows little benefit for it.

Does your company have a proper relocation support team who advise on taxation (both ends) and the extend of any relocation package (including cost of renting out your current place if applicable)? Its normally for companies offering these moves to offer the back up services.

Understand you don't want to give specific locations but would you be in London area, other main city or somewhere smaller in a regional town?

"normal" not "normally"

@Summer19

Will your landlord not pay the council tax as they own the property? We are in the UK but from Ireland. Don't stress unnecessarily about the children going up a year group. They will be well able for it, Year 3 is first class. Year 1 (Junior infants) was very play based, basic reading and maths.

Tenants are normally responsible for council tax

Could you maybe look for a Montessori school? Maybe that would ease the transition for your DC? I’d be more worried about the jump into year 3 than year 1 to be honest - the expectations in year 3 are quite high in my experience.

I would say you will probably be able to put them into the year you want. Usually people that hold their kids back a year they start school straight into the year they should have been in, if you are only there for a year it wont matter. Also quite often kids get put back a year, in Scotland kids coming from England 9 times out of 10 go back a year so as it is only a year speak to the school and you will probably get them in they year you want. We have tried the commuting and did it for 4 years with DH flying up and down from Scotland to London every week, if you can avoid it definitely don't do it the kids really suffer.

I would also say OP that independent schools tend to be ahead in curriculum of state schools, so your children may actually struggle unless a specific school can offer placements in different years to their chronological age.

I would keep an eye on the covid situation as the government has mentioned there may be restrictions next winter so you can't rule out schools being closed / travel restricted. If you can work around that you'ld most likely be put in y3 and y1 at the nearest school with places but be careful to check availability as many schools are full and the kids could be split or not at the school you want.

Education wise there is a huge ability range in a state school and they will adjust it to your child so that should be OK. Bills its council tax, water, gas, electricity, phone, internet, TV licence if watch live programmes not on subscription channels, house insurance. If you look on uswitch or Rightmove it gives example bills for the property, will vary by area and usage for water.

There may be a Montessori school in your new area. If your children already go to a Montessori it may suit them better - from what I understand they have different year groups too with mixed ages.

Oak Academy has the online lockdown curriculum and may give an idea of what children learn by year: www.thenational.academy/ though each school provides it own.

One thing to take into account, schools where I am are very oversubscribed. Many primary children wait 6 months until they get a school place and that usually isn’t at their nearest school, it can be 3 miles across town. In year 1 it is sitting at tables learning but learning still by play a bit. They will be expected (at least mine were) to sit still during lessons.

I’m an hour from Manchester City centre too

Go as northern as you can. Everything's cheaper in the north

A lot of folk from my part of Scotland fly down to England mon-thu if it’s only a short term contract, as it’s so disruptive moving schools and school years. We’ve done it. A year isn’t long.

If the borders did close, would your company be happy for you to work from home in Ireland?

@Gobbeldegook that’s not quite how it works. If I went 30 minutes north my rent would be much higher. If I went 20 minutes south it would be much cheaper.