Possibly moving back to UK after many years overseas and don't know where to start

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We have been told that we will possibly return to UK later this year and desperately need advice. Office would be based around Croydon/Carsholton kind of area.

After living in cities since we left UK, DH and I reckon we are best suited to city or at least town life. Being out in sticks probably not for us.

We need schools for 2 kids - DD currently finishing Y7 and DS currently finishing Y3. I am most worried about DD as she is so happy in her currentl very large coed school with good set of friends and involved in lots of aspects of school life. She has really found her niche this year and at 13 it might not be a great time to move her.

So here are the questions -

We would most likely choose independent schools - what are our chances of getting DD into Y8 possibly for Spring term next year? We have friends getting kids into boarding schools right now and they have already done exams and been offered places for Y9, so how does it work for us if we are looking for a place in 6 months for Y8?

What schools do you know of or recommend in Surrey area for a currently averagely academic but hardworking and sporty girl. Are any schools particularly known for sport - particularly hockey? As we might move again in 3 or 4 years, any possible day/boarding options so that if we did move later she might be able to switch to boarding for last couple of years.

What resources should I use to search for schools? Good schools guide or other? Been searching on line this weekend and making no progress, so will order something.

What areas should we consider for living in - good towns/suburbs within 30 minutes to 45 minutes of that kind of area - Croydon/Carsholton/Sutton kind of area.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'll also post this in education to seek further advice.

Hi, I'm in a similar situation, coming back to UK this summer after 4 years away. DD started boarding school last year in year 9, & now will need to leave it for state school close to us with DS, going into year 7.

a. found Good Schools Guide online invaluable for first sift on independent schools then for DD. You can then ask the schools to send you their dvds/prospectuses too, and we screened several of the frontrunners out from the feel of the dvd. But school visits are invaluable.

b. Entry appears to all depend how oversubscribed the school is (geography has an impact here too). Several were clear with me that their waiting lists had closed two years ahead of entry. However given the recession lots of v good schools (especially out of the Home Counties) are undersubscribed currently, so even ones which say they don't take pupils except at usual transition times do. DD's current school (whiich appears to be thriving), which states it only takes people at start Y9 has taken around 6 others (boarders) during the last two terms of Y9.

c. If she might be needing to full board in a few years I would really look at places which offer Sat school and have large numbers of full boarders even if this isn't what you need now - this really impacted on experience for DD. Some of the schools we looked at which said they were boarding only had 3 children in her year there over the weekend, with all the others returning home. think this could be dire for her, if you move abroad again. Need to be really tenacious in asking on boarder numbers in their year and how many at weekend, as many headteachers try to blur the situation.

Good luck!

ThresholdMum - thanks for sharing all this - some really good thoughts.

Think I'll ring round a few and find out their exectations and likely admissions.