American mom moving to Derbyshire

[Scorpionflower1]

Hello All,

I'm an American Californian mom of 3 daughters ages 17, 15, and 8. We're planning a move to Derbyshire this summer and I'm looking to learn as much as I can. My DSO is from Derbyshire and is currently there there looking at places. I've only visited the area once before so feel I'm flying blind.

I'm hoping to connect with some mom's in the area who may be willing to provide some insights as to living there. What towns are most ideal for families? Which towns would be most embracing of my Californian daughters and myself? Which are the best schools? I'm a corporate accountant. What areas would have the best career opportunities for my profession?

Any feedback or insights would be greatly appreciated!

£1000 per month (assuming you are talking £ rather than $?) should be manageable in some of the areas you are looking at.

Of course there are expensive bits where you might struggle but you should find something suitable with that budget.

Best of luck.

What does "catchment" mean?

The area that the school takes pupils from. This varies year to year and according to their admissions policy.

Melbourne is nice and in catchment for Chellaston school which has a good reputation.
Swad town centre is very run down and I would not recommend living there. The catchment school is the Pingle which I would not recommend.

I live in ashby and would recommend it. Good schools, some nice restaurants and bars, countryside on your doorstep. Commutable to Birmingham, derby, Nottingham, Leicester etc. Good value for money in terms of housing. Lots going on for the size of town.

Ok so Swadlincote is more Staffordshire, I though you'd be thinking more peak district, idyllic Derbyshire! I used to live just outside Linton, nice enough but it's ex coal mining, not prosperous, not great schools, not the most accepting of outsiders. Walton on Trent and Barton under needwood are better local options. John Taylor high school in Barton is great.

Most people I know want to get away from Swadlincote!!

Ashbourne is lovely, my MIL is an accountant there in a lovely local small firm. There are some beautiful villages nearby, the high school is ok. Thomas alleynes high school in Uttoxeter is good too. Rocester I'd avoid. Buxton is beautiful but even quieter! But for better job opportunities you'd be looking at Derby (pronounced Darby), Sheffield etc.

I am from Sheffield and if you decide to look there I would recommend searching within the 'S10' postcode.

There's excellent schools, it's safe and friendly, you are near the Peak District and countryside and also only a short bus / car ride to the town centre.

I didn't go to the independent Sheffield Girls High school but have friends that did and loved it there.

When you get here - we should have a MN welcoming party. Just a thought.

What is the reason for the move? I can't really imagine being in California and wanting to come here to actually live. Are you keen on long damp wet murky foggy cold drizzly winters? Because they really never seem to end.

A welcoming party sounds fantastic!

I live in Chellaston which is near Melbourne, beautiful village!

Ha Chuck I was thinking the same! It might be a bit of a culture school moving from sunny California to Derbyshire.
Welcome party is a lovely idea :)
For your budget you will be able to get a decent place in Sheffield, for example:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-45788499.html

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the area.

I live in Derby and know Derbyshire very well. Derby is home to many international companies, most notably Rolls Royce, many of which employ accountants. There are lots of nice areas in the city and surrounding it which offers good links to other cities for employment if necessary. Friends work in Nottingham, Birmingham and Leicester. We are close to the M1 and have a mainline rail route to London and Scotland, also an International airport very close by. Manchester and Birmingham airports are both very easy to get to.

Derbyshire is a beautiful county to live in, with lots of places to visit and opportunities to do outdoor activities.

I'm a fan of my home county as you can probably tell!

Are you keen on long damp wet murky foggy cold drizzly winters? Because they really never seem to end.

I just want to add to this - in that they never seem to end because they regularly last all summer too.

Derbyshire is a beautiful county to live in

I am not disrespecting your county, far from it as I do love living where I am - and I have lived in many counties in the UK and most of them have a fair amount of beauty versus non-beautiful areas...but Californ-i-a it aint.

So I guess Swad is just a centralized point of reference from DSO but he absolutely Doesn't want to live IN Swad. Well, I'll be over March 15-25 and again April 4-24 to look around. It's a bit overwhelming trying to sort all this out from CA! Thank you ALL for the wonderful inputs!! Are there any family/mom Meetup groups out there? I'll really want to jump on building a social circle!

lol I feel I'll get asked a lot about why we're moving. It's really sappy but...love. My DSO and I are getting married. It's a long story, but short of it is the US government has become very strict in past few months. Our plans for DSO to move here have been squashed. He applied for a visa and was denied. The stories you hear in the news about how bad things are getting for immigrants are sadly true. So, our world is reversed. My girls and I are moving to England. It was something we had already discussed as a possibility for university. Now, it's just how it needs to be for now. Attorney here and Solicitor in UK are already working on things. My girls will finish their school year then we should be landing in lovely England!

OMG it would be amazing to meet y'all!!! I'm actually quite nervous about fitting in. I hear Americans are often seen as loud and too open about personal stuff. Well, I'm definitely guilty of both.

Why has no one on thread talked about the education choices for OP's teenagers? How in world do you cause all that upheaval to a 15yo & a 17yo? I'm not even sure they'll have legal right to live in UK; are they staying in CA to finish HSDs? OP has talked about university but how will she fund that in UK (kids won't qualify for loans from anyone here).

It's not like 17yo can rock up over here & complete last yr of a high school diploma. The state school system in England is completely inflexible and effectively doesn't allow school transfers (we all know) after about age 13/14.

My teens will have legal right to schooling through my visa. I'm marrying a U.K. citizen. Already has been discussed through solicitor. Funding for university won't be a problem. The cost there is extremely reasonable compared to what it is here. I paid over $60k for my education.

DSO has already been in contact with headmaster of a couple schools who have been providing positive feedback about transferring. I am interested in hearing more from the perspective of U.K. moms on the topic though. It's always possible we may not be receiving complete information. From what DSO discussed with school system was 17yo and 15yo would both transfer to the schools there. I believe 17yo has some testing they said she would need to complete.

I think you should investigate educational opportunities for your 17 year old. Here she would have taken GCSEs at 16 and be half way through A Levels, BTEC or an apprenticeship.

Really she needs to finish high school in the US.

Has your DSO got a job yet? He or she will need one to bring you in to the country unless you can get a visa in your own right - which might then cause a difficulty because if you say you intend to come in to the country for work then get married in a short time you may have invalidated yoru visa because you intended to marry.

The reason that people keep mentioning schools is that you have children at the two critical ages. Moving within the country at 15 and 17 is (I think) the worst time to do it because it's a year before the two major educational transition points. There's one round of exams at 16 (GCSE) and another at 18 (A level). Your 15 year old won't be able to cover the full range of GCSEs in a year, it is a bigger issue than just dropping them into the year group. The worst case scenario is that they cover half of the curriculum on everything and come out grades that don't represent their ability and aren't enough to get them a place doing what they want to do next. Your 17 year old will probably be better placed starting the two years of sixth form and will be a year older than their peers. It's not that uncommon to have a restart of A levels and take three years at it.

It's the 15 year old that worries me, half way through GCSEs is not a good time to jump in and the (state) system as I've experienced it is really inflexible so I can't see that there will be an option to take exams out of year. There is more at play here than just having a school place, people tend not to move in years 10 and 11 (age 15/16) because of the impact on GCSEs.

I live in Derbyshire too.

DSO is a U.K. citizen, living and working there. Im coming over on fiancé visa this summer and my children are attached to my visa. I am trying to sort out the educational aspects. I only have had DSO to go off of so far. When I come over next month I'm to meet with headmaster of the sixth form to learn more. My 17yo is the one with some special needs. She's borderline aspergers...extreme difficiency in executive reasoning. Basically she's horrible at making decisions....big time! Getting her to form opinions is a nightmare. Our schools here still say she should be capable of college. Here she would have gone to 2 year college then transfer to university. I'm uncertain if she's going to really persue academics though. We'll see what she decides and go from there. My 15yo wants to persue computer coding as a career. She's actually 14 now so is a 9th grader here. She turns 15 in April.

When I come over next month I'm to meet with headmaster of the sixth form to learn more

Be warned, a 17 year old without GCSEs may bot get in to a VI form, they would get on to a college course but at level 1 (GCSE grades D-G are level 1, GCSE grades A* - C are level 2 A Levels are level 3).

Your younger child - most schools have a 3 year KS 4 so she is still missing part of her GCSEs (think she would be in year 10 here, but might be year 9), which are just changing from A*-G to 9 - 1 grades.

The schools have to put children in to exams according to their age, no repeating a year or waiting until they are ready.

Occasionally it can be done at VI Form.

You might consider college for both of them. A 14 year old can go to college rather than school to do level 1 and 2 qualifications.

For your work I would say that you need to be within commuting distance of a city such as Manchester or Sheffield. Neither are within Derbyshire but are close to its borders. Derby itself may also have opportunities.

Oh and until your eldest has been in the country for 3 years she will not have access to UK student loans/bursaries. Uni fees are currently £9K a year for residents, but can be more for 'international' students.

I don't know much about Visas, but does your visa allow you to work in the UK?

Tax and accountancy rules are obviously different in the UK, but you may find that there are international companies that would value your experience.

I would start by contacting local recruitment companies and/or any US organisations. If you have knowledge of US tax, could you offer advice to other US expats?