mathremuk

Has anyone done this with ages around 5 and 7?

I'm so worried about my kids adapting and settling in when they will have their friends here.

People keep telling me more people move around these days and it wont be so bad and they prob wont be the only new kids to join a that year but I'm am worried. They are my babies and I want the best for them 💜

Just looking for some reassurance really.

We may have the opp to move in 2021 instead of 2022. Do you think I should push for that. Get them in earlier?

thanks!

mum 2 3

Thats exactly the ages mine were when we moved and it was fine. We moved over the summer and so they started the new school year with the rest of the kids. If you want them to fit in easier then thats prob the best time as out of school starting they will attract more attention. Our town does have a high turnover of kids though due to international posts overseas and people on visas so when they had a social for the new kids it was 50 out of 500 who were new that year. I did get them in the town rec camp for a couple of weeks too so they had a chance to make some friends in advance of starting school.

mathremuk

Oh thank you. That has made me feel better.

What is a rec camp? Is it a summer camp?

The younger one is mega shy. Shes the one I'm most worried about 🙈

mum 2 3

Our town recreation committee, which organises a lot of the sports, run a morning summer camp that is held in the school, in the art rooms and is just games and playing and art/crafts etc. I registered them before we moved and drove them from our long stay hotel for the first week, till we got the keys to our house. They got to meet a couple of the teachers, check out the school and meet some kids before school started. Look into options ahead of time. Join your towns facebook group and see what people recommend locally. Its even easier now than 7 years ago when I did it. They are young enough to adapt quickly. I would say if you have the opportunity to go sooner and its a long term move then consider it.

civilservant

Kids are resilient. At that age, they will adapt and flourish eventually.

robtuck

We moved our son at age 8 and he didn;t start util the October so had missed two months of the school year, plus hadn't done more than a week in the UK school for that year. He was behind his class in the UK, he's now in the top quarter for his year and rapidly got there. They are resilient and adapt really quickly. If you start them at the beginning of the school year, I am sure they'd be absolutely fine.

Georgieb

This is good for me to read as well, our little darlings will be 11 and 7 when we get state side and they will most probably miss the first couple of weeks at school, which bothers me but that is out of our control. like you mathremuk my youngest is very shy and suffers from anxiety, so this is a worry, my eldest is super brave and is mega excited about it all. I am genuinely in awe of him lol. I hope your move goes well xx

brian3kb

Great thread, I'd come in to ask a similar question - my two will be 5 and 8 when we move over, our target being March/April should all go as expected on our interview at the US embassy that we are currently waiting on a date for

ja2ca

Our eldest was 5 and we moved just before Christmas so he had to start half way through the year. We were so worried about him, but our fears were allayed on the first day when we took him in to his class and he immediately joined the other kids who were sitting in a circle. He loved it and, like others have said, he was one of several new kids joining the school on the first day back after Christmas. Yours will be fine! Feel free to message me if you have any questions about schools. Best of luck with the move

Shark013

robtuck

Get ready for their accent to change though!

Lorna at Vicenza

Sorry for butting in. I just wanted to say that I have read and been involved in many posts in the Italian forum about kids your age starting school in Italy. They have a whole new language to cope with and they learn it so much more easily and faster than their parents and make friends quickly. The same conversation comes up many times in the French and Spanish forums too. If those little British kids were soon bilingual, happy and going off to parties and summer holiday activities, then yours without a language barrier shouldn't take as long to settle in. Best of luck x

BunnyGirl

We moved here when my son was 5, joined Kindergarten 3 months into the school year and had no problems at all settling in. I was worried that he'd be a bit of an outsider but kids are so resilient, yours will be absolutely fine

SarahG

My daughter was 4 and my son was 6 when we moved over. Son went into 1st grade but ended up going into Kindergarten half way through the year. He turned 6 at the end of August and to go into 1st grade in Indiana where we were living, you needed to be 6 at the start of August. I was worried about it but I needn't have been. ( posted about it here https://britishexpats.com/forum/loun...school-643985/ at the time) He has done brilliantly since then. He is about to turn 16 and just finished his freshman year of high school and is doing better than ever. Kids are resilient and they adapt well, and quickly.