US or British international school?

[cyclingtowardsbethlehem]

We're going around in circles trying to decide on a school for the DCs for our next move. DCs are Year 2 and Nursery- youngest due to start reception in September (and September born, so old for the year).

We've only got 2 options (both employer paid for).

1 is a very well established K-12 American international school. It has lovely facilities, a pool, excellent arts and a good bus system (big tick in the 'for' box as DP won't be able to drive, and I'm the one working, so pickups potentially a pain). Generally considered to be a 'better' school, although I can't seem to pin anyone down on exactly why. It's definitely the most expensive! They follow Common Core. Nice creative curriculum, lots of inquiry-based learning (which I am generally pro).

The second is a British school- much newer, primary only, all UK teachers. Follows the national curriculum. It's smaller- less swanky facilities but looks a lot more like their school in the UK in terms of scale and atmosphere. They've got a good stated approach to SEN (DC1 is on the assessment pathway for ASD, although no LDs). No transport currently (although they might change this). Do a fair bit of outdoor learning and beach school, lots of languages. Have had positive reviews from parents here too.

My worry is on the US curriculum - we're likely (although not definitely) to be coming home in 2/3 years, DC1 will be year 5 and DC2 year 2. I've been cross-referencing common core and it looks behind where they are in maths and literacy at 4th grade/Year 5 and a literacy. Although presumably with less 'fronted adverbial' nonsense.

I'm particularly bothered about DC2 having an additional year of nursery in pre-K (especially as they will be nearly 5, and very ready to start reading and super excited to start 'proper school')- they don't seem to really focus on phonics until 1st grade and at their current school most of the kids are reading quite well by year 2 (it's an academy chain known for pushing the phonics and maths very hard, for better or worse, and they're likely to come back into that school).

Most of the advice I can see around the two systems has been around a longer-term switch - has anyone else got experience of switching in and out and how their DCs coped, especially on the early reading?

I'm feeling a bit torn on this as I actually prefer a slower start and more inquiry-based approach to pedagogy- but that's not where we are in the UK at the moment and DC1 is thriving at school with the current approach. I also think I'm being swayed by the swankiness of the American school! Most of which we probably wouldn't use at primary level anyway.

And we're not able to do a go-see visit at the moment for obvious reasons.

I came on to say don’t switch systems, but seeing the age of your dc I wouldn’t bother. Primary is flexible enough. I know quite a few kids who have even moved a year due to different cut-off dates here in scotland and have caught up just fine. One started P2 unable to read but they did a few individual lessons with her and she soon caught up.

I’d go for wherever you’ll be happier as a family.

My DS moved from a British International school to an American school at the end of Year 2 and was well over a year ahead of his new classmates, probably nearer 2 years ahead.
My longer term experience of American schools has been that Elementary school moves slower than the UK but towards the end of Middle School / Early High school it overtakes the UK system.
That's my long-winded way of saying that I would probably stick with the British school if you are fairly certain that you'll be moving back to the UK. The two systems don't really line up so it's easier all round to do one or the other!

We switched systems when dc were in primary school.
We had been really happy with the overseas school while we had been there but switching back into UK system on our return was a nightmare.
We finally ended up getting a tutor which we should have done from the start.

2nd time around we put dc in a British School (we didn't have this option the first time)

Thanks for all the responses. Definitely leaning very much towards the British School...

I work at a British International School in Shanghai and have had to put in to place significant interventions for children who have spent time in US schools. We regularly have children 'defecting' to us from American schools. I'd go for a British education but it is important to gauge the 'feel' of it too. Are children happy and thriving there?

Oh ignore the poor grammar. Long day plus wine!

Ah thanks! Difficult to gauge the feel at the moment but the feedback is good from the few parents I've asked. It would be a different question if they were staying the whole way through.

I support families moving overseas with different educational options.

really, they will be fine in either and they will be able to easily move back when they do, due to age, if there are any gaps, they will soon make them up, and usually there are pluses in other areas.

The systems are quite different. US starts a year later, so for the first 4 ish years you will see a difference and then they start to even out. But so much then depends on the teacher and school. (and child).

I would check how well US will deal with ASD. Their SEN provision in International schools is not usually very good. (same could be true of the UK school though, generally International schools are not great at SEN provision. )

I would probably lean towards the British school for familiarity.

I worked in a British International School, in the primary school. My thought would be to go with the British one, because you're planning to return to the UK soon-ish. Also, the one you've described sounds really nice with all the outdoor learning etc.

At this age, my considerations would be: Where will the children make friends they might be able to stay in touch with in the future/see again? Which has the best selection of reading books (the school I taught in followed the Jolly Phonics/Oxford Reading Tree systems so children transferring in/out from British-based schools were using the same framework)? Does either school have inter-school sports agreements with other schools in the country, e.g. rugby?

From a sports point of view, I'd angle towards the British school if you're returning to Britain at some point, because otherwise they'll learn totally random sports instead of football, rugby, rounders and cricket.

From a spelling point of view, as the children learn to read and write, being in the British system will help them to use British English (and this will help with vocab and pronunciation e.g. "zed" vs "zee" and "trainers" vs "sneakers"). American English isn't just different spellings, though, it's got some different grammatical structures, too.

We've just moved back from the states and I would say if we had lived there again we would have done the British school over the IB school we chose. We thought with potential that we would move to different countries IB would suit better but now that we are back in the UK I feel that our DD would have been miles behind if we hadn't kept up with what she would have been learning here. We did extra with her to keep up otherwise she would have been about a year behind.

Mine went to an American international school. DD2 went back into the U.K. system aged 12 when we went back to U.K. DD1 stayed in the US system and did the IB.

DD2 was absolutely streets ahead of her classmates in maths, languages, and analysing texts.

The thing we loved about the US system was the enthusiasm of the teachers - they were inspirational (and there was a good number of British teachers fleeing the national curriculum). We also loved the way that they boosted the children’s confidence - there was no favouritism in picking kids for school plays. If a child was tone deaf and fancied singing a solo then they were supported to do it. The creativity of the teaching was fabulous too - taking the maths class to the Eiffel Tower to work out Pythagoras, living history lessons at historical sites. Sports was inclusive too, with all children encouraged to take part and play in the school teams.

Both of mine did well - DD1 is studying at a RG university and DD2 is doing art.

But all schools are different. A large, well-established American school will cater for all levels of ability and really push the most able. We didn’t find this so much with the British system.