Moving home with my English family

[Sushijackiechan]

Hi Scotsnetters

Looking for some advice or experiences of relocating to Scotland.

I grew up in Glasgow, moved away when I was early 20s and lived in a variety of places before finally settling in London. DH is from n England.

We never planned to stay in London but have been here years now. We have two primary aged ds. Recently we had a few weeks touring around Scotland and I'm really wanting to move home now.

DH has never been keen on staying in the SE and has agreed to consider a move north of the border. However it's a big upheaval for us all. Need to find jobs, consider best place to go etc. I still have friends and a few distant relatives in Glasgow area, but I realise we would be pretty much starting from scratch.

How do we make a start with this? Would want to be near Glasgow, somewhere with good schools, where my kids English accents won't be a big problem for them.

I work in secondary education, DH in social services. I guess first thing would be to register to teach in Scotland and find work.

Has anyone else made this move? What other things do we need to Consider? Any advice welcome!!

The discussion on schools will be interesting

Everyone will tell you you need to move to East Ren or East Dunbartonshire to have access to the "good" schools. But there are good schools in Glasgow like Shawlands Academy and Hyndland Academy.

I'd say that ds has got a better foundation at Shawlands than the kids of friends of mine who went to Bearsden Academy (and I say that as someone who was brought up in Bearsden/Milngavie and went to Bearsden Academy ). He's off to Aberdeen a week on Saturday/Sunday ( eeeeek!!!! ) to study PIR.

Shawlands Academy is also apparently (according to the British Council) the most international state school in the UK, with 55 languages spoken amongst its pupils

Don't think the English accent would be a particular issue. Have quite a few "English" kids at the local rugby club and they've all made the transition happily (iirc, most of them are at Shawlands)

The CBBC programme on at the moment called (I think) "Our School" was filmed last year and one of the boys it focussed in is an English S1 who has just moved up. You might find it interesting to watch.

When are your dcs birthdays? That can cause issues when changing between the education systems as we have different cut off dates.

East Dunbartonshire is a good area to live. Bearsden/Milngavie (the towns blend into each other) is in a great location, with great schools and amenities. REALLY expensive to find a decent house there though.

Bishopbriggs is also great, and houses are a bit cheaper.

I’m less of a fan of Newton Mearns, but it also has good schools and plenty of houses. Location not as good though.

I can’t imagine the English accents would be a big deal. I know plenty of English people up here and they don’t seem to have any problems. You’ll find bigoted arseholes anywhere in the world, but they’re rare.

Thanks for your replies. That's really helpful.

I do like Milngavie but DH now saying he wants to be near the sea or a loch...

Shawlands school sounds great though, similar to the school my kids go to now, multicultural lots of kids from everywhere. Where do you have to be living to get in there?

Can you get to the west end easily, only because its familiar, I'm sure there's loads of parts of Glasgow that have changed since I lived there so I'm very open to any new ideas.

Also we haven't got £££. Our house here is a small 3 bed and we were hoping to get 4 beds. I'm aware prices are rising there but falling here. Eek!,

Thinking of areas outside Glasgow too. Balloch? Helensburgh, Largs?

Oh both dc Summer born.

I’m in Bearsden.

We’re less than 30 minutes from Loch Lomond. It’s great in the summer as there are some nice beaches on the east coast of the Loch. My kids love it

Drive from Bearsden to west end is about 20 minutes or so.

Shawlands has good railway services into Central - and Pollokshields also has the subway.

You will probably need to be in catchment though to get into Shawlands (we're in Pollokshields and ds went to Glendale Primary School which is brilliant but we had to make a placing request to get him into Shawlands) as it is now pretty much at capacity.

If your dcs are summer born, they will go from being the youngest in the year to the older ones in their year. So Y2=P2 etc (September through to February birthdays are more complicated ) (NB: No reception year)

Not sure about Balloch - unless you can be sure to be in the catchment for Balfron High. Helensburgh is an option. Also have a think about places like Houston or Lochwinnoch. There are some nice bits of Paisley too (don't ask me where though - as I don't know it well enough)

If you give us an idea of your budget, we can have a look at possibilities.

Prestwick/Troon might be an option too if you're wanting access to the sea. Reasonable train services to Central.

We're in East Dunbartonshire and there are plenty of kids in schools round this way with English accents. Not an issue at all.

I think our budget will be hopefully up to around £350k. If we can sell our place. The market here has ground to a halt!

I know in Glasgow houses go for way above asking prices so it's harder to for us work out a definate number.. . We will also have to factor in moving costs, possible gap in employment etc...

Balfron is an idea. Is the school there good?
Troon too, never thought of there. Thanks. is that commutable to Glasgow?

I think I'm more open to travelling for up to an hour to get into Glasgow as that's what we have to do here. That could change when we move there though! Also depends where we can find work! So much to think about!

Paddy I forgot about the Loch! Bearsden is lovely just not sure our budget will stretch.

Thanks Polkerrus that's reassuring. They're used to my accent which I've never lost really so they'd lose their cockney quickly I think!

I will also look at Pollokshields area. I don't know the south side at all!

Balfron High has a very good reputation. But I think prices might be high because it is an attractive location commutable to Glasgow (I recall we spent 2 years looking in Bearsden/Milngavie/Strathblane/Killearn/Drymen/Balfron - and even as far out as Aberfoyle, to be close to my parents and dh's golf club before giving up and looking Sourthside and finding our current 4 bed house a conversion in Pollokshields in the first night of looking we were living in a flat in Shawlands at the time )

Troon is commutable to Glasgow: the M77 has made a big difference but personally I'd use the train rather than the car. I commuted for 18 months down to Ayr before the motorway as built - but that was going against the flow of traffic, which has got a lot heavier (the top bit of the M77 is now a nightmare at rush hour and even at 4pm I have to remember to avoid it)

What subject do you teach?

If your qualifications were obtained in England, check what admin/registration requirements there are for teaching in Scotland. None, perhaps but the Education systems are separate so best checked. Occasionally I detect a coldness at the sound of my southern English tones but I have lived in Scotland for many years without incident. Northerners tend not to experience the same.

I didn't either until I met dh

He keeps telling me I'm not a true Glaswegian as I was brought up outside the city boundary in Bearsden/Milngavie

Helensburgh is def commutable - 42 mins into Queen Street. Good schools and a community feel with hills and lochs on our doorstep. It’s probably the most English of all the areas of in Scotland due to the v high naval presence. They’re well used to pupils transferring up from English schools

And house prices out this way are considerably more reasonable than the best areas in Glasgow. Less than £350 will get you houses like this

East Clyde Street, Helensburgh
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74250203.html

Oh thanks Snookie🙂 I like the look and sound of Helensburgh. Ticks lots of boxes. I remember going there on the train as a child for ice cream and a swim in the pool! What are schools like there? Is it a good train service?

I've just fallen in love with a house on Rightmove we can't afford, in Pollokshields. There are some very expensive houses there.

This is great. Lots of good ideas. Thank you!

Fading I teach Fine art.

I can't search properly on my phone so will have to wait until I can get on my laptop.

To be in Shawlands' catchment, you'd need to be on the South side of Nithsdale Road. Other places to search are Newlands, Cathcart (I think most of it is in Shawlands' catchment), Battlefield, Strathbungo and Crossmyloof.

What was your degree in and what did you do your teaching qualification in? As I understand it, Scotland's teacher registration system is stricter about the subjects that you can actually teach. I've got no idea if Arts teachers are in demand though.

I'll not tell you what we bought our 4 bed upper conversion (Victorian stone villa) with a large garden for back in 1999 - it would just upset you!

But a friend of ours bought a very similar, but smaller (both its width and depth plus it didn't have the attic converted, so only 2 beds although the dining room could be made a bedroom) upper conversion along the road for £330k 2.5 years ago.

But there are also new buildings going up eg in Cathcart.

I grew up in Pollokshields and my mum still lives there but I’d be concerned about moving there as it’s in the secondary catchment for Bellshouston and not Shawlands. I ideally wouldn’t want to be dependent on a placing request to get them into a school. Have a look at Waverley park area of Shawlands which has some lovely houses and us in catchment.

For Helensburgh, the commute is good and goes through Partick and Hyndland which are handy for trips to the west end. Schools are good. 3 primaries of which Hermitage is perceived to be the best. The secondary is a Hermitage Academy which is a good school with a mixed catchment of Helensburgh and the surrounding villages. There are lots of Pollokshields type conversions in West Helensburgh so you can get the high ceilings and original features.

Snookie - that's why I said the South side of Nithsdale Road as I know that's in the catchment of Shawlands Academy The Avenues and the area around Maxwell Park are in Shawlands' catchment. I agree that Waverley Park is a good shout - and High Shawlands.

You're right that you can't rely on placing requests any more (I think up until this year Shawlands had been able to accept all placing requests but now it really is at capacity). Our neighbour's ds1 is at also Shawlands on a placing request, but there's no guarantee his brother (in P7) will get in next year

I agree that Helensburgh would tick many boxes (especially the proximity to the sea ). I don't know it well enough to know which areas to avoid - but the bits I've seen (mostly on the way to the rugby club ) look nice.

There is also a wierd bit of Pollokshields (very close to Bellahouston Academy) which has a dual catchment: a choice between Bellahouston or Shawlands just to complicate things further

I suggest getting the registration process started with the GTCS as soon as possible. It can be straightforward (but lots of paperwork required, e.g. degree and teacher training transcripts) but may be complicated by degree subject as a PP mentioned. Registration in a subject depends entirely on credits in that subject at degree level and any teaching experience is disregarded. In addition, teacher training qualification must have an academic element so school based routes may not be allowed (rules have changed slightly since I registered with my PGCE from England).

My DH is from the SE and I dragged him home from London with me. He refuses to move to Ayrshire, despite being from a seaside town, because he finds it too parochial.

All the other suggestions from pp are places we considered and he would be happy with. Been home almost 20 years now and never regretted it. So much better quality of life.

May be easier to get your DH a job in Social Services first before sorting out your teaching recognition.