My DH and I are what a certain type of researchers like to call Third Culture Kids (TCKs). We can move to a new country on short notice and are super adaptable, but we do not really feel culturally at home anywhere. With economies so troubled all over the world being flexible enough to follow the work has seemed like a huge benefit at times. However our DS (who turns six in December) is now desperate to have some roots, and it seems as if it is only a matter of time until our DD (who turns five in January) does too.
We have an opportunity to move to the UK in mid-January. Three out of four of us are British citizens, but we know almost nothing about the day to day realities of living there. Our children previously attended Green School a progressive school in the middle of the jungle in Bali. They were extremely happy there, so we would like to find a school with a similar philosophy. With that in mind I contacted Dunannie, but was told they did not expect to have any spots available for my children until September 2015. This left me with a lot of questions.
Are waiting lists that long typical of independent schools in the home counties? Are there any other schools in the home counties that are similar enough to Dunannie and Green School that we should consider them? Is finding a place mid-year impossible? My DH's job would still involve a great deal of international travel, so being in an area that is no more than about an hour away from Heathrow is preferable.