limetree1

Hi there,

My husband has the possibility of a move to Manila, which means us all relocating from London. (he will be working in the financial district as he works for one of the big european banks)

We have three children (13, 3, 1), the 13 year old will obviously need secondary schooling.

Can anyone advise on areas to live/schooling etc.

As this will be our first time working abroad any help/advice will be appreciated.

pinoybill

Bristish School Manila (BSM)is smart building in Fort Bonifacio - UK syllabus, good results. The Fort is old miltary base which has been extensively redeveloped and has a bit of a Docklands(London)feel to it,but with more open space.Close to Makati and Forbes Park where all the high rollers live.Fort is clean, tidy, with all the amenities you could want, hospitals, places to eat, good transport and lots of new developments. Might be a bit sterile if you dont break out occassionally and dont want your kids to be mall rats but more than enough to sustain life in the week and right on top of BSM. No personal exp of school- just rattled past it a few times on visits. Nice campus in school district, next to a couple of International/US schools.Obvious benefit of keeping kids in UK system. Nowhere near as lumpy as UK school fees.Heaps to do in Manila/Philippines just have to be sensible and seek it out.Plus be prepared for biggest culture shock you are likely to experience. My wife a nurse in UK is from RPI and having family there helps to get most out of the country but I think its a great place.

Englishmum

Hello again! (Not sure if you would know this but I'm currently living part of the time in the NY Metro area in NJ and also in Singapore where my spouse is on his 2nd expat posting there).

I've been to Manila about 3 times, although not recently. Some Scottish friends of ours moved from Singapore to Manila with their four children. They all went to the British School, it was a good school and they enjoyed it. A school bus collects and drops off the children each day, but many of the mums like to get involved with activities at the school. I know that the school is a member of FOBISSEA (Federation of British Schools in SE Asia) so there were regular sports events amongst the schools in the region, including Tanglin Trust School, where my kids went to.

The family rented a house with a pool in the upscale Forbes Park in Makati, which is very close to the main CBD (approx 10-15 mins) the previous occupant was the 2nd Spanish Ambassador so the house came with 2 full-time maids, a part-time 'washer woman' (who was there all day!) and a pool boy would come to maintain the pool, and a driver. The spouse also had a driver. Salaries for household staff are a pittance - but even her maids employed maids of their own at their own homes! TBH the maids didn't have that much to do, it was a modest 4-bedroomed house so they spent a lot of time chatting and drinking coffee just off the kitchen. Their home was in a cul-de-sac which had security guards at the entrance.

In Asia it is the norm for expats (in middle-upper management type positions) to also get country club membership. My friend's family enrolled as members at the nearby Makati Polo Club so I went there with her a few times for a swim and for lunch (I don't play tennis or polo, but neither did my friends, lol!). Also in this vicinity - which is very green, lots of trees and nice houses - there were a number of nice coffee shops and there are expat wives groups, mum and toddler groups etc.

Manila might be a bit of a culture shock for a 1st timer in Asia....getting out of the airport is an experience (hundreds of relatives waiting outside the gates to meet and greet returnees, all expecting a handout...!) but it's an interesting experience and my friends made a fortune there before returning to Scotland and you certainly get more perks in Asia compared to the USA (company cars, country club membership, hardship allowances etc. although they certainly faced no hardship living there...also had a generator attached to the house in case of power outages....here in New Jersey we get them in Summer storms....no generator here lol!)

limetree1

Thanks again, this is all valuable information, my husband definately favours Manila - we will find out for definate in a week or so - then it's all systems go for September.

How scary - yet exciting

rcrynes

+1 on British School Manila. A colleague sends his children there and he was all praises about that school.

Good luck on your move limetree1!

limetree1

Thankyou, we have actually now been out there to have a look-see and were very impressed.
Just awaiting final confirmation on the move and then fingers-crossed we'll be on our way. We are all very excited

Bully08

Hi, I've been in Manila now for 2 years and my daughter goes to BSM, which is pretty good if you have come straight from the UK.

all I can say is make sure you husband sorts out a good ex-pat deal before you get here, i.e. school covered for all children (approx 5K US a term). If you want a good lifestyle a decent house rental will be around 2.5K US a month. A car, and with that a driver. domestic help is cheap but its hard to find a decent 1. And very important an ex-pat style medical insurance deal. You have to pay for everything here.

good luck

limetree1

Hi,

Any help is appreciated so thank you, husbands company has covered most of that in the package. Although I think the driver and domestic help will be our responsibility - Will try to go through recommendation.

We're just waiting on dates - we all just want to get there now

amanda1101

Manila is the capital city and you would be surprised by the number of upscale schools and universities in the city. There are also a lot of similar schools in the surrounding areas and international schools as well.

brit_mum

hi limetree1, i'm also going to manila with my husband's bank in september. maybe i will see you there?! we've only just found out we're going so i'm completely unorganised, so any tips much appreciated! i have 2 boys - 2yrs and 6 months. best wishes

alicantina709

Hi all -
We are moving to the Philippines in October (currently we are living in Switzerland). Would love to know how all of you that just moved there are doing. We have a little boy that just turned 1 year old so I am curious to see how the little ones are fairing as well.
Thanks!!

limetree1

You'll be there before us, looks like we'll be going towards end of Oct/start of Nov. Just getting paperwork through now - all I can say is 'thank goodness the company is organised', I wouldn't have a clue where to start!!! They, along with my husband's future colleagues are pointing us in the right direction - the rest we will hopefully learn when there.

On our looksee trip we definately favoured living in or around Dasmarinas Village (if we can) and would look to send our eldest to the British school as she was very impressed - not sure about the almost 3 year old, we will see

Getting very excited now and just want to be there. Good luck you guys - and any help/advice from your end will also be appreciated.

limetree1

Hi there,

When we went out for our look-see trip, all the expats we met had young children. A few of them said initially they found it hard but with the support and advice from other expats they were starting to/or had found there feet.

Having not done this before I think you just have to make sure you get out and meet people. We will see

alicantina709

Limetree
Would be more than happy to let you know how it goes when we get there. I have so much to do to prepare for the move it makes my head spin.

We will be in temp housing at first but are interested in the Dasmarinas Village as well. My husband looked at a few houses there and is going back at the end of this month for business and to look some more. Hopefully we will be able to find something quickly - although the temp housing does look nice!

Who knows - maybe we will end up being neighbors!!

brit_mum

Thanks for all the info, Limetree and Alacantina. It's good to hear from people in similar situations, especially as neither my husband or i have been out there before! I'll be there from Sep, so will keep you updated on my findings... Have no idea where to start with organising the trip - i hope our Relocation Specialist really knows what they're doing!!!