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!

Finding a nice village to live in really is the least of your worries OP..

Have you checked to see if you and your children will need private health insurance?

For the younger one I think you need to look at private school and mostly likely for her to be held back a year.

Fwiw my daughter left California after 8th grade, scoring in the 99th percentile in all areas. When she got to school in the UK she was significantly behind her classmates. Caught up after a very difficult first year, but was not easy.

Ok I can help with John Taylor High School. Its in Staffordshire. Horrendously oversubscribed. They have very good gcse results for high achieving and mid range students. Poor results for low attaining students.
They have excellent sports provision and a very good range of extracurricular activities.

Their catchment area (the area from which they will accept students from) is very small. Mainly Barton under Needwood and the immediate surrounding villages such as Yoxall and Walton on Trent. They have a tiny number of students from Fradley, Alrewas and Lichfield. Most students are bussed in to school but you need to pay for this yourself.

Because of their educational reputation they are very picky about which students they admit. They no longer have primary feeder schools so getting your youngest into the local primary school will not guarantee a place at John Taylor.

You will need to live in one of the villages I mentioned above to get a chance of a place at John Taylor. When you visit England you may wish to make an appointment to view the school. There is already an American family from California who live in Yoxall so you may find you fit in quite easily.

All of those villages are Staffordshire except Walton which is Derbyshire. Theres very little to do in the villages but most teenagers go into Lichfield or Burton for entertainment. Hope that helps.

Definitely recommend Melbourne! Chellaston School is easy enough to commute from Melbourne. I live in Derby, precisely south east of Derby!

Just catching up with your updates OP, yes, just to echo Odin, if you are definitely set on John Taylor you will need to be living as close as possible to it!

Walton-On-Trent, Barton-Under-Needwood, Yoxall or Alrewas. A few Fradley children were allocated places at John Taylor for September 2016, but most will go to The Friary in Lichfield (which is an excellent school in itself).

But if you want John Taylor that really does restrict you with location for a house. Although a £1000 per month budget should do it. There's just so little on the market at the moment, unfortunately.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler Is The Friary worth looking at do you think? It may be easier to get a place there and OP could still live in those villages mentioned.

The Friary is also oversubscribed, but less so that John Taylor I believe.

They do still manage to take a few children from outside of their catchment area each year, although this number gets less and less each year. Mainly due to the constant building in the Lichfield area.

It is certainly a very good school, and definitely worth OP looking at. It would open up properties in Fradley, Lichfield & Longdon - and possibly even the Lichfield edge of Rugeley, such as Handsacre, Armitage etc. if she's lucky (although that would be a game of "will we get in, won't we get in" - no guarantees).

I doubt they would get a place at The Friary for Year 7 from as far out as Yoxall, Walton or Barton - but possibly Alrewas would be OK. For the GCSE age child I think they will get a place - DS2 is in Year 11 & there does still seem to be movement in and out to some degree.

OP might be looking at John Taylor for her younger child, providing they find a house in catchment, and The Friary for the older child - supposing John Taylor cannot find her a place in the right/required year group.

DS2 is in Year 11 & there does still seem to be movement in and out to some degree.

They accept new students half-way through Year 11?

Learning a lot through all this! Our education system here is definitely different!! My 17yo was going to be doing 2 years community college then transferring to university. Thing is she doesn't have any clue what to study. She did say maybe teacher's aide once.

I received another message saying to look at the technical colleges/programs in UK. Especially since 14yo wants computers as career.

Uni in U.K. was brought up by my mom over a year ago as option for my 14yo. My mom has lived around the world and had said education was much more affordable there and is always plugging about the benefits to international living/experience. We'd looked a little into it before now but it was from a total different perspective...US high school diploma. The move is happening, that's set. DSO checked again and schools there are closed right now. He's lining up meetings with schools for when I'm there.

As for tutors, what is best method for finding one? Looking at all options and if DD2 does go into schools there I'd like her to have the help catching up.

They accept new students half-way through Year 11?

I meant more across the school than in his year group in particular . For example, a family moved in to the house opposite us last month & their DD has a place in Year 10 (previously at a different school miles away). I'm not sure when the cut off is for Year 11 pre-GCSE admission, but I expect that we are past that date by now.

Basically OP you need to choose a school and speak to them. If they say they can fit you in then look for a house in that area. You will need to be really flexible and live where someone is able to accommodate your children rather than choosing somewhere to live and then trying to find a school space.

Is there a specific reason for your home address to be in Derbyshire? Obviously our counties are smaller than those in the USA so you might think it sounds insane to househunt in a different county but staffordshire merges into Derbyshire (and Nottinghamshire/Leicestershire etc) and it really is easy to get from Lichfield in Staffordshire to Swadlincote in Derbyshire within 15 or 20 mins. If your DPs family are there they really do live just down the road.

The move is happening and stuff their education

A route to computing jobs is GCSEs in english, maths, computer science GCSE, sciences, perhaps art (if interested in games or video technology). Not "vocational" qualifications.

As for tutors, what is best method for finding one? Looking at all options and if DD2 does go into schools there I'd like her to have the help catching up.

Think about a full time tutor and home ed to get her up to speed, then cross your fingers and hope.

Please please have a look at requirements for international students, a US high school diploma is a start but it is not enough to get admission to a UK university. UK schools start sooner, specialise sooner and uni is designed for that. In the UK a student enters uni at age 18 and if they are doing medicine leave at 23 a fully fledged Dr, there is no pre med, or pre law or pre anything, there are no liberal arts colleges.

A UK student attending Harvard misses out their 101 classes. Not because the UK system is fantastic but because it specialises earlier.

I live in Swadlincote with my two DS 14 & 9 and moved here from Staffordshire for the cheaper housing. Some good advice on here specifically regarding the educational stuff but I can personally vouch that the high schools here in "Swad" are very poor especially for higher achieving pupils. I believe all 3 high schools in this are are in "special measures" (see the OFSTED website for reports)

We home educate our eldest DS and will do the same with our younger DS when he leaves primary school - I simply would not send either of my children to the high schools around here. I have family members at John Taylor and agree with the previous poster that higher achievers do well there but the school is not so much suited to average/lower achievers - John Taylor School is seen as elitist in the local area which is not always a good thing for your child and there is no chance of a place unless you are in catchment and even then you may be disappointed.

Swadlincote is friendly but does have some social issues and the town centre has very few shops and only one or two decent bars/restaurants. Would recommend you look at a larger town such as Lichfield, Derby or Nottingham which will give far more options for your DC in terms of both education and social activities.

What about John port school in etwall. ?
Lots of nice villages round there to live. Willington or findern ?

Another option for 14+ would be one of the University Technical Colleges. I don't know why they are called that but they basically provide a more vocational technical education and some bias to computing, science, engineering, for 14-19 year olds. Some go on to apprenticeships,some to university. There are quite a few in the Midlands Birmingham, Nottingham, Coventry, Solihull, Derby. They are quite new and keen for applicants. I wonder if it would get round the GSCE problem and suit your DD2 well.

Great to see so many South Derbyshire folk! I live out in the countryside between Repton and Swad - as we call it. I like the villages, but not so keen on Swad and the schools arent great

If you want to live in South Derbyshire I second looking at Melbourne for Chellaston, maybe Etwall, Hilton or Willington for John Port. On the South side of Derby Littleover is quite nice. Derby College might be worth a look regarding courses, a friends daughter did her A levels there and loved it.

Perhaps we could all do a South Derbyshire meet up?

What subjects are your DD's currently studying?

Born and bred in willington myself but moved away 25 yrs ago. Great reading about my old area on here.

Currently DD1 is in Chemistry, US History, Spanish 2, English 3, Business Math, and Acedemics (special ed course which assist with her being organized in her classes).

DD2's classes are Algebra 1a, P3 Animation, P4 Computer Graphics, Earth Science, PE, English 1

Hello also Derbyshire here too :)
Lots to do and see, Nottingham is also near by home if Robin Hood. Do you mind me asking which town you're looking at?

Chesterfield is lovely and not been mentioned yet. Easy commuting to Sheffield and is on the East Coast Mainline for train connections further afield. Brookfield school gets good reviews and there are plenty of good junior schools for your 8yr old. Also a good mix of property and reasonably priced as although Derbyshire you are not in the Peak District National Park.

I think your DD2 is really going to struggle to covert to GCSE's if she isn't currently studying any foreign languages or humanities. What does Earth Science cover - is it a mixture of biology, chemistry and physics? Does her English classes cover language and literature?