Dulwich residence areas or NW London around ASL - the cheaper retals

[pandith]

Hi moms

Considering moving to NW London or dulwich in SW London. Which area has nicer village feels nd green . Have offers for my DS from schools in these areas . Which areas in NW are more reasonable around 10 minutes the American school in London, are there any? We are looking at a 2000 to 2500 sq foot semi detached house. Is dulwich cheaper in rentals compared to areas in around ASL. Pls advice

Hi BLU, you got the school bang on, that's the school i was talking about. The toss was between this school (dcps) and ASL. He has been in an american curriculum all this while, so absulolutely confused on whether to give the English curriculum and put hkm in DCPS and try it. And advice thru friends with personal experience ? As we are not able to visit the schools, which would have actually given us a clearer picture

Yes Nigella, u can imagine how confusing it is for an outsider :)

pandith. You won't get anywhere near 2000-2500 sqft in Queens Park. The reason I know that is because I am paying £4,300 per month for a house in one of the best streets in queens park and it gets me 1700 sqft.

Whilst sizeable your rental budget won't get loads of space in the more central desirable areas I'm afraid. Either compromise on space or look for a bigger house in the likes of finchley, Golders green, brondesbury, Willesden, which are still shortish driving distance to the American school

As someone who switched from American to British curriculum as a child, I highly suggest not doing so, unless you plan to continue through the UK system for higher education. I've been through the American, British and Australian school systems, and only thankful I didn't through IB like my poor siblings....

It's not undo-able, but it's pain to catch up on what you've missed.

Dulwich is nice, the other half works there.

Thx apatite1, do u say it because both are at different academic levels? Can you let me know the main difference between both the systems, since you have experienced both? My toss is between ASL and Dulwich prep . dC has a seat in both ... Hence the trauma of deciding...

Thx Bambi 75 for your advice.,

Hi pandith, the curriculum will be broadly similar but not exact. For example, things will be taught in a different order, different foreign languages may be compulsory eg I went from Spanish to French and was two years behind everyone else. I was well ahead of my year in maths. The history taught in the American school was unsurprisingly more about American history, my British school focused on WW2 a lot. It's more difficult if your kids are older, and gearing towards national examinations.

International baccalaureate is very rigorous I'm told, I didn't have to do it and did A levels instead. Keep in mind where you want your kids to go to university and the short listing/points system will differ eg Australian Unis didn't understand a levels very well....

Tbh if you're kids are very young, and you will only be here a short while, either system will do. I switched to uk in high school (having already switched American to Australian in middle school) and I had to claw my way back to the top of the class (I needed top marks for med school). It was er, character building to say the least!

Dear apatite1, kind of you to share that info, my son will be getting in year 6 from being in an american system till then. Applying to senior schools in year 7 AT&T 11 plus will def be a challenge as he will have is assesment in jam 2015. That gives him 4 months to prepare and I personally know it is difficult to say the least. The next option is put him in a perp school till 13 plus and then apply. Do you consider year 6 to shift to English cur a challenge