Moving to UK - 101 questions

[pinkshoos]

I am Australian, my husband has had a job offer (transfer within international company) to Milton Keynes. We'd both like to see more of Europe and we only have one child of school age at the moment so it seems like an attractive option, at least for 2 or so years. I have so many questions though!

1. Where to live, we currently live in leafy suburbs of Sydney, however smaller English villages look nicer than the suburbs of London, Milton Keynes etc - thoughts?

1. Company is paying for rent. I have been looking at Olfsted reports for schools for 5y.o DS, there are many 'outstanding schools' but I presume they would need to know our actual address before offering a place. We'd be transferring mid-school year in the UK, would this present problems? Any advice re: finding a schoool before we get there appreciated.

1. DD will be 3 when we move. Does she have to go to pre-school or similar? Is pre-school subsidised? What age does compulsory schooling start?

1. Our furniture is not worth shipping over. if a house comes as furnished, does that generally include things like irons, Hoovers, lawnmowers etc? Starting to panic at the thought of replacing all household items...

Thanks.

Good luck Vegemite

When you coming over?

Maybe in 10 weeks or so, offer has come in but trying to make sense of it.

How much is the average weekly grocery shop in the UK for family of 4 (small children?)

Mine ranges between £80 and £100 per week roughly.

That includes cleaning stuffs and some toiletries, and we have 2 teenagers.

I do also do bulk buying of stuff like loo rolls and cat food at Costco every couple of months.

and there is costco in milton keynes! i live reasonably near (but over the border in Beds) and agree that you could go into a local village rather than central MK. But there are some lovely parts of MK. You want to be near the school ime, so you get to know people via school gate

Check your electrical equipment if you intend to bring any as I understand Australia uses round pin plugs and sockets thought the voltage and frequency are the same as the U.K (240V 50HZ), You can either change the plugs or get adaptors to suit if this is the case.

Thank you for the grocery and electricity info. I probably spend at least £120 a week in Sydney.

DH has the package info and we'll have to make a decision soon. I imagine we'll be spending a small fortune on adapters.