Homeiswheretheheartis

Hello Everyone

I've now been back home now 2 months and I'm settled back like I've never left

I promised an update on how my children have settled back into UK schools after two and a half years in the US.

My DD is 10 and in Year 6 (last year of Primary School), my DD also has learning difficulties. My DS is 12 and in Year 8 (second year of High School), my DS is educationally gifted.

Both my children have settled back as if they have never left, but we did return to my DD previous school and my DS knew lots of people at his new school.

My DS is not behind in Maths and English, but he is very far behind in Science as the Science was not anywhere the same level as here in the UK. He is behind in subjects they never covered in the US such as History and Geography. But his teachers don't believe it will take him long to catch up. I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised that he is not behind in Maths as this was the area I was most concerned about.

My DS is also finding High School in the UK much more fun, I feel he is getting a much more rounded education. He made cookies and is making curry next week in Home Economics He has also got to use the Bunson Burner and actually do some real experiments (burning magnesium) He has said he finds school less pressured that the US Middle School. He is still tested and marked, has homework etc, but grades etc are not the be all and end all. He also has much more time to socialize at break and a real lunch time when we plays football with his mates. Most people may not feel this is important but I feel that learning social skills in essential life skill which was lacking in the US school.

I also have to say I am more than impressed with the High School facilities. My DS went to a very good Middle School in the best area of Vegas and was classed as the best in Vegas, but the school here in the UK wipes the floor with facilities compared to the US school. There is a 3D cinema, a fitness suite, swimming pool being build and get this - a Mini Cooper connected to a driving simulator This NOT a private school and its only a sleepy very little town I live in.

My DD is harder to say really as she is behind in general because of her learning difficulties. I will say she is enjoying school here much more as I find in the UK the work is more rounded and fun. In the US most of her work was paper based. Here in the UK she has lots of hands on experiences. She now has access to school sports free of change after school, so far she has joined tag rugby and football. The school again is very well equipped with a huge computer department. All the classrooms have interactive white boards,( imagine a large computer screen instead of a normal white board). My DD has only been at school 5 weeks and she is swimming and had a visit to a museum and two visitors to the school for talks (not trying to flog you something like in the US)

I can say the transition for the children couldn't have gone better. My only regret is ever taking them out of it.

If you have any questions I am very happy to answer them.

NiHao

Homeiswheretheheartis,

Thank you so much for such a great update. We have 3 school age children so this is really, really helpful for us. I am so excited to read what a positive experience it has been so far. I feel very much like you with regard to the value of hands on experiences in education.

quoll

Good to hear that the kids have settled back into education so well! It does seem that UK schools do a great job at reintegrating returnees!

ncoomber

Thanks. Good to know. I am planning on moving back to Yorkshire this summer after 27yrs in the USA (VA) with three kids about the same age as yours. I am very concerned how they will fit into the UK school system.

Homeiswheretheheartis

Hi Ncoomber

I understand your concern, how the kids settled was my main worry on returning. We were only away for 2.5 years so that helped.

There are a couple of points I would consider.

Talk to the schools you are considering applying for, even if it is just by email. How the Head Teacher responds to your email will give you a little bit of insight into how they may help your kids transition.

I would highly recommend if at all possible starting the kids as the new school year starts e.g September in the UK. Mine started at Xmas which means they have a little bit more catching up just for this years subjects. This is especially true for High School kids 11 and up.

I realize this isn't always possible as it wasn't for us.

My DS aged 12 missed a lot of general history and geography, so to help just to give him a little bit more general knowledge I got him to read/watch a few programs on these subjects e.g WW1 & 2. I don't mean hours of learning just a few Youtube short clips and CBBC website with games etc on these subjects.

As I said I was concerned about Maths but that has not been a problem at all. I would also say he is ahead in English. The Science well the most exciting thing he did in the US was with some pond water, now hes really learning Science for the first time. It will really help in Science to start at the beginning of the school year as they tend to cover a particular area and follow the same tread through most of the year.

On making friends well, I wish I could answer that, but I had it the other way around. When in the US my DS settled fine and made friends. My DD never had friends and will never forgive me for taking her there in the first place. Why one settled and the other didn't I will never know.

The company my DH worked for employed a lot of UK personnel and families, so I know of a number of families with children who have returned and we are still in contact. One friend returned in Aug 13 and has children 6 & 8 they have been found to be a little behind in Maths, but the school have said they will be able to have a few extra lessons and it won't take long to catch up. None of the families have said it has been a problem at all for their kids educational wise.

I know the US has a really bad reputation educationally, and I really didn't like the system but I have to say that if your kids go to a good school in the US it is more than likely they won't be behind and it will only be areas that they haven't covered such as UK history that will need a little working on.

Remember as well I came for NV which is listed 49!!!!!!! on the US education state list, not very impressive and my kids are not behind. You may even find they are ahead in some areas, yes it is a possibility.

Good luck with your move.

ncoomber

Hi and thank you for you comments. It makes me feel better. We live in VA not far from DC in Loudoun County which is suppose to be one of the top school areas in the US. So given your experience moving from NV then we might be ok.

I have always taught them a lot about Geog and History. We have a good library system here and regularly watch Hist/Geog dvds. So hopefully they will catch up if they are a bit behind.

My 11yr old son doesn't want to leave his friends here but he is very friendly so hopefully will make new ones in Leeds. My two girls 8 and 9 are worried about being picked on for having American accents. I don't know. I think in time their accents will change.

How does one find out what schools they will be in? I have no idea. I don't even know what years they will be in. Right now they are in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. Do you know how that equates in England? Its a long time since I was at school, 1960s and 70s, I am sure a lot has changed. So do they start high school at 11? My son will turn 12 at then end of sept. I could have started him at school a year earlier but chose to wait a year so he is effectively the oldest in his year. And before high school what? It was infant and middle when I was at school in the UK. What now? And ages?

We plan on moving after school has finished here in early July. And hopefully we will be able to start the new school yr there in Sept.

Do kids need any medical requirement to start school? Shots etc?

Cheers
Nigel

Spacecake799

Hi Nigel,

First pick the area you want to live in. I notice you say Leeds, so if that's for work look for good schools around that area.
You can then look at primary and secondary schools and contact them to find out how likely your children are to get a place in September.
Assuming that's all good you have to wait until you have an address before you can put the childrens name s down at school.
It sounds unlikely but if you felt they would be behind you can always ask them to put them back a year. I would say at their ages though they will catch up what they need.
Accents, we returned from 6 years in NZ, at parents evening I was told as always about our son being quiet. I said its doubtful at this stage he will contribute much. Not at all says the English teacher, if anything ever needs reading out everyone always gets Jack to do it so they can hear his accent!
I think your son will start secondary school in September as he will still be 11.
Hope that helps.

Homeiswheretheheartis

Hi Nigel

Firstly, it depends on when your children's birthday's are. The cut off dates for birthdays for school is Sept.

Reception Age 4 before Sept
Year 1 Age 5 before Sept
Year 2 Age 6 before Sept

These 3 years are know as Key Stage 1 and are spent at Primary (known as Elementary in the US).

Year 3 Age 7 before Sept
Year 4 Age 8 before Sept
Year 5 Age 9 before Sept
Year 6 Age 10 before Sept


These 4 years are know as Key Stage 2 and are spent Primary School.
(On very few occasions Key Stage 1 & 2 are split between two schools known as Infants and Juniors, but this is not very common at all now, but is a possibility).

Children then move onto High School (we would have called it Senior School).

Year 7 Age 11 before Sept
Year 8 Age 12
Year 9 Age 13 (choices on exams courses made)
Year 10 Age 14 (exam courses started)
Year 11 Age 15 (exams taken)

High School is Key Stage 3 (year 7,8,9) Key Stage 4 (year 10,11). There are different types of High Schools. Straight forward High Schools that are run and funded by the government, with government control. Grammar Schools (like the 60s), still government run but entrance exams (not sure if Leeds still have them). Academies, which are new, they are still funded by the government but the school runs itself following the same curriculum as High Schools. Free schools which are run by any Tom, Dick or Harry who wants to start a school with government money.

Public opinion is divided regarding Academies, my DS goes to an academy and I love it, but I must say I do know of another that has failed badly since the change(but change in Head as well). Free schools is very new and as you will see from what I have put, I don't agree with them. But that is my opinion, there was one recently where the government has had to take over the school as they just spent all the money given and didn't really teach the kids

Children then have to move on to further eduction after High School but you will have time to understand that later.

By the looks of it your eldest is coming home at exactly the right time. The move to High School/Academy is where kids move from lots of other schools, so everyone will be new so to speak and everyone won't know what they are doing, they will all be lost and a bit out of their depth. I know that sounds a bit mean, but it means that everyone will be in the same boat as your eldest. Think Middle School move.

I wouldn't worry about accents, remember most people don't know the real US and think is the coolest place on earth Also, there will be loads of kids with very different accents the UK and its very multicultural now, not just London. There are two US kids in my DDs school and no one pays them any extra attention.

Schools do not require any shots or even medical records for schools in the UK.

You need to contact your local school authority to find out what the admissions requirements are for schools in Leeds.

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/Pages/Admissions.aspx

It isn't like the US, you don't automatically go to your local school, it is all down to the admissions policy.

I hope I haven't confused you with too much information. I just thought I would give you as much as I know.

Anymore questions however small just ask away.

Regards
Joanne

ncoomber

Thanks Joanne and Spacecake for the information. I was not quite ready to start digging into the school thing yet as I am still researching and planning out the Spouse Visa thing but just saw the thread and thought I would jump in. Great info. I will dig deeper and no doubt have some more questions.

We will be living in my fathers house which is now empty as he sadly died last year. I now jointly own his house with my sister who lives in Wakefield. We plan on moving into this house. Once I sell my house here in VA I will then buy my sis out and own the house myself. I know the area but not the schools as I have not lived there for close to 35 yrs. One of the schools that I went to was pulled down yrs ago.

Do you know the cut off date in Sept? My boy was born 25th Sept 2002?

Cheers,
Nigel

Dashie

I believe the cut off date is August 31/Sept 1st, meaning that your son will be one of the oldest in his year. I'm thinking that today, he would be in year 8, but I'm not 100% on that.

Homeiswheretheheartis

Hi Nigel


Sorry to hear about your dad.

So your son turned 11 on the 25th Sept 13 and will be 12 next 25th Sept 14. So that will mean he will be 11 still on the 1st Sept 14. That means he will be starting Year 7 (first year of High School) on Sept 2014, the beginning of our school year.

Yes your son will be the oldest in the year but that doesn't make any difference to the school. They have kids who have only turned 11 the day before they start and kids who turn 12 the day after school begins.

Schools here have OFSTED reports which you can get access to usually on the website, which gives exam results and a grading such as excellent or failing and everything in between. But I have to say nothing beats word of mouth from parents in the area.

I would try going onto a few UK chat forums and asking if anyone knows the area and can recommend schools or more so which to stay away from. Never been on but what about that Mumsnet.

Regards
Joanne

Liza

Thank you, Thank you for this thread! So kind of you to post an update Homeiswheretheheartis I'm glad you found an awesome school. (My DD overheard me telling DH about the facilities you mentioned at the Academy, now she has high expectations!)

We have 3 to move into schools hopefully this year, going into Year 5, 7 and 10. We have no 'pin on the map' or house to move to, only an area with a 100 mile perimeter in Cheshire/Staffs. So at this point we are looking for an area with the best selection of schools. My parents sent over a pile of various Key Stage workbooks for the children to look at.

With the current spouse visa rules it all seems like a massive leap of faith in the first place. Apply for visa (which we can't do until mid-April), wait for decision, sell house, pack and move, find rental, get schools sorted out...

Anyway, thanks again for all the info. Good Luck to everyone above too!

ncoomber

Thanks to all.

Joanne, good I am please my boy will be in year 7 and the start of high school as you say he wont be the only new student in the school, they all will.

Liza, it sounds like we are in the same scenario. We too plan on a move from US to UK this summer with three kids of similar ages (8,9,11). And like you no doubt I am in the process of prepping for the Spouse Visa for my US wife. I was hoping to get that out of the way so we could focus on all the other stuff but the three month rule doesn't allow. Good luck to you. My kids are all set - I got them UK passports. And now I am researching schools, shipping and Visa stuff.

Cheers
Nigel

NiHao

For those of you trying to pick location by quality of schools I found this website helpful. If you put in a house address or a town/village it will show you the schools in that area and their ofsted rating, some additional info and a link to the school website.

I found it really useful for figuring out which towns/villages in the area we are looking at have good schools.

www.locrating.com

(you can also check other things like train commute times to a particular train station)

denzil75

Thank you for posting your update. We are looking at moving back to the UK next year (after 9 years in the States). The boys will be 11 and 12 so it's been very interesting reading about your children's transitions back. I am finding the US schools to be so much pressure for the kids. I've started to really see it now my eldest is in 5th grade, there is no fun at school whatsoever. Don't get me wrong I'm under no illusion that the education in Britain isn't what it used to be but there seems to be so much less pressure than here. I hate that the kids only get 40 mins lunch break and no morning or mid-afternoon break. The backpacks that they have to carry weigh about 10 pounds, not good for their backs. And it only seems to get worse the older they get. The boys are actually looking forward to possibly moving back, it's going to be hard leaving the states but we all feel it will be best in the long run for our family. Keep posting the updates.