Moving to Glasgow from NZ with 16yo

[Tinofcurses]

I posted something similar in Education, but someone suggested I might get more info here.

I have tons of questions...

We're planning on moving to Glasgow from NZ at the end of 2020. ds will be 16.5 by then. He will have completed year 11 in early Dec 2020, with 2 more years of school to go if we stayed here. I'm thinking he should probably go into S4 in January, and then carry on from there.

Does that sound right/possible? Will he be super old compared to the rest of his year? If so, does it matter? How does the secondary school system work anyway? I went to school in England about 500 years ago, and ds has only been in the NZ system so far, so I'm clueless.

Also, any thoughts about which parts of Glasgow to look at? We're looking for an inclusive, mixed, non-catholic school, and plenty of shops, cafes and places to walk a dog. Ideally fairly central, or at least with great public transport (no car).

We'll be renting initially, and then wanting to buy a 2 bed flat or house with a budget of around 200-220,000 (is this realistic? I have no idea).

Actually, another property related thing...Do flats for sale in Scotland have rules about pets? I know it can be difficult to find a place to rent with a dog, but is it generally ok if you buy? We will be bringing our dog, but she will stay with my parents at first if we can't find a rental property with her.

Sorry, I did warn you I have tons of questions!

Phew, ok. Totally doable to move in July/August then.

@WaxOnFeckOff I think you're probably right, moving earlier would be ideal. But I need to find a job and sell my house first, so it's not going to work. The house will sell pretty much immediately, but I want to spruce it up a bit first to try and make some money.

Also finishing in July is the end of a school term, which might be easier on ds

Our school move up to the next year group when the s6’s effectively “leave” and start their study leave. So May sometime?

Remember that Glasgow schools start back on Thursday 13 August in 2020 (2 days earlier for teachers).

They finish the current school year at 1pm on Wednesday 24 June (and attendance is pretty crap that week ds was always pissed off at me for insisting he still went )

If you do come and if you do end up in Shawlands, I can introduce you/your son to a number of rugby playing boys who are at Shawlands Academy and will be going into S5 in 2020 (currently doing their Nat 5 Prelims).

Ds used to coach that age group at the local rugby club (when they were in S1) and as he was himself very young (only just 16 himself - was only supposed to be the assistant coach but the "main" coach wasn't able to commit the time for a while for various good reasons ), I got very involved in providing support and getting to know the parents (who are a very nice group of people). So I still have a soft spot for the team

Remember that Glasgow schools start back on Thursday 13 August in 2020 (2 days earlier for teachers)

Outside Glasgow but ours go back on the Friday! Nuts.

@prettybird ds sadly has no interest in rugby! Not sure how how he managed to avoid it here.

I might take you up on your offer anyway. Maybe some of the rugby playing boys are also into magic the gathering, climbing and computer games

Not all of the boys still play rugby and I'm sure they have other interests

Ds was/is a real rugby geek - but his close circle of friends at school (who he still sees when he is back down) weren't and had a wide variety of interests (in fact, one who went off to study Computing Science at a good Uni after S5) and ds himself used to enjoy playing Halo (and probably other games but there were certain ones that were forbidden in the house ).

@tinofcurses there is a large and growing climbing community in Glasgow with three climbing walls, an ice wall and various youth, outdoor and adult climbing clubs. V friendly scene. I also think there is somewhere called the geek retreat where you can play Magic the G and other games so plenty for him here.

Shawlands does seem like a good fit. It might be worth looking at West End as well though I agree you will get a smaller flat for your budget. Hillhead High might be worth speaking to. They do 2 year pathway to nationals/highers (only school that does in Glasgow) so they seem to have some kids that do nationals at S5 and then Highers in S6. I wonder if your son could sit highers at s6 and then take a year out before starting uni?

A couple of vegan options Stereo in town and The 78 in Finneston in the West End. There are others but I havent tried them. Plenty of places to get good coffee in Glasgow, and there are some growing local coffee roasters who supply lots of smaller coffee shops including Dear Green, Ovenbird and Artisan roast. West End has a good few second hand bookshops. The Oxfam bookshop on Byres Road is particularly good. There is a mini book sellers festival on Byres Road in September and Glasgow has the annual Aye Write literary festival. And others have mentioned climbing above. There is a climbing centre in Cessnock which seems to be popular. So lots of boxes ticked there.

I've lived here for 10 years and in the last few years I've felt there has been a boost in terms of cultural and leisure activities and a bit of a buzz about the city. There is also some significant regeneration going on with Sauchiehall st being revamped and the huge new Barclays site in Tradeston. Byres Road is also due to be upgraded. A good time to move here I think.

Change of plan - we're now moving in May this year! Which is very soon and I am super stressed! But excited.

If Shawlands Academy doesn't have space in S4 for the 2020/21 year, what are the other schools in that area like? Any to avoid?

Good news. Some people aren't so keen on Rosshall or Bellahouston but I know kids who've done well at both.

Give the school a call and they should be able to give an idea although they won't be able to do anything formally until you have a catchment address.

Shawlands has a new headteacher who starts tomorrow. Ann Grant, who has retired after 12 years there, is going to be missed but leaves behind a strong senior management team.

The school can also advise as to the best year for him to go into - they have lots of experience of kids coming from abroad.

Thanks for all your help prettybird

I emailed Ann a couple of weeks ago and she passed me on to Jan McCauley. I'll get in touch again now we have a date, and find out whether there's likely to be space, and which year they would recommend ds joins.

As ds will only have done one term of year 11 before we leave, going straight into Highers would be a massive stretch. Especially at the same time as trying to make new friends and get used to a new city/country.

I have a thousand things to do in the next couple of months! I think moving earlier is definitely going to be easier long term though. We moved back to the UK when I was 17/18 and I found it MUCH more difficult than my 18 months younger sister did.

Jan McCauley is good and I'm sure will be helpful.

Good luck

Some of the posts on here 🤣🤣🤣

OP your budget is excellent for the west of Scotland. You'll get a decent 3 bed in a nice area in the Glasgow and clyde area. I live further west than Glasgow and for that you could get a 4 bed new build.

If your dc is coming over having sat no exams then S4 would be most sensible. I'm sure what hes already studied will be transferable in some way and he will get plenty of support.

It will be no bother! You're moving to scotland not the third world!

A bit of an update.

We've booked flights and I'm in the process of putting my house on the market. Arriving in Scotland on 29 April, and planning on heading to Glasgow on about 4 May.

I reckon that should give us enough time to get school enrollment sorted before the year starts.

Now to find a job...

All the best!

Once you're up here, if you want to meet up for coffee, PM me. Although end May/early June I'm probably going to be in the Antipodes!

Good luck! Keep posting if you need help with anything!

Passed this today on way to work appointment. It's a complete bargain for the area.

I know these flats too @ineedto - really central although don't increase as much in value as the traditional tenements.

That flat is beautiful, and I know I should talk myself into considering something like that (it'd be definitely be a lot easier to heat than a tenement flat) but I really love the traditional old buildings. Much bigger rooms (apart from the tiny tiny bathrooms) and so much character.

SIL says that there may be Admin/Business Manager roles being recruited for in Glasgow schools, if that's of interest to you. (Having taken them away from the schools a number of years ago, the Council is now putting about half of them back into the schools as they realised that it wasn't cost-effective to have the SMT doing admin type roles! )

S4 is 15 year olds, generally.

Clarkston is nice but expensive. Really any nice parts are more expensive.

Lived in Glasgow all my life and hate it. Sorry. I actually used to dream of moving to NZ, ironically, lol.

At the moment I'm only applying for absolutely perfect amazing jobs (because applications take forever and I have a million other things to do), but in about March-April I'll have to start widening my search. I'd actually love to work in a school. Would they be full-time jobs, do you know? Or just term time?

SIL says mostly term time but the secondary schools will also be looking for 52 weeks. There will be a range.