Moving to the Northern Ireland

[Germoo]

Hi everyone.
in a bit of a dilemma here. We live in the UK. I’m Irish and he is from the Uk. We have a lovely life here with our 3 year old. I would ideally like to move back to the my home Southern Ireland but the way things are it seems impossible and my husbands job will allow him work in the North of Ireland not south. I really want to go back before our DS starts school but my DH wants to stay here. My question is I’m sure others have moved from the Uk to the north of Ireland. What is it like is it much difference. It’s a compromise for both of us. Thank you

Ok - it is the south in the north, I get that the politics make things difficult - probably the reason why the whole country is best avoided.

And I’m sorry I’ve re-started the whole south- north Eire ROI thing, I never realised it was a big sensitivity, I’ll slide away elsewhere.

Hi, so pleased I came across this post as we’re a family living in Southwest England thinking of relocating to Northern Ireland. My Husband travels to Northern Ireland a lot for work and over the years we’ve been coming on visits as a family - fallen in love with the friendliness and way of life! We have a little boy aged 9 who currently attends a small independent Prep school here in Somerset,

I saw your comment regarding Prep schools being a lot cheaper 4 K per year not term! Is this also for Independent Secondary schools in NI. Can you recommend Prep / Secondary schools please in NI. Thank you 🙏
We’re looking around Ballycastle areas but open to moving where the best schools are . We like rural living near to the coast as love walking and outdoors. Hope everyone has successfully relocated and all worked out 😊

Prep schools are thin on the ground outside of Belfast.

NI has a grammar school system for second level so again, there are few private schools the way there is England.

North Down would be good for you maybe. There are two "proper" private schools- Rockport and Campbell. And there lots of good grammar schools Sullivan / Inst / Methody - last two are in Belfast but loads of kids get the train in.

Campbell is a voluntary grammar just like many others, it tries very hard to hide this fact by presenting itself as a minor public school, but it is state funded. It is however able to charge additional fees as it is a Voluntary B grammar. Victoria College is similar in status.

Campbell is a good school and has some really interesting approaches to educating boys. But it’s definitely not a completely private school.

Methody, BRA, Friends, Victoria, Regent, Strathearn, Sullivan Campbell and possibly some others have preps attached but to be honest so many of the state primaries are absolutely outstanding too.

Thanks for your in-depth reply particularly re Cambell College, i'm just looking at the website! Struck me how much cheaper it is per annum than independent schools here in England. It does look a lovely school tbh and positive re Sen and pastoral support. Saw they have waiting lists system would explain now as state funded topped up by parents! Thanks again

@AngelaKim you’re welcome, I thought I sounded a bit snippy about Campbell when I’m not at all! 30 years ago I thought it was making its boys a bit arrogant but now I think it is focussing in on adding value for boys by figuring out how to support them in the modern world. Definite support for a wider range of academic abilities (I don’t know personally about SEN) and all the boys we met (which was a lot, which said a lot that they would all volunteer to come in to be part of the evening) were very friendly, personable and impeccably well mannered. Given they are teen boys that is saying a lot for a start.

I have just done a whole tour of secondary open days and analysis of league tables so ask any questions you want to!

NI Good bits -
Belfast area has good social life, nice restaurants and close to country side.
north coast is amazing in summer
house prices much cheaper than England
good sense of community
good schools
relatively low crime rate

Bad points-
weather, weather and more weather.
some sectarianism but can’t really say this impacts particularly in middle class areas which are increasingly mixed.

In regard to schools -
Avoid Campbell - has serious drug problems and worst outcomes in public exams of any voluntary grammar in NI. Other voluntary grammar schools such as Sullivan, Strathearn, Bangor Grammar, Methody much better outcomes and basically free. As others have said Campbell is a state funded category B voluntary grammar. The old saying it is the cream of Ulster society - rich and thick isn’t far wrong. For most ( not all) people it is their last choice grammar when their child hasn’t scored well enough to get into another grammar. Rockport (only genuine private school) is about £8k a term and I have no idea why anyone would want to pay that when there are fantastic grammar schools all around it. Sullivan Upper down the road is utterly fantastic.

Prep schools are a waste of money and many have closed in recent years. I am not surprised it is mostly English voices at gates as most local people wouldn’t bother - state primary schools are mostly fantastic, offer lots of extra curricular and will have only marginally bigger class sizes.

Agree with everything Pebstk says although I was quite grateful for the weather last summer when it was 35+ in England! The state schools are amazing.

Jaynler - re Ballycastle. No prep schools in that neck of the woods. Three primary schools in Ballycastle - St Patrick’s and St Bridget’s, Ballycastle Integrated and the Irish speaking school. Ruling out that you would want an Irish speaking school - the former two are very good primary schools. In the town there are two non selective post primary schools (cross and passion and Ballycastle HS l) both with good reputations and getting a new build shared campus which will be ready in next 3/4 years. If you want grammar it would be travel into either Coleraine (Coleraine Grammar) or Ballymoney (Dalriada)which is doable and children do this. In the Catholic sector there is also Dominican College in Portstewart or Loretta Coleraine. Most don’t leave the town as the schools are very good.

Yes I was just reading something on Reddit about dalriada being good and working hard on integration (access to GAA etc). Ballycastle Integrated Primary always looks really cute. I think Ballycastle is gorgeous!

Ah I’m only seeing this now!

Happy to go into more detail.

We’re outside Lisburn where there are two preps which are attached to respective grammars- Friends and Wallace.

As other pp’s have pointed out, we don’t have many “true” independent schools in NI- I think Rockport is the only one.

I went through the grammar system myself, and from what I see of the senior school that the kid’s prep is attached to, it can offer similar facilities etc as what you’d be paying for in GB at an independent.

The preps do tend to be clustered around Belfast/Lisburn/Bangor though- there is less of an appetite for them outside of the cities, I think due to the very good public provision.

If private schooling is important to you, along with coastal living, you could look at Sullivan Prep, Regent House or the previously mentioned Rockport which are in North Down, which is a nice part of the country.

Prep schools are a waste of money and many have closed in recent years. I am not surprised it is mostly English voices at gates as most local people wouldn’t bother - state primary schools are mostly fantastic, offer lots of extra curricular and will have only marginally bigger class sizes.

Well this is a matter of perspective.

DC1 has ASD and we chose the prep as there are 19 kids in her entire year, as opposed to 30 pupils per class (3 form entry) in the much handier, and very good village school.

Of course I’d love to have an extra £4K x 2 kids in my pocket every year, but the support that the prep has provided DD with has been invaluable- with that in mind we think it’s been worth it.

NI is a really lovely spot. I went to private secondary in Dublin, and see no need whatsoever for private school here for primary at least (haven't figured out the secondary options yet!).

Yes, totally agree here ! We moved our boy from state school to prep school for exactly same reasons, the large numbers (30 children) in a small classroom traumatized our boy. Since moving him to his prep school here in Somerset he's thrived with only 8 pupils in his class initially. He has a rare genetic condition, bright lad but struggles physically with muscle weakness. He definitely wouldn't have come on the way he has in a class with 30 pupils and one teacher.

He's our main consideration in our move , we can all adapt re work , house etc but his schooling is priority.

I was confused as saw the children start secondary school in year 8 in NI and year 7 in England- but see now it's same as England as we call NI year 1 Reception class .
Are there EHCP's (Educational Health Care Plan - formerly Statement) in NI please? We're in the process of applying for this now and wondering if can be transferred to NI?
Thank you so much everyone for your valued and much appreciated comments .

Thank you so much everyone for your comments, I really appreciate this! We're hoping to come over soon to have a look around Ballycastle and the coastal areas around Belfast inc Strangford Lough .

I must say I am so so impressed with all the positive feedback re schools in NI - thanks everyone!

Your reception is our P1, so for primary just subtract 1 and that's your English equivalent- so for example, P4 is your Year 3. P7 is your 11+ and the last year of Primary.

More and more secondaries are using the Year formatting, but a lot of the Grammars then start from Form I again at the first year of big school- so Form I up to Form Upper-VI.

If I were you I'd consider Friends in Lisburn (just came out 3rd best secondary school in NI, no's 1 and 2 are RC schools) and look around Hillsborough for a house. Twenty minutes from Belfast and just over an hour from Dublin. Wallace is over the road from Friends (apparently the competition between the students of the two is fraught!) and also very good, Prep Head is a lovely guy and it's a very inclusive, friendly school. Both grammar schools share sites with the prep which is a consideration if you're doing multiple pick-ups. With a lot of the Belfast schools they can be a fair distance away.

If you're dead set on the North Coast after your visit there's an instagram lady who moved from England to Castlerock/Ballycastle there a few years ago with young kids, I'll try and remember the name of her account.

We went through the EHCP process last year through the local trust. I can’t comment on whether or not they transfer across from GB, but from what I’ve seen the process is very similar.

The school were fantastic and very supportive, and have been proactive rather than reactive with regards to DD’s needs. I was upfront about her SEN right from when I was scoping out the school for pre-prep, and they have never been anything but positive. I have spoken to friends which kids who have similar needs and I know this isn’t something we should ever take for granted, regardless of whether the school is prep or state.

Oldest went to Dalriada and it was very much a mixed school with children from all walks of life, all religons and none! Music department is fab and their concerts are second to none. Pastoral care was excellent as well. Dd2 went to local secondary and then moved to Dominican in Portstewart for 6th form - DS is there as well - another very mixed school academically (phasing out use of 11+) as well as on religion grounds.

This. I used to live in NI and moved to Ireland. Every time we go back up and visit it feels grey and depressing. All the talk from friends about the political shit is exhausting. Its better than England where Ive also lived, but only just.

Different strokes for different folks though

My DP is from NI. We use to visit and work remotely for a month in the summer as well as visit,l regularly. I love his family and friends but the religious politics is still extremely ingrained. Churches are everywhere, nieces and nephews chat casually at their friends at bible camp in the summer. The flags and the bonfires are also a huge culture shock to me. We will never live there because of this.

I think it all totally depends on the circles you move in. No one I know goes to bible camp or bonfires. There's no flags where I live.

At one point I was thinking about moving to Derry, I could not believe the price of new houses there, half what they'd be here, no, less than half. And you'd have the NHS, and a longer school day. I didn't do it but I did run it around in my head.

I think Lurgan looks nicer though. Big lake to walk around. Or is it not safe? Houses reasonable, seems like a community et cetera.

oh yeh, that murdering dentist's circle, my eyes were popping out of my HEAD watching that on netflix.