merciacanuk

explain that to my daughter who after living in the Uk for 4 years with a brit passport has been labelled an overseas student by reading university which means her fees double to 12000 pounds. Also I experienced the healthcare situation hands on in march when i was charged 50 pounds cash to see a GP. So it seems that you are not such a "know all".

rculater

Irrelevant, but where in Dutchess County are you ?

cluedweasel

From http://www.reading.ac.uk/Study/fees/...finition.aspx;

"you must also be ordinarily resident in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the full 3-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course."

Seems in line with what one of the previous posters said.

grifforama

This must be wrong. You would never be charged to see a GP.

grifforama

We are in a small village called Tivoli.

sigmapaul

I just moved back to the UK after more than 30 years in the US. I filled out the paperwork to register with a GP, all I needed was to show my British passport. Later that afternoon I saw the doctor, he did an examination, ordered blood tests, and wrote my prescriptions. All for zero cost. Since I just turned 60 my prescriptions are all at no charge.

Some things here are going to take a while to get used to, on the other hand some things are good, like medical care. So in my opinion "stinks" is a little strong.

christmasoompa

Your daughter needs to challenge that then, as she's been charged wrongly. If she can prove she's been resident in the UK for the four previous years then it should be fairly simple to sort.

And the £50 you were charged, you live in the UK full-time? Or were you just visiting from Canada? If the latter, then you were charged correctly as only those that live in the UK permanently get free NHS care.

Maggiepie

To go back to the OP and his concerns about his children's education level v English school system. There is a very good reading programme that most of the UK schools follow. This would be a good starting point to make sure your children are at the correct reading level for their age. You can buy the books on line.

http://www.oxfordreadingtree.com/chart/

Also, a really great book for understanding maths teaching in the UK is:

Maths for mums and dads by Rob Eastaway and Mike Askew ISBN 978-0-224-08635-6

Good luck

Maggie

morrisjo

Your situation sounds extremely familiar. We moved out to NYC 7 years ago (still in our late 20’s) with no kids and had an absolute blast for the first 3 years. Then pop, along came a couple of kids – now 3.5 and 1. We never had any firm plans although we’d always had it in the back of our minds to return to Scotland. We live in Hoboken which was a very deliberate move to keep my commute to a minimum but it becomes a very expensive place to buy an apartment/house for a growing family.

Life out here for the most part is great and we live in a very nice place but we’re at a crossroads now where we want to do a few things including buying a house and settling somewhere so that the kids can have a stable upbringing. A lot of our expat friends were in the same situation and opted for life in the NY/NJ suburbs. You can get a beautiful old Victorian house with a big garden and a very nice life. The problem is, I cannot imagine living like that for the next x amount of years (has anyone seen Revolutionary Road!)

Some of the main drivers of us moving back are;
- We want to be closer to family so that our kids can grow up having a relationship with their grandparents, uncles and families
- Our ageing parents and not spending enough time with them or being able to help when the time comes (not that there is anything imminent but you never know)
- We spend a huge amount of money and most of our vacation time visiting family each year (my wife is from another European country so we end up having to do both)
- We want to be closer to our old friends who have also had a lot of children in the last few years
- Buy a house and settle in a nice place to bring a family up (I come from the North East of Scotland which is actually a very nice place to bring up kids)
- We don’t want to spend our entire life enslaved to saving hundreds of thousands of $ for the kids education. They guy that sits beside me at work is currently shelling out $110K/year to pay for his 3 kids education (2 in Uni and 1 in private school)
- I don’t want to pay $15K a year on top on my mortgage for council tax
- Healthcare is absolutely crazy and incredibly expensive
- We don’t want to find in 20 years that we’re in a position to move back and our kids are not interested – why would they be if brought up somewhere else
- No trusted babysitters or more than a few hours break from the kids, ie no time for ourselves
- Of course I miss going to the football and having a few pints/laugh down the pub
- Kids are still young enough that they will transition easy

I have been trying to get paid off for the last 10 months so that I could get a nice pay off as I’ve been with the company for 12 years. They know the reasons I want to move back and had agreed to try to help me over time but refused to put me on the list. About a month ago I completely changed tack and proposed that I transfer back to the London office and work remotely from Scotland. Amazingly my immediate management all agreed so now I am just waiting for 2014 budgets to be settled and will start the process….hoping now that I, or any of my management who have agreed, do not get paid off, ha, ha.