Hi all

Planning to move to Abu Dhabi in September with my husband and our 15 year old daughter. I was wondering if there are any kids forums that my daughter could join. She is a little anxious about the move and not knowing anyone, I thought this would be a great way to possibly make new friends before we arrive in September. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

I can't help you with kids forums but we have moved quite a lot. Have you reached out to the the school your daughter will go to? Often the parents association will organise contacts/connections for incoming students. We have always found that these help with the anxiety of moving and first days!! Good luck with your move.

Many thanks for your comment. We haven’t chosen a school as of yet as we haven’t decided on the area in Abu Dhabi we intend to live, Al Reem is a contender though. The first 3 months will be choosing an area and also a local school. Our daughter will be home schooled with tutors until 2nd January 2025.

Ah right...Good luck. Just another suggestion then. If she has any particular sport or activity that she does/would like to do, perhaps you could see if there are any options for her to do them in the meantime. Might help/stop any build up of anxiety.

Hi , we are about the make the move to Abu Dhabi with a 16 year old and 11, can I ask how it went? Where did you settle in the end? Also what school did you choose? My daughter is also feeling nervous, we moved from uk to cyprus , now looking at Abu Dhabi from cyprus as the rules here after brexit has made it very difficult .

thanks for any advice

Nadia

Once you've identified it, an international school will be a huge help.

Two months ago we moved temporarily to Dubai before we move on to Riyadh later in the year. The kids are in a British school here (eldest is 12) and the school was epic at welcoming them in, ensuring they're in friend circles, buddies, social activities..etc. These schools are made for people coming in and out and they seem to do an excellent job of managing the transition. All 3 of them came home super happy and excited on day 1. By the end of the first week they had "best" friends, social circles, picked for sports teams and were being invited to birthday parties.

And my kids are not the most social or outgoing at all, the school was just did a great job. It actually creates kinder children too. There are always new kids joining and my kids will tell me what they're doing to help settle them in.

EDIT: Just realised the original post is and old one