moving to Stirling from abroad

[SheMadeMeMum]

Dear all hello :)
I am a Greek mum of a 2Y old girl. We are thinking to migrate to Stirling during 2023. We've been looking for, maybe, Falkirk town as well.
I would appreciate your guidance due to personal/living experience there.
Are there any centres/services for billingual kids in Stirling, if we might need help if she confuses the two languages? Is the school system supportive to kids coming form abroad knowing another native language?
I've read though, during my search that the racism level is really low at wonderful Scotland and most people are worm welcoming.
Which area in Stirling it might be better to rent a house and have a good school near?
Me and my husband will work at any job to be able to cope, our main concern is for our little one to have the easiest transition.
Thank you in advance for any experience/guidance/advise shared. :)

Hi 👋🏻, I am a teacher and mum of 4 DDs who lives and works in Stirling. My daughters have finished school (recently) but as a teacher I am still well informed.

Stirling is a great place to bring up a family and I hope you will be happy here.

EAL (English as an Additional Language) support is available through a team of out reach staff. So there won't be a specialist based in your child's school but they will have contact with one. Schools are used to this and there are systems in place. I don't know about bilingual services outside of school, sorry.

Your budget, jobs, childcare and transport requirements will all impact on where you might want to live. Can you give us a bit more to go on so we can help?

Hello! Thank you for your answer! Your words are reassuring enough for our concerns. She is pretty fluent in Greek alrady, and we worry that moving there might inhibit the development of the child or confuse it. Searching for outside scool billingual services is what i will focus on, then.
I am searching in some job sites already to get a picture of salaries etc. I have a degeree in Librarianship, but work experience mostly in customer care services and my husband is a waiter.
Thinking i might search for a home based job at first for myself, as i would not have some caretaker for the child.
Our budget is low, we''ll get there with around 8.000 pounds only as back up. Life here (Greece) is harsh, does not allow us to save more unfortunatelly. So we will start there very waveringly, concerning our spendings.
I guess we might need to work, especially my husband, in some bigger city. But if possible we'd like to have our base in Stirling.

Γεια

I am Scottish living in Scotland but have Greek family members who moved here when their child was 4.

Please don’t worry, your Dd will be fine. At her age she will pick up English very quickly in nursery . She will get a free place - more information here :

www.parentclub.scot/topics/play-learn/early-years-childcare?age=3

There are many children in Scotland from whom English is a second language so she won’t be the odd one out, where ever you live. It doesn’t matter if she confuses Languages at first - that’s normal and just a phase. But as long as you only speak to her in Greek ( I’m assuming you are Greek ) then she will continue to be fluent.

She might even start speaking to you in English at home and refuse to speak Greek. But as long as you still talk to her in Greek and don’t get angry when she replies in English her she will be fine. Soon she will be thinking in both languages and will switch between them easily.

I don’t think there is a big Greek community in Stirling, there’s more Greek people in Glasgow and Edinburg because they are big cities. There is Greek ( Saturday ) school in Glasgow but usually kids get fed up going after a while and refuse. They want to have Saturday off like all their friends.

So if you are going to keep up her reading and writing in Greek you will probably have to do it at home.

For your husband - work here in hospitality is very insecure and even more so after the pandemic . He may find a better choice of jobs in a bigger city. Unless you know someone in Stirling who will give him a job.

It would be hard to work shifts in Glasgow or Edinburgh and then drive back to Stirling at 10 or 11 at night .

I think there is a Greek family in Stirling that have primary age children who run the Mediterranea restaurant in Stirling. Google it and drop them a line? I think the mum is called Maria.

Also , thinking of job opportunities in hospitality Gleneagles is not far (runs a shuttle bus for staff) and neither is Crieff Hydro . Both have been in the press recently regarding their struggle to recruit. So, there's not that much in Stirling but lots nearby.