Schools in the UK

[user1482278771]

Greetings all!
My apologies in advance for my lack of knowledge on the subject. We are Americans and will be moving to the UK in late 2017. We have the option of living anywhere there, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
We are searching for cities that have good schools that are not oversubscribed. We also prefer Christian faith (state?) schools if this is possible, Catholic, C of E, etc, all of which would be fine. We prefer to have prayer included in school as well as mass or service, but again, I am not sure how this works over there. Here in the US, we have to pay for a Christian (private) school. I understand religion is taught in most if not all schools within the UK...?
Also, we will be without a vehicle, for the safety of mankind :) So any place that has good transport, buses are fine, and/or walking distance to schools, shops, etc. Nothing rural. (Have I eliminated all choices here? :) Scotland, Wales, England, we are open to all. We would just like to be able for our children to attend a school where the student:teacher ratio isn't astronomical and where we don't have to fight for a spot just to attend. Thank you so much!!

I live in a rural area without a car because there are great trains. (It's a village with a train station). Husband commutes into London, I get around OK with trains and buses. We're guaranteed a spot at the village school which is great but because it's great it's oversubscribed and so there are 30 kids in a class.

PhilODox-Baptist churches here in the states are often very different from the next :) There are Baptist, southern Baptist, the fundamentalists, and rumor has it, the mountain snake-handlers, but this I have never witnessed nor want to ;) The key here is to visit many churches and find where you feel a home.
We have stayed in England for months at a time and have attended mass, services, and even renewed our vows at a St John The Baptist. All of which were lovely. We are also aware of the house size difference but are prepared for this. I will miss our large garden but there are so many advantages, it's definitely worth the trade. :)

drspouse-You have an excellent point. We may consider a driving school or instructor down the road. It would take some "getting used to" but nothing that can't be done.
We are freelance artists and will be able to make our home anywhere within the UK, thankfully. We have yet to spend time in Scotland or Wales, but will do so prior to the move. We will be paying a hefty fee for use of the NHS, but this I do not mind, as I simply wouldn't feel right having access to something that I have never put a dime in for. And even the NHS fee is thousands upon thousands less than we pay here for health insurance...not to mention the co-insurance, co-pays, and physician bills we receive after we have seen a doctor.

To everyone above, thank you & Merry Christmas!

How will you get a visa with no employer? I think you are only allowed to stay for up to 6 months with a US passport unless you have a work or student visa.

Bristol is a very arty city. Great opportunities for printing, street art etc. lots of festivals. They also have a Steiner School but it is a fee paying school.
You might like to consider some of the rural parts of Scotland such as Highland and Islands. Fantastic light. Cheap houses in some areas. Buses and people help each other out. Some are Gaelic speaking schools as are some of the Glasgow schools.
Easy driving in some areas as one track roads😄

I believe there are specialist visas for well known/well off artists.

I think it's possible to live in London with no car, and maybe some major cities but it will be a major effort in most towns. I would live not to have a car, but I can't take DS to cricket matches etc without one. If I didn't have DC it would be fine;I could bike/train/internet shop.

I wouldn't worry about schools until you've decided on a particular area, then. Arrow it down in that area, based on schools.

Do you need to have easy access to the sea/London/airports/mountains?

Do you need to choose an area where you get a lot of house for your money? You can get a decent house with a large garden in some areas for the same price as a studio flat in London.

My SD is in a village school that is far from commuter links ( Mum works in a big city which is local). Her class ratio is 2:25 ( 1 teacher and 1 TA) so there are some out of city/town schools with lower ratios still... but not many.

* that is NOT far*

We live in the midlands

Just wanted to add that most schools in Wales aren't bilingual...Most are English-speaking, and there are some Welsh-language schools. All kids are taught to speak Welsh (not very well if I'm anything to go by...) but they're certainly not taught in Welsh unless it's a Welsh-language school.

Oh and if you want to look at the equivalent of Ofsted reports for wales then it's Estyn you need to look at.

But they aren't worth the paper they're written on.

I'm amazed that most people commenting on this thread have experienced their DC being taught in classes with a teaching assistant and TA. We seem to get that in reception and then in older years TAs work with small focussed groups on interventions, rather than having them assigned to a specific class for periods of time.

OP it's worth knowing that all schools - whether denominational or not - seem to teach values in some form. These probably are a good match for 'Christian values' given the cultural heritage of the UK. They cover things like tolerance, respect, courage, trust, kindness. Christians don't have a monopoly on those values.

hitchin is nice not rural not a big city but excellent transport links to big cities.Lots of good state schools and the catholic school is lovely but they also have a church on england school thats good to.Theres some really nice places to live in hertfordshire

Blimey!
If this was me, I would first research and pick an area of the UK in which I would like to live. Not talking specific but an area (e.g Lakes, Yorkshire, London, Rural Scotland, Wales etc).
Then look at schools in specific areas to those regions and then public transport and the ease at which to get to town centres etc for shopping.
You will get a bucket load of 'advice' about which area, type of school I see best etc by people who generally live there so you won't get to narrow down the 'best place to live'.
As for schools; so many different types. LA, Academy and Private. LA is controlled by councils and academy is controlled by private sector often multi academy which means lots of schools run by a 'company'. Private is fee paying.

Of these you can get infant, junior and secondary or primary and secondary or first, middle and high or lower, middle and high and sometimes all through schools though rare unless going private. Some schools are CofE and Catholic controlled. All schools are inspected by OFSTED regardless. Some schools are single Year groups and some multi year groups in one class. Infant class size (up to 7 years) is capped at 30 but many schools limit classes to this throughout but in oversubscribed schools these can top 35 sometimes 38! Some schools are also one form entry (one class per year group) and others can be as much as five or six!
It is a minefield and considering you have a year (or so) to decide, Insugfest if you can to do a 'recky' and spend a couple of weeks travelling around the UK and getting a field.
Someone can come and say Yorkshire is the best place to live (like me!) but whereas it work for me, it may not for you.

Sorry if this is no help but your criteria is so wide considering you're not bothered about where to live that it isn't possible to give a definite answer.

You need to consider too that in towns there aren't usually school buses for state primary age children- parents need to get them to school themselves. Transport is only provided if you live more than 2 miles away. You may need to send them to different schools a few miles apart until spaces are available in the same school. Or home ed.

It's also worth considering the cost of living in different areas. Rent can be extortionate in some places, so it would be worth considering where your budget would suit.

You're not going to get below 1:30 without going very rural.

That's completely untrue. The avg class size nationally in England is about 27. We live in a small town in eastern England & my kids have had class sizes 22-31 in primary (no larger).

I don't think your kids will get the theological indoctrination that you want, in any state school, USAMUM. The kids here get religious education rather than theology, which means they spend about as much time learning about the principles of Sikhism as they do Judaism or Islam or C. of E. Mandated by law.

You know that politicians here get laughed at if they publicly admit to being religious, right? omg he thinks he's a Messiah with a direct line to God FFS response. It's only tolerated as a private thing. I just found out that 2 of my long term colleagues are both religious (Methodists). I had no idea, people don't share that stuff.

I am a USA to UK immigrant, btw.

As for schools; so many different types. LA, Academy and Private.

No academies in Wales and relatively few private schools.

lljkk-Thank you for the theology vs religious school criteria! That will help us make a more informed decision :)
And I am ok with being laughed at. Some things are worth that ;)

The other key thing to realise is the that all state schools will teach evolution (in fact any school which tries to fudge it even if private is likely to find itself in difficulties. Both the Catholic Church and C of E are totally in agreement with this.
Tolerance of other religions is a big thing, and even Catholic schools I know have members of other faiths on their entry criteria (as preferable to those of no faith).