Hillsider

Hi.

Wondering if anyone can help me - we are due to relocate to Houston in July and our son will be going to the British School in Houston. Most people from my work tend to live in the Woodlands but I believe the British School doesn't run a bus from that area...does anyone have any experience of the options available?

I'm still researching but from other posts it appears public transport is almost non existent?

Thanks for any help..

ChocolateBabz

Google Maps is suggesting anywhere from 50 mins to 1hr 10mins in traffic and trust me there will be traffic - esp. at school times. I would suggest asking on the city-data.com forum for Houston as there is bound to be someone else who does the trip. Maybe one of the other private schools would have transport? Awty or The Village School. All of these schools seem to get mixed reports though and you may be better off going with the local school option - of course depends on the age of your kids and how long you are here for and where you are off to next

Public Transport is pretty much non-existent everywhere in Houston! I have not even bothered trying to figure out what little there is.

Hillsider

Thanks ChocolateBabz...

My concern is that my eldest son is 16 and just finishing his fourth year at secondary in the UK so only has one or at most two years left to do - changing school systems that late might prove tricky...the other two kids are 7 and 10 so they'll go to US schools.

I'll try the city-data.com site...thanks for the tip!

Englishmum

If I were you I would call the school and ask which suburbs most of the pupils reside in; at least there then be the possibility of car-pooling (ie. sharing a lift to school) if the school doesn't provide a bus service.

Hillsider

Thanks Englishmum. They say there may be a bus running from the Woodlands "in the future" as there appears to be more demand for it - I'll speak to them to see how likely it is this year.

My son is now saying he wants to attend an American school rather than the British school - I'll need to figure out the implications of this though at quite a late stage of his schooling...

lapin_windstar

If I might chip in, as someone who changed systems just before the last two years of school: it's not necessarily a big deal. It's not like jumping into GCSEs or A-levels half way through a two year course.

11th and 12th grade are pretty much self-contained. Obviously maths and sciences will be building directly on previous learning and if he hasn't done - I don't know - trigonometry or something he'd have to catch up or learn enough to build on it, so that's worth checking out, but everything else should be thematically OK.

Here's the other thing to consider: if he goes to the local school which is an hour closer and free, that's two hours and $x every day that you could spend on a tutor to complement his workload at school.

And socially I don't know if it might be better or worse: on one hand, he might be the weird new kid with the funny accent (which won't be too much a concern at Brit School) but OTOH all his classmates will live locally and it'll be easier for him to make friends/hang out at weekends (and you won't have to drive an hour across town).

But why so attached to Woodlands? Wouldn't it be easier to live somewhere reasonably close to your work but that has a bus service to BS? I don't know Houston layout at all so maybe there's a very good reason for this.

Hillsider

Thanks lapin_windstar...

Am I correct in saying that in the final years in the US system you study for a "high school diploma"?

I guess this would be the equivalent of GCSE's or Highers(scottish system) back home...

If so I'll need to check if this would be a valid entry qualification for a UK University in case we all head home after 2 or 3 years.

Cheers.

GetYourBritsOut

Hi Hillsider, I live in The Woodlands and the traffic heading anywhere south of here is absolutely dreadful in the mornings. And yes, public transport is non-existent (even a taxi is extremely hard to come by)!!

The public schools up here are brilliant - when we arrived my son was 7 and the teachers were great with him to help him settle in and he made good friends really fast (it's harder for us grown-ups lol).

The high schools here are great too, (one of them made it onto ESPN's list of high schools with the best sports teams if your eldest is into sports).

The Woodlands is a really great place to live with kids - everything is family orientated. It can be a bit stepford-ish (what with all the trophy wives and having to outdo each other at every opportunity) but if you have normal people as friends then it's not too bad

If you need any info just ask away, I'll be glad to help.

Sally Redux

The requirements for graduating high school are very basic - his qualifications for attending a UK university will be his Grade Point Average ( a number out of 4 based on his grades for all classes) and SAT score. As I understand it, the UK universities are familiar with the US system so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

lapin_windstar

1) No: GCSEs/A-levels are not equivalent to the US system. They are two-year courses with big exams set by external examiners at the end that give you a diploma/certificate in specific subjects.

In the US, generally - as Sally says - there is constant assessment (class tests, papers, quizzes, whatever) decided by the teacher on the basis of curricula. You end up with a Grade Point Average (result of constant assessment) and an SAT score (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT). You can also take AP (Advanced Placement? - more difficult) courses to boost your standing.

2) UK universities are happy with US qualifications. And as you've mentioned universities - don't forget that in order for your son to get a subsidised place at a UK uni, he will have to have lived in the country for 2/3? years continuously before enrolling. Otherwise you'll be paying the full whack like any other foreigner.

newcomer

From what I understand the US High School Dip is not recognised by English Unis (possibly Scottish). Your son would have to do AP classes to get into a decent English uni. The British School does the IB which is recognised both in the States and the UK.
It is a long hike from the Woodlands to the British School and also factor in rush hour traffic. Majority of people attending the school live in Lakes on Eldridge/Twin Lakes and Katy.

lapin_windstar

Not exactly true - it is recognised but for some competitive universities, even a Diploma with 4.0 won't get you in automatically, and there will be an expectation of AP courses etc. But the same is true of competitive colleges in the US.

See, for example, Edinburgh's requirements: http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergr...quirements/usa

UEA: http://www.uea.ac.uk/international/country/USA

Hillsider

Thanks for all your comments.

We still don't know what we'll do - Woodlands is easier for my work but Katy (for example) would be easier for getting my son to the British school as they run a bus from there.

It's further complicated by the fact that my son doesn't know what he wants to do when he leaves school yet and we don't know how long we'll be here...

lapin_windstar

International Baccalaureate and US high school curricula are both broad-based: it's not like the English system where you basically choose 2/3/4 specialist subjects at the age of 15 and stick with them for the next X years.

If he went to a US college, the first 1/2 are pretty interdisciplinary anyway - you're doing a variety of courses and you don't have to make a final decision on your specialisation until later in the course. So that's 3/4 years away and more if your son takes a gap year (which is not a bad idea imo/ime)

Hillsider

OK - sorry if I sound stupid here but does anyone have any experience of moving from the UK schooling system to the US system at 16 years old? I may post a seperate thread with this in the title just to see how people have managed it. I'm happy for him to go to the UK school if it is the best thing for him but he says he wants to go to a US high school "for the experience"...if it's a (relatively) common thing to do then fine but if most people adivse against it then he'll just need to stick to the British system.