Moving To Northern Ireland

[Bramble92]

So I have no idea if this is the right place to post this or ask questions but I've never done it before so I'm hoping it is.

I am planning a move from England to Northern Ireland and I am in the research phase to see if it is a good idea for me and my girls. I am looking at primary schools/nurseries at the minute.
I'm wondering if anyone can tell be the best ones around the Belfast area and if there is any primary schools that offer wraparound care (i.e. breakfast club and afterschool clubs)
I am a single parent so if I was to make this move I wouldn't have anyone to help me with childcare and I still need to work. So I would need to be able to put my oldest into before/after school clubs until I was finished a 9-5 work day. Currently this is what she does in England and my youngest is in private day nursery from 8am - 6pm

Bumping for you, guess everyones on holiday.....

Any reason why Belfast?
All depends on the area you choose and you will get different schools childcare in different areas.
Also please look at the HMRC childcare scheme in NI you get the least amount of childcare support in anywhere in the UK.
Are u moving for work if so your work can assist with lots of information too.

Do you have a job opportunity there ? It is a friendly country and a good quality of life but I guess you know that already ! No advice on Nursery recommendations sorry …. Imagine it will depend on which side of the city you hope to live - or perhaps you are hoping to be guided by the recommendations as to where you could live. Definitely do some research as mentioned above in terms of government support with childcare etc before making decisions. Hopefully you’ll get a response from someone with a recommendation soon , good luck !

It very much depends whereabouts in Belfast you're planning on moving to @Bramble92. It's not a huge city, but big enough. South Belfast is probably considered to be the most desirable area and it is certainly the most expensive. Lots of good nurseries/schools, but even if you narrow it down to one area, there are still quite a few decisions to be made. Schools, sadly, are very much divided along religious lines, with state controlled schools attracting mostly Protestant children and Catholic Maintained schools obviously catering predominantly for Catholics. In saying that, your children are not excluded from either of these options, no matter what their religion. My children have been brought up with no religion and went to a state primary school, but we couldn't escape at least some religious content during the school week. There are some integrated schools. These are often oversubscribed, which just goes to show they are gaining in popularity, which is a good sign. Your children will get an excellent education here. I think once you pinpoint where you plan to live, you could always come back on here and see if anyone has any recommendations.

Thank you @Riverbananacarrot @Tessisme @TiramisuTastesDreamy
I don't have any jobs lined up at the minute as I am still in the very early stages of this thought process honestly and I'm trying to get as much info as I can before making a decision. My family were all originally from NI, they are from Lurgan so I have been looking at that area, also Portadown and Lisburn as well as Belfast. I will look up the government schemes though as I was unaware it was different in terms of help with childcare

Do you still have family in NI that you would connect with?

It is a great friendly place, you may be able to do job interviews online depending on the type of work you do. I did that before moving from England to NI. DC not school age yet so can't help there but yes the schools are quite divided by religion which I really dislike but overall good education.

Would you visit some of the areas you're thinking of?

Which areas of Belfast are you looking in? There are loads of primary schools in all areas, so you'll need to narrow it down a bit!

(My kids go to Knockbreda Primary in South/East Belfast and it's great. Small classes, very friendly atmosphere, lots of good stuff happening. It has a breakfast club from 8am (£1 per child per morning) and then an after-schools club until about 6pm I think (it's run by an outside organisation, so a bit more expensive)).

@Bramble92 the tax free childcare schemes are the same in NI. It's the early years provision that is different- e.g no 30 hours subsidies for 3 year olds.

What is your budget for accommodation? Will you rent/ buy?
There are lots of family friendly places/ things in Belfast.

How about Bangor? There are some great schools and it's an easy commute to Belfast. It's right by the sea and has loads of beaches. I love Belfast and grew up there, but if we could move back, I think I'd go to bangor (I also have family there though).

What's sort of job are you looking for?

You definitely need to think about where you want to live and then research job opportunities/ schools / housing etc. On top of that as someone has pointed out is the divided aspect of schooling.

Any reason why Belfast? More people live outside and commute.

Do your family still live in Lurgan? Because if they do you'd be best to come down this way. House prices in Lurgan/Craigavon/Portadown are so competitive right now and there's great links to Belfast down the M1.