A bit of advise on schools
 

Hello first post on here so go gentle with me!;)

We (husband and two munchkins and me) are relocating from the UK to Long Island towards the end of July... We are planning a trip over in a couple of weeks just to focus on our chosen areas. We were trying to plan whether it would be a good idea to get in touch with the school district offices in the areas we have researched (we have 4 on the short list) and set up a meeting to visit the schools. I am just wondering if this would be a good idea/use of time? as we also want to pin point our preferred area. I know that which school they will go to usually all dependant on where you live. Any advice about the schools would be fully appreciated.

I have read the BE wiki information on American Education which was very informative.

Many Thanks

Re: A bit of advise on schools
 

It won't do any harm calling them but you might not get to visit. I wanted to see the schools for myself to help choose between 2 different areas. Neither of those schools would let you in until you had a signed lease or had exchanged contracts. My relocation realtor had called all the schools in the areas we were looking at and only 1 would let you in without the paperwork. In the end I cancelled the one I could have gone to as the house wasn't going to work, and had to trust my research on the others.

Re: A bit of advise on schools
 

Thank you mum 2 3

I did wonder if this was going to be the case.. You have put my mind at rest that perhaps it would be best to focus on the areas and rely on internet research of the schools and local people's knowledge at my husbands office.

Re: A bit of advise on schools
 

Hello LINY,

I'm in Northport LI-have been here for 12 years. I'd be happy to try to help if you have any Qs about LI or specific areas. My kids came into school over here at age 8, 5 and 2, so we have been through most of the school system :) How old are your kids?

We have had a generally positive experience with the schools over here, although we have found that there is an enormous emphasis on 'teaching to the test'. We found that there is much less play-time/break time that we were used to in UK schools, which was frustrating when the kids were small-I suppose they grew used to it as time went on. The schools in our district have a good range of extra-curricular programmes/sports/arts etc., but we pay very highly for them in taxes.

Good luck with the move! Give me a shout if I can help.

Rose

Re: A bit of advise on schools
 

One school let us visit, the other didn't. Guess which one we ended up sending our kids to? :)