Best age to move schools

Q. We are looking to move back to uk from abroad, mainly for schooling. Have 2 girls aged 5 and nearly 1. In that we have already missed start of uk school for the eldest (currently at international pre-school), does anyone have experience of the best/easiest time to move children? I have heard the younger the better. How difficult is it to even get into good schools unless you have applied way ahead?

A. This is a wonderful opportunity for your daughters and in my opinion the girls can only be advantaged from it. I think, if you can, it is best to move your girls at the beginning of the academic year – i.e. in September as this is a natural time for everyone starting the new school term. However, I think that with such young children you could move at any point in the next couple of years. Your youngest daughter probably won’t even remember not being in the UK.

The natural transition points for changing and starting school are at 4, 7 and 11 in the UK system. If you did choose to wait a couple of years, your older daughter could move into key stage 2 (at aged seven rising 8) and your little one could start in Early Years/nursery (aged 3 rising 4). There would also be other children starting school at this point so they wouldn’t be the only ones.

It can be difficult to get into some so-called “good” schools, but there are often occasional places that come up and in my experience schools do look kindly on people moving from overseas. Do give the school as much information about your daughters’ schooling as you can – especially including their school reports reports and make sure you visit the schools too and glean as much information about the school as you can. Find out also how the school integrates new pupils into the school – as well as what they provide for new parents in terms of social events so you can also get involved in your children’s school community.

Good luck with the move! I am sure it will be of benefit to the whole family.