Moving to England - help with location and schools

[Soph074]

We are relocating to England from Australia with no work and no set location. We intend to arrive in Jan 2018 (mid term break). My DH has a right of abode and can work in the UK. We have two girls, 8 (will be going into Year 4) and 12 (will be going into Year 8).
Initially planned on living in London (Kingston, Richmond or Greenwich) but have heard its difficult to get into good schools and many schools can be quite 'rough'.
Looking for advice on locations to live with a young family and schools that not only provide a good education but all round care for children (wellbeing and support to transition from Aust). I understand it's going to be difficult arriving after the school year has commenced...feeling a little lost with it all, and worried girls will struggle.

Gosh! This is pretty open-ended. I think that you need to narrow down where your DH is likely to work, and then decide where to live, schools etc.

Do you have family or ties to a particular area of the country? In which case you might want to move there.

Are you looking at state schools or private? Some areas of the country are much more used to having children from other countries/cultures join mid year, others are not. I live near Cambridge where there are a large number of families arriving to work in the University or hospital from overseas and the local schools are quite used to it, but I grew up in an area where that was really uncommon.

What is your budget likely to be? Kingston and Richmond are very expensive by UK standards.

If you give some more info them people will be able to suggest areas to you.

How much savings do you have to keep you going when you arrive?

There is no such thing as an undersubscribed excellent state schools in an area with plentiful well-paid jobs and affordable housing. Something has to give.

You can move to an area with a short term rental contract, apply for state school places - you may get places in schools some distance away so you may want to move to reduce the children's commute.

You can stay on waiting lists for other schools if you aren't satisfied with what you get, in which case moving as close as possible to the school you want is the best strategy - though it may be more than a year before a place is available.

Or you can home educate until one of you gets a job that is high-earning enough to afford private school fees.

Thank you for your thoughts. Sorry for being so vague and open.

We are looking to rent, budget approx £2000 per month.
Understand it will be difficult getting into a good state school particularly in Jan.
Possibility of DH getting work in Victoria. DH has family in Enfield though I haven't travelled there.
Thank you for providing some alternative strategies. We may need to look at the option of private schools where fees are affordable.
Thank you.

It is not only that January will be mid academic year but also that those ages are not typical entry points . For state schools you are relying on a place being available in the right year group in a local school, which may well not be one you would choose. You could enquire about private schools - perhaps gdst schools as there are several in South London - although they tend to cost far more than in Australia.

Soph, maybe think about it from another point of view. So what are you and your family like? Where are you going to feel happy living? e.g.: if you're left leaning and liberal, think about Hackney. Lots of Aussies move in there. For £2,000 a month, you can rent a nice 2 or 3 (at a stretch) bed. The schools are good (both primary and secondary). Lots of lovely parks and good commuter links. If on the other hand you feel a bit terrified by the mixed vibe of Hackney, you probably need to go west. Think of Ealing for example. Basically what are you and your family like? Work out where you'd feel happy, check if you can afford a place to live (search on Rightmove.com), then ask us about schools. Someone will know how much movement there is in that borough and what your chances are of getting your kids in.

It must be stressful trying to work it all out. Good luck!

There is plenty of different private schools around the area but also there are some great standard academy or local authority schools around Richmond and Kingston and the in between bits in Teddington, Sheen, Twickenham, Hampton. Have a look at the ofsted website and there should be a bit on there with a parents view of the school. I went to school in Twickenham and teddington and can't say that it was too 'rough', its a beautiful area to live in with the river and multiple royal parks to explore

Traala you've been amazing, thank you. I'm equally excited and terrified about the move. Really appreciate your kindness.
I will look into the areas you've mentioned. We will take that trip in Oct, visit areas and schools and get a feel for what will work for our family. Thank you.

If you have no work and no set location, it would make a lot more sense to settle anywhere in the country except London, which is considerably more expensive that the rest of the Country.

Unless the jobs you will be looking for can only be done in London, you can get so much more for your money anywhere else.

Thanks Backforgood. DH has just spoken with his previous employer who is based near Victoria station London. There may be employment opportunities there. We would be happy to commute into London, probably no more than an hour each way. I will look at places in London but also villages that are on the rail link into Victoria station. Thank you.

To be honest £2,000 a month for a family home in London isn't much. I presume, given the ages of your girls, they'd each want their own room so you're looking at a minimum of 3 beds. Start looking on Rightmove in zones 3+ or even outside of London. The houses in Aus are big and you'll get a shock at how tiny the houses are here.

Thanks Millsbynight and suggesting Rightmove, it's a great site. You're right, houses in Aust are huge! Sounds strange but we are looking forward to simplifying our lives and living in a smaller home. Thinking I will still get a shock when we arrive in the UK :-)

I suspect private schools will be way too expensive - in the south east the fees are usually around £18000 a year per child at secondary level (slightly less for primary).

How well do you know the UK? If you're looking to have a simpler life I'm not sure that living and working in or near London is going to be quite what you have in mind ...

Thanks. Sorry what I meant by simplifying our lives is removing all the "stuff"...ie things we accumulate and living with less. We are your typical middle class Aussie family, big home etc...and we really do have lots of "stuff" we don't need. In London, we won't necessarily have a car or loads of living space and our family will need to learn to live with much less in order to have the experience of living in another country. I don't imagine life will be easier in the UK.

so is your monthly budget £2000 for everything, or is that just for rent?

You might be underestimating the cost of living in London, also the size of London.

Commuting an hour from a location in Victoria might not take you OUTSIDE of London either, depending on the exact location of the job in relation to Victoria station.

For example, I live in South London, and commute for over an hour to get to another part of South London.

Does it have to be London or would you consider other cities?
You can certainly get affordable housing with good state schools in nice areas in The North but I suppose employment opportunities may not be as good

A HUGE warning to you, Victoria station is served by Southern Rail

DO NOT consider living along a Southern Rail route, and relying on Southern Rail. The strikes and disputes and disruption to Southern Rail services have been ongoing for year and show no sign of abating.

To the extent that friends of mine have uprooted all their children from school to move onto a different train line.

there is disruption more days than there isn't disruption, and it is not unusual to find signs hung outside Southern Rail stations with things like

"Disruption to continue indefinitely" etc on it.

Victoria station is also served by South Eastern trains, however, if you are living outside of London, the travel will cost you over £300 a month

sorry, that should say disruption has been ongoing for YEARS, not "year". If only it was only a year of disruption!

realistically, I think you need to find your jobs FIRST, then base your budget and home choices on your income and location.

Thank you. Good to know about Southern Rail. Sounds frustrating for those living along the rail line!
We are budgeting approx £2000 per month just for rent. Would definitely consider alternative cities to London. Any thoughts on Nottingham? Hoping our time in England in Oct will give us the opportunity to explore London and surrounds. Really appreciate all the comments and advice.

If you are planning on moving to London you need to factor in the cost of commuting. Depending on where you settle, for a 1 hour commute you can be looking at anything from £1.5-8k a year in just travel costs (each) On the tube/train

I'd look at going out into Hertfordshire, maybe somewhere like Hitchin which is a lovely town with a 38 minute train ride into Kings Cross which is a great station and brilliantly connected to all parts of london and over 100 trains a day. You'd get a nice house, good schools and a town with plenty of nice shops, cafes and restaurants as well as plenty of families. You could also commute into Cambridge from there by car.

If you want Victoria, you could also look at places on South West trains (change at Clapham Junction).

You could even go as far as Milton Keynes (Overground tomCJ, then train or bus to Victoria)

It would be crazy to commute from Nottingham daily! You may also want to look into the cost of commuting. London Underground is pretty reliable, and there will soon be Crossrail, so don't be fixated on direct trains into Victoria. If you still wanted to, though, you could look at the lines into Kent or areas of Surrey such as Dorking, Leatherhead or even Woking which have a range of housing prices.