welshgirl67

Hi... Id love to hear of anyone who have made the trip across the canada and moved back to uk after some reason or another.. Since being back in the UK we realised how much the country is in such a mess!!! But its not until you look back on what you had and realise it wasnt all that bad. We lived in calgary for nearly 4 years. The winters were brutal and we all missed the coast so much.... lived near the coast all my life in swansea. Our children age 16 and 13 miss certain things about canada but most of all the good schools. Cant beleive that the uk schools wont put our daughter into the year she came out of. Yr 10 but should be in yr 11. After 4 months of struggle we have decided tomove across to nova scotia. This was our first choice but at the time no job for hubby. Id love to hear from anyone who has settled in halifax and any other help would be so grateful. My husband want to join the police force but no jobs right now. look forward to any replies.

jericho

We moved from Edmonton to Halifax in July. Feel free to send me a PM.
Good luck!

canbritdenise

Can you give us more ideas on how the UK is in such a mess. went home at Christmas and loved it, now think that it could be for us again.

MarylandNed

I'm sure many people have had lovely trips back to the UK for Christmas. I know I have. However, that isn't exactly indicative of what it would be like to live there full-time. It's the same concept as emigrating to Canada after a nice holiday there - it's not the same thing.

welshgirl67

Hi There.. We have been in uk now since sept 29th 2011. We feel that the state of the economy will have a bad affect on our childrens future.. now 16 and 13. In canada kids dont leave school till age 18 and i think this is a great thing. The longer they stay in school the better i say. Our daughter was put in a year below... our choice because we felt it would benfit them... which it has. Since returning no school will place ourdaughter into the yr she has just come out of... bad mistake because she will not hav the chance to sit her gcse because she woulnt of done any course work.. When you look back and realise what you had things dont look so bad.. We feel everyone seems glum here wiht unemployment soaring and crime on the increase. My husband is a police officer and realise the problems of antisocial and just larger louts on a whole. We have realised that uk has a glum future especially with this goverment and the stateof nhs.Ive had an eye opener and realise why people thought we were nuts to return back. We are looking to move back to canada but nova scotia our first choice. ID really think twice before you leap. We never had the chance to return for a trip so this is our first time back in nearly 4 years. hope this helps but as i say... nothing is what it is until you actually have a feel for any place thats only when you know if you have made the right choice... Never say never thats my moto in life!!!

gillyd65

Could it be the issue with the UK schools is that your daughter needs to start her GCSE courses from the beginning and not half way through and that's why they have put her into year 10. What she has done in Canada will not transfer and therefore won't enable her to successfully complete her GCSE's.

MarylandNed

We were in a similar situation. We lived in Canada for 7 years and moved back to the UK (suburban London) with 2 small daughters (pre-school age). We had a son while there and after 2 years it looked like we might actually settle in the UK for good. However, there was much about Canada (or maybe more generally North America) that we missed - especially as the kids got older. For example, it became apparent that we were going to have a struggle getting our daughter into a decent school where we lived in the UK. That and some other things that we hadn't really noticed before (because we hadn't been parents in the UK before) really started to bother us. For example, I remember taking our 2 girls to what appeared to be a nice playground. However, it was full of litter, broken glass and dog crap and we had to leave - and that was by no means an isolated incident. Also a lack of green space and recreational activities meant the playgrounds were often occupied by drinking/swearing chavs - not a good place to bring young kids to play.

In the end we realized that North America was where we wanted to raise our kids. Canada was our first choice but the first job opportunities I heard about were in the US. After a phone interview, I accepted a job in Maryland we moved here 14 years ago - it was the first time we'd ever set foot in the place. Since then we've had nice trips back to the UK - but we had those before our move back there too so nice trips are not indicative of what it's like to live there.

Almost Canadian

Why do you think you will be able to cope with the winters any better on the east coast? I appreciate it may not get as cold as it does in Alberta but cold is cold. You don't appear to be the type of family to embrace the winter. Does it really matter if the outside temperature is minus 10 or 20, if you are indoors?

welshgirl67

No... We put her back a year when we moved to canada not the other way.
It makes sense to put a child backif it means they can catch up on the work. Not in the uk TO MUCH RED TAPE AS FAR AS IM CONCERNED. Its pathetic why would want tkids to leave school without exams. Look at the state of the unemployment its laughable.

gillyd65

It all depends on where you live in any country. Canada has its problems and its own kind of 'lager louts' 'chavs' etc. I hope you finally become settle in NS and its all you want for you and your family. Good luck.

gillyd65

My hometown has an unemployment rate of 4.3% where we are now has an unemployment rate touching 10%

welshgirl67

Its nothing to do with us not being a family to embrace the winter.... not everyone loves skiing and dont have the money to do it. winters are long in alberta nov - sometimes june not a lot to do for 6 months other than snow sports.. Novs scotia is slightly better.

Gabgoeshome

The UK will be keeping kids in school till 18 also.

They are gradually instigating that plan...

gillyd65

Apologies I must have misread your explanation thought you said Year 10 and should be Year 11? Also you will find that your 13 year old will have had to stay in education or training until 18 in the UK anyway.

welshgirl67

Schooling here is not as easy going as far as yr groups etc. In canada they do on ability not yr groups and thats what it should be like. Each child is different in progress etc. Ive seen it for myself her and still after 4 months i cant get our kids into school because of it.