gavinandstacey

Gotta agree on the NZ comments...its the kinda place where life can just pass you by without you even noticing....... very very boring but I guess some people came here for the quiet life (although the hoons who scream through our little village all night dent that thought!!!!)
Busy getting moving quotes, sorting dogs etc etc .......cant come soon enough!

ble

Jeepers creepers. It was hideous.

We are just a wee way from the epicentre, and man did the house rock and roll. Thought at the time that we would be lucky to get out in one piece. Many of our neighbours in and around our village lost their house - or their chimneys. Our church bell tower fall through the roof.



Scary doesn't even start to describe what it was like.

Thank goodness for building codes and things like that as this was the same strength as Haiti and look at the loss of life there.
Mind you - if it hadn't ahve been 4.35 in the morning it would have been a different tale thats for sure.



Anyhow hope all other people in and around canterbury are doing okay - I am sure that Kentishlass is one of those.




And no more comments about nothing exciting happening here again - if the earth would stop moving I will be quiet - ... - for at least a week.

Kentish Lass

Thanks for thinking of me but no, we're up in the Waikato, North Island. Mind you,no where near as what you guys have had to suffer, but am really get fed up with this crap weather. Very strong winds and heavy rain for ages now.
Three weeks today will be back in the UK for a month. Getting excited now. Spoke to my Mum on the phone yesterday and Skyped my sister. They too are looking forward to my visit. Yes it's good to speak to them and to see them on the webcam but nothing like a proper big hug.

reeni

Well... we finally decided the right time to move back. We are going Feb 2011. Sounds good then i think about it and it is only 4 months away!!!!! Now i am freaking out lol - so much to do!

I have been in discussion with the Year 10 head at the school my eldest will be going to. We will be moving in the middle of the school year, the head teacher has been very helpful. Here in Canada High school works on a semester system (well our area anyways). So by Feb he will have completed 4 of his courses for year 10. What school is doing is having me send the curriculum for those 4 courses and they will match them up with the UK equivalent. I have to admit i am having a hard understanding how the mechanics of the GCSE years work. From what i have been told, they pick 8 courses at the start of year 10, some are mandatory. Then they progress thru them for 2 years writing they gcse's on the way. So here there is s clear definition between grade 10 and 11 - over there it is not as defined. If anyone has any feed back - i am eager for input!

Schooling for my other 2 will be easy to sort. But i am thinking of moving them back a year, from where they should be over there. I have compared to curriculum for their age groups and i think that the UK is slightly ahead. One is 8 and the other is 11.

We don't have family that we can stay with over there when we first arrive so i will have to be on the ball for living accommodations!

Shaking in my boots - but happy!

dontheturner

Reeni, What area are you hoping for? We are having to move ours forward from March to Feb, or I need to get another Thai Visa, on the 23rd Feb, and pay for another year.
We shall be in Wellington Shropshire, so we could be in touch, if that helps. dontheturner

lilybilly101

Hi Reeni
I'm writing this from a hotel room in Jasper. We're on a lovely tour of BC and Alberta and it is STUNNING! But we too are heading back to the UK. I was a teacher there and I think it is still the same.

Basically kids take core subjects Math, English, a science, and a socials such as History or geography (not totally sure about that one) and then they select four others such as drama, art, music, PE, RS, Design Technology and so on. They study most of them over two years (some can be pushed into one but it's rare) and these are done in grades 10 and 11. I know there are some new courses such as citizenship and many schools offer BTEC diplomas now too.

You probably know all this already but hope it helps. If they want to go on to do A'levels they will need a minimum of 5 GCSEs but again that may have changed or depend on the school and it must be grade C or above to be worth anything.

OK, off to bed. We have an early start tomorrow. We camped in minus 6 the other night in a tent trailer and a broken furnace. Chilly is NOT the word.

Good luck with your return. I'm terrified too.

aries_bird

It seems to vary from school to school here. Our (very large) High School grades the children in year 9 and offers them an academic route based on their abilities from the start of year 10.

All children have to do some core subjects in Maths, English Lang & Lit, Science, IT and Religion. The "top route" then choose another 6 GCSE subjects of their choice. The "lower route" would be encouraged down the vocational route offering BTECs in subjects such as Health & Social Studies, Constructions etc which they do in conjunction with the local college & their core GCSEs. The "middle route" children would do the core subjects, plus a vocational subject plus 2-4 (depending upon ability) additional GCSEs of their choice.

BTW, our school doesn't call them Top, Middle & Lower routes they are routed by colour but we all know which colour has all the brainy kids!

Our school has very good GCSE results in the top 5% of the country so it seems to work! It is also a comprehensive with no bar on any ability

At the end of year 11 some kids have 12 GCSEs and some have the 3 main ones with a college BTEC qualification as well.

reeni

Well it is decided ... We are moving back Feb 2011. Hubby is in support of it fully. He wants the kids in school asap. So me and kids are flying over to start after my eldest semester finishes here. UK Senior school where we are moving is using his grades ere to fit him in at the middle of Year 10. School is working with us to make it work! they are so far being amazing. I have sent over his curriculum and they are matching it up with his GCSE's. they younger 2 will just slide in. I have been supplementing their schooling with UK worksheets.

I have my godmother helping me get stuff together for a place, and a letting agency that has pre-approved us for rental when the time comes. It helps hubby works for an international company. So it is employment no matter where he is working at the time. YAY!

Crossing fingers it all comes off!


reeni

sallysimmons

SO envious!!

Where will you be going Reeni?

lilybilly101

Congrats Reeni. And like Sally where will you be going?

reeni

Well - we are going back to where we left - Doncaster. Hubby has been up and down about it ...now tho we have bought the tickets. So he is Committed! It will be hard times, but worth it i think.

Same little village, that way the eldest will fit back in with his old friends. I am excited,scared and all that goes along with it.

reeni

lilybilly101

I'm sure all will work out with the occasional hurdle on route but such is life eh? Surround yourself with good friends and family and do lots of lovely things if you can. I've been looking at rental cottages in Scotland in the off season. We want to do something like that before we are bound by school holidays.

I wish you all the very best Reeni. You must be tired of crossing the Atlantic eh?

Celtic_Angel

yes please start it now!!!

I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this site ...to actually read about people who understand what it is to leave the U.k but always have a yearning to return!

In all the years I've been fluctuating between enjoying my U.S life and being miserable my oldest kids have turned into teenagers!! I should have seen it coming!!

Couture

Wow, I saw this thread yesterday and havent been able to stop reading it in my sporadic spare 5 minutes. This is great, well done to OP.

Its striking, as some have said before me, just how many stories match my own circumstances and the thoughts people are sharing also ring true to some of my own. Its good to see because it reinforces that Im not just being impulsive and that it isnt a "grass is greener" thing going on. I never had great yearning to ever return to the UK but admitedly I always had a burning desire to get out of Scotland. Some people are happy there etc but Scotland isnt the same country for everyone, some of us grew up in poverty and violence there and had nothing left to do but leave. But things change...

I moved to Ireland from Scotland in 2000, then moved home to Scotland in 2002 - not a huge jump but that was only the start of moving around. By some standards here im not well travelled but Im really feeling it now. After going back to Glasgow I went up north for a year then went back to Glasgow, then moved to Ireland again for a further 3 years, then went back to Scotland for an interim period, and now here I am with my lovely mrs in her home town of Mexico City! Phew...

Now i know this doesnt seem like a lot of moves but in the space of 10 years im absolutely shattered and now Im thinking, well, WE are thinking about children. We both spoke about getting back to the UK to settle and are both agreed on it being the best course. I havent ever lived in England...she has a penchant for London and my friends there say its great, and given that I dont ever want to live in Scotland again I am happy to take the chance and gamble on London, the thought being that if London isnt fantastic then I will happily move around the area but by goodness I dont want to move across a sea ever again.

So thats my story - We are hoping to move back as soon as possible really but in reality itll probably be at least another 6 months before I can even expect bites from job applications what with the economy and Architecture being how it is right now. So say sometime 2011... it looks like the UK will see a lot of its sons and daughters returning.

See the thing is, a lot of people dont really realise what the UK has. I wrote a list the other day and presented it to some friends and they more or less disagreed with every point...so i said yes, thats all very well disagreeing but have you ever lived in another country to have the benefit of perspective? "No" was the overwhelming response from anyone I have come up aginst on this issue. Personally I miss all the little things and even some of the things i hate about the UK are tolerable to me now that my perspective and my needs hve changed. Do i like the politics of the UK and us sending our military all over the shop? No. Do I prefer to raise my children in Mexico? NO. Is the NHS perfect? No. Is it something better than most countries? Absolutely. and so on...

I miss Sunday lunch in front of the big screen footie at the local pub. I miss a sneaky pint on a wednesday night with my friends after work. I miss riding my motorcycle on smooth roads at 7am through beautiful countryside and not having huge congestion at every turn. I miss banter...Scottish or English. I miss being able to crack a one-liner and people laughing at a split second...slap-stick. I miss the food...yes, the food. People think that the UK has terrible food... no it doesnt, it has all the same ingredients as everyone else, just terrible cooks and parents too used to phoning takeaway. I miss good takeaway!! I miss europe...flying to Sweden to see my mates for a long weekend, flying into Dublin, Paris, Rome, ....anywhere. I miss the Scottish things too and I have so many places to show my partner I cant wait.

So it really is as good a place as any and when people tell me im mad to move back, I tell them theyre mad to judge before travelling a bit and trying it for themselves. Horses for courses and all that, And fingers crossed my gamble on England works out.

Cheers all, thanks for reading!

killerhales

Hi Couture, and welcome to the thread.

I originally started this thread because my wife, daughter and I have a firm (but kind of secret) plan to return to the UK from Australia in 2012. So it's nice to have some "pals" to talk to who don't know me from Adam!

My original question to the forum members was how to make the most of the remaining time available and avoid getting into a "counting down the days" state of mind.

I like it here, although my wife doesn't, and my daughter is ambivalent. Our trigger for returning is my daughter's desire to attend Uni in the UK. No doubt many people will think we are crazy to move back, once we start letting them know (sometime next year).

We're spending Christmas in the UK this year and my daughter will be taking a look at a few Uni campuses and hopefully meeting some academic staff.

Although she won't be applying for another year, I'm finding the phase of research into courses and Unis quite invigorating; it reminds me of the same phase of my life back in the early 80s.

It seems like Exeter and Bristol are in the frame currently, so if anyone knows much about the cities or the Unis, I would be interested to hear your views.