Moving to London with kids but commuting to Oxford….

[Vienna1970]

Can anyone help? My family is moving to London from Vienna, Austria in summer 2016, and the more I learn about London schools, the more my head swims. My kids will be 11 and 15, respectivelyso not at the typical intake points. (If I understand correctly, the younger one, born in May 2005, will be in year 6a worry since that means he would have only one year to go at primary school before having to switch schools again the following year, which we'd rather avoid). We'd prefer state schools, but we have a long and complicated wish-list:

Schools:

• academically challenging, but putting inquiry and exploration over test scores;
• good learning support for the younger one;
• Latin, German, science, art for the older one (since she's academically gifted, she could theoretically qualify for a grammar/selective school, but I don't know how this would work given the timing of the move);
• 'all-through' for the younger one, so he doesn't have to switch schools again after just a year.

Neighbourhoods:

• good tube (and/or cycle?) access to Paddington or Marylebone (I need to commute to Oxford several times a week);
• parks and greenery (I fantasize about a garden…)
• not outrageously expensive, of course.

Any suggestions about particular neighbourhoods and/or schools would be helpful, as would advice on general strategy. For example, should we consider renting a place now, even though we aren't moving to London for more than a year? But what if we move someplace only to find there are no places available at the nearby schools in their years? Can we find out which schools have spaces before we decide where to live? I'm very confused!

molio the commute from Oxford to London is doable but longish particularly if you have to drive to the station (which is why the Oxford Tube is an attractive option for some due to the choice of stops despite being congestion dependent).
I agree that Ealing is a reasonable option, I used to do the inverse commute from there.

Thats why I suggested living near the new Oxford station, property is cheaper there, and I think congestion is less awful than trying to get across Oxford. But Culham might be better, and commute from Didcot?

Where are you looking to live?

Doesn't fit all of your wishlist but you could look into renting, say in ickenham/ruislip, try Vyners school or other state schools or ACS Hillingdon if you are paying. Good for commuting into London or out to Oxford (on oxford tube from Hillingdon stop or driving). Could consider moving for 6th form after that when you decide to buy, maybe stay there or out to Bucks when you have researched.

Hockerill appears to be a fee paying school!

To apply for a state place for Yr 7 in the September you would need to apply from your local address in October the year before. That is when the allocations are done, according to the Admissions Criteria for that school. This is usually distance, with some provision for places on aptitude in specialist subjects at a minority of schools.

The distance is measured from your home at the time of application.

Once the initial round of allocations are done the waiting lists are opened u to late admissions from the early summer onwards. If you don't arrive until the summer you would enter the system at this point. However, you would enter the waiting list according to how you meet the admissions criteria - so if you move next door to a school that admits on distance, you would be head of someone who had applied in October, but lived further away.

In your shoes I would move as soon as possible in the summer having decided on an area that you think you like and which suits your needs, and to a rented house as close as possible to a school you like.

Thanks again for all the input, esp. SulpherTuft's concrete plan of action! This has all been very helpful.

Hockrill is a state boarding school so if you choose the boarding option you have to pay boarding fees (i.e. board and lodging) but not tuition fees. Day pupils are free.

Moving here at the start of Year 11 is a major problem for your older child and is likely to restrict her academic opportunities in a state school. (Would she be Y11? Born between 1 Sep 1999 and 31 Aug 2000?)

I'd give serious consideration to home education for her if I were you. Most home ed kids do IGCSEs. Some use tutors or distance learning programmes, but it's quite possible for a motivated teen to study for them under her own steam. That gives more flexibility as to how many exams are done and when and in which subjects.

Your younger child should be all right with school so long as you arrive in time to make an application for Y7. But if you really dislike the idea of him spending just one year at primary before having to change schools, you could home educate him as well for that first year. Could be a good opportunity for loads of interesting day trips while settling in to life in a new country. Of course, with you and your dh both working you'd probably need to pay for some childcare for him (most likely a childminder), which could work out expensive.

Oops, you're moving in summer 2016 so your daughter will be Y11 if she was born between 1 Sep 2000 and 31 Aug 2001!

If you can afford it the simple solution to a child arriving at the start of year 11 would be to send them to a tutorial college to do GCSEs in a year. Somewhere like Ashbourne College, DLD, or MPW. They then move to a more normal school sixth form. Its hard work however we know one boy who got mainly A*s despite moving to a new educational system in a different language.

Or perhaps look at the German school in Kingston.

I second needmoresleep and her excellent advice about a tutorial college.

OP just to say that I would second the idea of living out in Oxfordshire or Berkshire. I used to live in Berks and now am just south of Oxford - all the while commuting into central London every day.

You'll get better flexibility with schools out this way as the catchment tend to be a little wider. I'd say planning round a train route is the most flexible for you and your family - the Oxford Tube is often caught up in traffic IME. Key stations are Didcot or Reading for direct fast trains to Paddington. The intermediate villages are ok too but would involve a change of trains to get to Pad faster. Pangbourne, Twyford, Goring are all doable - I'm currently between Oxford and Didcot.

Schools wise the area generally has a good set of state schools with grammars in Reading, Slough and Marlow. To be honest though, the general.demographic in the area means most schools are starting from a good point of generally able children and parents who value education so, with a few exceptions, most are pretty good.

Do you really have to use state schools? They are vastly inferior to academic London day schools. Be very very careful.

Slightly off topic, but hopefully a helpful comment - I am in Oxford, and have know quite a few children cope with this type of move very very well. What level of English do they have?

I have friends in an identical situation. Their daughter is very academic and they moved to UK when she was 16. She got into a good local comp in our area and it was a disaster. The girl was used to the IB system and she was lost with the UK system. She is now at a private weekly boarding school, doing the European baccalaureate and aiming to do medicine at university. If is an option if your budget stretches

Thanks for all the latest comments. A few replies, in no particular order:

• True, it's off-topic, but re. state schools: having taught in the tertiary sector in the UK, I can say that my students from independent schools were no better than those from state schools. They may have been more polished and proficient, but that didn't mean they could think better.
• Home-schooling: not an option when both parents work. Also not much fun for a kid who's just arrived in a new country where she has no friends (that holds for a tutorial college, too: it sounds like all the boring bits of school without the fun stuff).
• I appreciate the suggestions about places to live outside of London, but right now, we're not considering that.
• The kids are native English speakers.

So where we stand right now, thanks partly to everyone's helpful advice: keep an open mind and research further! We'll look at both state and independent (mainly international) schools, consider neighborhoods like Ealing and Islington, and see where it gets us. Thank goodness we have a year before we have to move…..

Just wanted to add it is also possible to commute from London to Oxford by National Express coach, which might open up other locations within London. The coaches are quite comfortable and have wifi!

Quite a few very bright pupils in my son's academic independent day school in the Oxford area leave to go to Cherwell School in Oxford when parental funds run out or the boys want a change of scene. It is well regarded, if you decide to live in the northern side of Oxford.

Vienna I think you are missing the point about the suggestions of private vs state. The first may offer more flexibility in entrance and a suitable curriculum for your oldest.
Nobody would say that the ability to think is reserved to the private system although it is true that a few independent schools offer more opportunity to think outside the exam curriculum aswell as having the funds and reputation to retain high quality teachers in most subjects. This means that the 'thinkers' have a better more interesting time academically at school.
That comes at a price though and requiring selective entrance.
Students may suffer from 'patchy' resources and teaching in many private as well as state schools.

Hi summerends of course, what you say makes a lot of sense, and as I said, we're considering both state and independent. I was simply responding to the very negative comment by one user: "Do you really have to use state schools? They are vastly inferior to academic London day schools. Be very very careful." In defense of state schools, one could add that they offer an 'education' of another sort, which can serve children in good stead in the long termteaching them both about the society they live in, and about how to cope with life-situations that are sometimes a little less than optimal! But anyway, this is really getting way off topic, so I'll stop now. Thanks again for the comment.

Still straying but agree about the value of life lessons. However I think it is a fallacy to think that only state educated DCs have to cope with suboptimal academic conditions (one of the points I was trying to make in my last post ) just as it is a fallacy to think that state education necessarily offers a broad social mix. Even if it does, academic setting usually means social segregation. The mix comes more from extracurricular activities in and out of school.

And 50 % of those the poster taught at university came from the only, 8% who go to private schools so there does tend to be quite a better chance of a good university education and career if your parents are prepared to pay.

For your eldest, with definitely consider ACS. It avoids the need for GCSES which would be very challenging to join - if she's been doing IB until now, it could be a difficult transition and not even an easy social transition - it's only 2 terms until GCSEs and there will be heavy study expectations, mocks etc - it won't be an opportunity to explore topics. And hard for her to do well I would say. Meanwhile for iV she would be joining at end of MYP - there is a personal project I think but no 16+ exam (sometimes a Croatian of MYP but not in your case). She'd then be getting ready for the last 2 years of IB.

There may be other options for IB schools but sounds like it might be ideal in your situation. (But look for IB schools that go not do GCSEs). For your youngest you could go y7 route in any school assuming you can apply and secure a place.

Good luck - I moved younger children last summer - it's important to get the social and academic piece right as they both depend on each other.

Sorry to typos - auto correct on phone. Croatian should have said criticism!!

I would not be so quick to dismiss the idea of a year of tutorial college.

1. Yr 11 is not much 'fun' anywhere and not a year when fellow pupils will have time to welcome new friends.

1. Many schools are likely to resist taking new pupils at this stage. You could end up only with offers from under subscribe (eg less popular) schools.

1. Subject options may be restricted.

1. You need to get good grades to be allowed into some, usually sought after, sixth forms. And for some subjects, maths is one, A level will be more fun if all your fellow students have at least an A at GCSE.

1. Places like Ashbourne, and their equivalents in Oxford, work quite hard within their constraints to offer a school type atmosphere, offering albeit limited extra curriculars such as music and sport. London is a mobile population with a significant number of older teenagers coming to London to prepare for UK university entry. This will be a highly motivated and reasonably diverse group. One your child might have more 'fun' with than being landed into the final year of GCSEs. They will be used to pupils transitioning because that is why they are there. Increasingly, because of the shortage of private school places for newly arrived expats (and locals!) they are expanding to younger years and building a school type atmosphere.

The logic that at tertiary level state pupils are as good as private pupils is false. The have been selected. They should be as good! If they are better it suggests you need to be better at a state school to achieve entry standards, and that other good and capable kids are not.

There are lots of views about state vs private but having raised kids in a part of London with relatively poor state schools (Though in fairness, now improving) I can confirm that by the end not many people have retained much moral high ground. You gain religion, rent a flat, tutor, pay, whatever, to ensure a reasonable education and decent life chances for your child.

A year in a tutorial college would give your child a supported tradition year and a decent shot at a good sixth form, where after it is a level playing field.

Moving school in Yr 11 would mean a limited choice of school, probably limited choice of GCSEs, perhaps lower sets than your child would normally be capable of, so perhaps taking a lower level exam.

I suggest identifying schools you might be interested in, in your preferred areas and asking what they can do for your child, and what you might need to do (like live very close or make sure your child is confirmed.) There may be a good solution. Or like a significant percentage, you pay.

Why not look at Victoria. Pimlico Academy,and you could try Greycoats (preferred by politicians! ) and then an easy coach ride to Oxford.