Relocating back to the UK

[GreenYellowTurtle]

Hi, I'm moving back to the UK on my own with two children, aged 12 and 14, after 12 years of expat living. My budget is around £300,000, for a 3 bed house or flat, but I am free to move anywhere. Although my family all live in the south and near to London. Ideally I am looking for a town in the countryside sort of life (but my kids want shops!) but that also has good secondary schools for my kids. The biggest issue I have is my son who is due to start GCSEs, in September but has only been homeschooling, and may need some help catching up. He was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, hyper mobility, ADHD and sensory disorder. He's not autistic but just needs extra time, blue paper for exams, typing on computer instead of writing etc. Does anyone have any advice or can recommend good secondary schools where they are flexible or can provide more support for kids? Or a nice place for families where we can make new friends. Thanks x

Who and where was he diagnosed? Do not assume it will be immediately accepted and relevant adjustments made without further assessment. If he is already 14 would he not be year 10 now? Where near London? Essex, Kent perhaps or further north but your budget is tight.

You're probably going to have to go north of London and the home counties for a property big enough within your £300k budget.
Given your son's diagnoses you may want to find a school that will suit him and then take it from there.
I live near Lincoln and you could definitely get a good sized house for your budget. Nice shops in Lincoln or get the train to Nottingham or Sheffield for shopping.

When was your son 14? If it was on or before August 31 this year he should already be in year 10. If it is since September 1 (ie he has just turned 14) then you have a bit more breathing space.

I agree with everyone else, you should find a school first tho as an in-year entrant it might not be easy.

Trouble is people can only advise about areas they know! I am in the East Mids and that budget would by a three bed house in some areas (thinking parts of Derbyshire like Chesterfield which has some good secondary schools, or maybe Loughborough (not so sure about schools there); nicer bits of Nottingham will cost more than that tho.

It's hard to advise really. Can you narrow it down a bit in terms of area - do you need easy access to London for example (which might rule out the far north)?

I forgot to mention that my son is an excellent artist, so any sort of Art college or school would be great too

Pretty much all schools will offer art GCSE and he can take it from there - post 16 there are lots of art-related options.

He is only just 14 so he is still in year 9

That's better then. But a bit more info on where you want to live would be helpful. Do you work? Is that a factor?

October

I work from home, so we are free really. I have been looking at tons of schools but they are all different and offer different curriculums. The specialist schools all seem to be more autistic special needs children but he really is normal child and is doing well at his studies, he just needs some extra support

I can't comment on the SEN side of it, but there are areas round Nottingham that would fit the town in countryside type feel and your budget, but also close enough to Nottingham. E.g. Bingham and I think schools are generally ok

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153081719#/?channel=RES_BUY

How behind is he?

You are going to need a school that is good at supporting children with SEN and honestly no state school is going to be ecstatic at a new kid starting in year 10 without funding and having to start all the processes to get an EHCP, extra time etc.

How solid are the diagnoses?

At that age, as it is not a standard entry point, it will be a question of which schools have spaces for him. Once you move you can contact the local authority and find out where there are spaces and be allocated one.

Some further education colleges offer courses for students 14-16 who have previously been homeschooled to get either maths and English gcse or maths and English plus science and another gcse. You might be better off looking at those.

Lewes in Sussex is nice and pretty near Brighton (for the shops) also not too far from London but you will be hard pushed at £300,000.

£300k is a bit low for a house. High Wycombe or Aylesbury. you could maybe get a 3 bed house or flat.

So unless you can afford a private special school he won't get a place at a special school as there is a whole paperwork process to go through first whereby his issues need to be documented (this is getting an EHCP which entitles a child to extra support) and then in order to get a place at a special school it needs to shown that mainstream cannot meet his needs.

You are very very unlikely to get through that process quickly - just getting an EHCP is a year plus.

He won't get into a send state school and often their academic aspirations are lower. Not sure what you mean by different curricular, in England state schools follow KS4 and gcse/btec so core subject choices are the same but exam board may vary.

Actually most secondary schools in England offer a similar curriculum - the main variations are in other areas (discipline, uniform, rules around phones, being in a multi-academy trust, that kind of thing).

Bingham is a shout actually, Toot Hill is a very high achieving school. Another thought is Barton under Needwood, near Burton but not too far from Birmingham and Lichfield, John Taylor High is an excellent school. I would say your son needs mainstream with some support by the sounds of it rather than a special school.

Trouble is none of these schools or any others anyone mentions are sure to have spaces. What is your timescale @GreenYellowTurtle ?

haha great minds @LIZS

thank you for your response. I dont think he needs a special school, so thats good