JosiesJourney

Hello

We are moving to NJ in September or october and would really appreciate any advice or experience shares on schools for your children. Ours are 2, 7, 9 and I really don't want them to lose too much school time. We will be moving into an airbnb initially for 6 weeks then find a rental in that time. We also need to get the children school places so wondering if you can look round schools when you get your visa (even if you don't have a rental address at that point)? And is there a designated school for each address and what the term dates are if anyone knows?

Thanks

J

Jerseygirl

The school year begins at the end of August or beginning of September...depending on the school and area. You can contact the schools and ask to have a look around...I'm not sure how accommodating they will be unless you live or are moving into the catchment area.

Ecto17

Where abouts are you considering moving to in NJ? I would recommend trying to get your temp accommodation in the area that you are likely to want to move to, this should help get your kids started in school once you have signed your lease.
The good news is that NJ has some of the best schools in the county so you are likely to find good schools relatively easily.
We were able to view a school in both our favourite towns but we were lucky that one was arranged via our relocation coordinator and the other school allowed as they were aware that we were very serious about that area. Both schools were lovely and we are excited that our little one will be starting in September.
Something to note if you weren't aware, they have a very long summer holiday from mid / late June until Aug/ Sept but have almost no holidays in between.

Rete

Really? Then New Jersey has changed their school calendars quite a lot in the last year. Both NY and NJ schools, and most other schools throughout the country, have a 7 to 10 day break for the Christmas/New Year holiday, a 5 day spring break in either March or April, are closed for teachers conferences at least once every 3-4 months and observe the national/state holiday schedules which include Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving (Thursday and Friday off), Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, and perhaps one or two more. Seems like a lot of holidays to me.

Ecto17

Which is very different compared to the UK who have 2 weeks at Xmas, 1 week in Feb, 2 weeks at Easter, 1 week June, 6 weeks in the summer, 1 week in October and 5 inset days. The point wasn't the volume it was how differently it is spread out.

Rete

You stated "they have a very long summer holiday from mid / late June until Aug/ Sept but have almost no holidays in between. " and I pointed that that is not true at all. Yes, summer vacation is 9 weeks as opposed to 6 in the UK.

Nice that children in the UK are allowed so much time off from school during the school terms. One big difference is your Spring/Easter break which is 2 weeks. Is this to allow for teacher recuperation LOL or for parents to take kids away for a end of winter holiday abroad. But I would not say that the US school terms has almost no holidays during the 10 month school year.

Here is the school calendar for Tarrytown, NY for 2017/2018 http://www.tufsd.org/files/_abHiN_/0...l_Calendar.pdf

They have 26 days off during the school year and 9 weeks of summer vacation

Ecto17

You guys are lucky you have a week off in Feb. The only time that isn't a day or 2 here or there that we have in NJ is 1 week at Christmas and up to 1 week in April but again like you guys, if we use more then 3 snow days then they start using the spring break. To me whilst there is time off there is very little usable time if you want to take a trip etc but that is just my view.

petitefrancaise

The school vacations here don't tie in brilliantly with the UK ones which I always found irritating. Each school district sets their own holidays so you can't even look for a state-wide calendar.

Our kids go back to school August 23rd and apart from a couple of days, there's no break until Thanksgiving at the end of November when they get a week off. Then they're back to school for about 30 seconds ( oh alright 2/3 weeks but it feels like 30 seconds) and they're home for Christmas. Everyone is exhausted by then.

Brandy07

Hi, we're moving in August to PA, but we went over at Easter to look at schools. I contacted 3 schools directly and asked if we could look round. At that point we hadn't made the decision to move over, but the schools we saw were very accommodating on showing us round. They have strict boundary areas so you have to live in the required area for the school. We decided to put our children into private school (which we also looked at whilst over there) so I could get a place sorted (we have a 9 and nearly 7 year old). And currently we don't have a house over there so wouldn't be able to apply. If you know the school district you're going to be in you should be able to look up the school and see the calendar dates.
Good luck with the move!

Rete

They return to school here in MS on August 8 and get out in mid-May. As an American I'm use to the schooling schedule and don't have an issue with it and the same is true of Brits who are use to their schooling schedule and must now adhere to the US / State system. All schools countrywide should follow the federal holidays. There are some states that do not follow some religious holiday, i.e. Jewish holidays.

Personally, I think the week off from the 23rd of December until January 2 is ample time for a student to be away from a classroom. And having a 4 day weekend over Thanksgiving is great for the kids.

I don't understand the 'everyone is exhausted by then' statement. Exhausted from what? Being in a classroom between Thanksgiving and Christmas break? That's only 3 weeks of school?

Oh well, Ecto and I have taken this off subject long enough. My apologies to the original poster.

petitefrancaise

no, just to clarify Rete. They are exhausted from 13 weeks of non-stop school by Thanksgiving, then after Thanksgiving they have finals for the last 2 weeks before Christmas. My kids leave home at 8.15, they have classes all day and get home at 4.45 with only a 40 minute break for lunch. Then they have homework to do....

Rete

Okay. They start their school day late. The 3 kids here in Mississippi and the one in New York State are picked up for school at 6:35-6:45 am and dropped off at home again about 3:45 pm. The actual classes start at 7:30

Good training for them for college classes and adult employment.

carcajou

The real exhaustion point is March-April, as the holiday schedule is front-loaded at the start of the year. Students go weeks and weeks without a break at that point, and the end of the year is still too far away for the students to be able to visualize it. I call this time the "Spring doldrums." When you see the average suspension/disciplinary graphs for this time period - it's always in a spike pattern.

Twinkle0927

In the U.K. the school calendars haven't changed much from the olden days and are very much focused around Christian festivals. 2 weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter, a week for Whitsun. The February break often coincides with Ash Wednesday. Actually, I used to think the February break was for my birthday when I was a child because it always fell in the half-term week off school. The six-week summer break goes back to Victorian times when children were needed to work in the fields.

Rete

Basically that is why in the south their summer break starts in May and ends the second week in August. Plant in May and Harvest in July and early August.