Year abroad in London: Elementary Schools
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Anonymous
| Op here: thanks for the helpful replies, especially those that made sense of the state school system and from those who've lived both in DC and England. |
Anonymous
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I live in London. My elementary aged children are in a private british prep school. If you are coming for a year I would recommend you consider other options than the ASL. It is a nice school but your kids will be surrounded by Americans and more than likely so will you! Also if you go that route you are somewhat limited to St. John's Wood and other north london areas which are ok, but not wonderful.
As with any city the best public schools are oversubscribed and here you often need to live on the doorstep to get a spot since spot allocation is often based on proximity. But I do think it's worth researching, as are public schools affiliated with Church of England which tend to rank better. I would narrow down a list of family friendly areas (Clapham, Chiswick, Richmond, Ealing, etc) where there is a good concentration of publics and privates so you have many choices. Transient/expat areas like Kensington, Chelsea, Holland Park, will also give you options but at a higher living cost. |
Anonymous
| Hampstead is a great place to live right near the Heath and ASL is a nice school. I'm sure there are other great choices and a British school would be more authentic of an experience. But you're kids will do fine at the American school as well. |
Anonymous
I lived for many years in Kensington and Chelsea, as well as Holland Park / Notting Hill. The only schools there which are acceptable are the privates. In Holland Park - near Royal Crescent the local state school (I researched when pregnant) had a 95% non-English speaking student body. Literally non-English speaking. Now it doesn't mean those kids won't become fluent in English but its not the right learning environment for a native English speaker. |
Anonymous
| I am assuming this is not embassy related or you would have advice and assistance from them. We had friends who went to London (to work at the embassy) and even with a year's notice had difficulty getting their kids into their top choice schools. I would definitely lean on your employer (if you are going for work) to use whatever advice or connections they can offer, or at least put you in touch with other families who can offer practical advice. |
Anonymous
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I thought all the schools in England/western Europe were good?
What makes some of the schools undesirable? Is it money? If so, why doesn't a rich country like England fix the problem? |
Anonymous
They have an inspection body called OFSTED in the UK. They actively inspect an report on schools every couple of years. They get ranked, roughly as follows 1. Excellent 2. Good 3. Reasonable 4. Needing improvement 5. Disaster And they are given improvement plans in order to get a higher ranking / status and are expected to fulfill those plans, or they can in worst cases, be closed down. Cannot speak to the rest of Europe. I do know the French schools, the lycées are very tightly run by the French Gov't. |
Anonymous
See 18:32 - same issues with poverty, SES, ELLs as in the US |
Anonymous
But I thought socialism was suppose to fix all that? AL least that's what Bernie says/ |
Anonymous
You sound...like a pill. Homeschooling is perfectly legal and easy for American expats. You literally have no dealings with the local council at all. It was recommended to us for our short term stint in England. Thank you pp for the links. As it says right here: "There are no requirements to inform the authorities when one is home educating, unless the student was previously enrolled in the government school system. At that time, the parent must let the school official know they are withdrawing their student to home educate him. No other requirements for home education exist." |
Anonymous
Britain isn't socialist. |
Anonymous
What? Everyone is here to impart what they hope is helpful information, from varied experiences. Don't be an asshole and go around insulting people just because their on-the-ground experiences may not chime with your own. Really, you need to grow up and behave yourself. |
Anonymous
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If the OP is still reading, I would love to know how it is going in London.
Thinking about taking my twin 13 year olds next year--open to any advice, thanks |
Anonymous
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I realized I should change the topic, since my kids are not in elementary school. They are currently in 8th grade and could do the equivalent of 8th or 9th grade in London.
Does anyone have any advice about ASL, or TASIS London? |
Anonymous
Start a new thread. |