Living in UK

[brandy20]

HI all,

It's been a long time now since me and my wife are talking about spending a period living out of Italy. There are several reasons for that. One of them is that I'd like to give my children the chance to know that there is "something" beyond Italy's boundaries. Another important reason is that I'd like them to learn a good English.

I've been to London many times in the last years, but if I had to choose a place to live, I'd really have some difficulties.

I'd like to stay in the country side, a nice place to live, not too far from Heatrow airport, since I would commmute with Italy for my job.

Another thing I'm looking for is a contact with a school to see how to let my children start the school year there without too much stress. They are 8 and 13 years old.

Any advice on these questions is welcome.

Luca

 

[woodbloke]

Wow Luca...some brief! For my part, I'd want to stay away from the main airports (Gatwick, Theifrow...there's story there :-" and Stansted) and would opt to live within striking distance of London (say 50-75miles) if need be. Schools are a bit 'iffy' over here as much depends on where you live, ie: the catchment area for that school, property prices for the better ones command premium prices - Rob

 

[Jacob]

I'd choose another airport if I was you. Couldn't you commute from Scotland or Wales? Much better places for your kids, their education and quality of life.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Luca, how often would you have to commute to Italy to find your office? Would you be able to pick up your office at EGLL?

 

[Harbo]

Hampshire - not too far from the major airports, with regional ones at Southampton and Bournemouth (which used to be part of Hampshire!).
Cheaper than London and lovely countryside.

Rod

 

[Deejay]

Morning Luca

Another thing I'm looking for is a contact with a school to see how to let my children start the school year there without too much stress. They are 8 and 13 years old.

Have a look at the OFSTED site.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/

Cheers

Dave

 

[woodbloke]

Regarding housing and schools, it might be easier to rent in a decent catchment area short term (if that's your intention) rather than buying, but the school situation in the UK is complex.
If you take as an example Salisbury, the city where I live. All the schools are pretty good but there are two exceptional grammar schools (girls and boys) which although State run, have an entrance test. Competition to get into these schools is fierce so if your children were to fail the test, they would be forced to go to another school which may not be the one of your choice. My son and daughter attended these two schools for their 6th form studies having attended another school previously.
The other alternative is to get the children into private schools (of which there are dozens of varying quality) The good one's are quite excellent and the not so good ones are probably still better than the ordinary state schools but of course you pay a premium for the 'privilege' and an huge amount per anum for the very best private schools - Rob

 

[miles_hot]

one of the shocking things about the Private/Public schools is that you don't have to be a qualified teacher to teach whereas you do to be in the state sector. Granted as in all things a qualification does not make an expert / competent professional but I was never the less shocked by that

Miles

 

[Dibs-h]

one of the shocking things about the Private/Public schools is that you don't have to be a qualified teacher to teach whereas you do to be in the state sector. Granted as in all things a qualification does not make an expert / competent professional but I was never the less shocked by that

Miles

Wow! Would never have known that! You'd think they would have to be - given what they charge!

 

[big soft moose]

one of the shocking things about the Private/Public schools is that you don't have to be a qualified teacher to teach whereas you do to be in the state sector. Granted as in all things a qualification does not make an expert / competent professional but I was never the less shocked by that

Miles

true but looking at the standard of some of the teachers in the state sector i'm not sure how qualified they are - for a start a lot of them are on GTTR , basically learning on the job, while even those with PGCE or BeD qualifications may be qualified to teach but not masters of their subject - for example many teaches teaching sciences did their original degree in stuff like equine science, environmental science, or biology - which while i'm not knocking the subjects per se - does not really qualify them to teach A level physics

 

[SammyQ]

Guys! Guys! Guys! Sweeping generalities, besmirching a whole profession with negative comments, Oh Please!!!!! Can we stick to hard facts - a la Mr Stoakley? If you know of a second-rate individual who is floundering, by all means have a go.....to his/her face, with evidence, with a pause for the object of your prejudice to reply. If, on the other hand,you are dealing out verbal/written napalm, with no discrimination applied,no objectivity employed and (apparently) no regard to the original poster looking to give his children a good grounding, but simply to give one of your hobby horses an outing, then you are in the wrong place.

But then, as someone who has only taught his Science - in a public school - in a team of 14 other specifically-qualified men and women for 30 years, what do I know?

Sam

 

[barkwindjammer]

:roll:

 

[brandy20]

Thank you all for your answers folks!

I have some constraints I must consider before choosing to come there.

The first is that I need a place not too far from an airport that lets me commute with Rome. As far as I know there's only Heatrow at the moment. Alitalia (my company) goes only to Heatrow and I think that it's the same for BA too. I could accept to live 1 hour far from the airport, 1 1/2 maximum.

Normally I should commute 3-4 times a month.

I'll go to the website suggested by Deejay for schools, to realize if this idea is feasible.

Luca

 

[promhandicam]

Trying to steer this back on topic :roll: I think that a lot would depend on what sort of budget you have in mind. If your main criteria is the ability to be able to commute to Italy then I would look at which airports are serviced by the budget airlines and work from there. For example if your office is close to Venice then you could fly from Leeds where housing would be a lot cheaper and you are close to some fantastic countryside. You may then be able to consider a private school rather than trying to get your kids into a state school which can be problematic if you don't have a physical address. If money is no object then you could consider Godalming and send your kids to Charterhouse and rent a nearby cottage. Both Heathrow and Gatwick are around 45mins away and London 45min on the train.

 

[Max Power]

Great reply Sam, nothing like getting it straight from the horses mouth :lol:

 

[mbartlett99]

Ciao Luca

I'm in a pretty similar position to you regarding work and having to be able to fly off to Europe pretty quickly and easily. Eventually chose Hitchin in Hertfordshire, nice countryside, good schools and I'm only 20 mins from Luton airport and 1 hour from Heathrow.

The other areas I considered were Thame in Oxfordshire and Chesham. Unfortunately none of these places are cheap but I can be most places in Europe within a couple of hours on the lovely Squeezyjet.

 

[big soft moose]

Guys! Guys! Guys! Sweeping generalities, besmirching a whole profession with negative comments, Oh Please!!!!! Can we stick to hard facts - a la Mr Stoakley? If you know of a second-rate individual who is floundering, by all means have a go.....to his/her face, with evidence, with a pause for the object of your prejudice to reply. If, on the other hand,you are dealing out verbal/written napalm, with no discrimination applied,no objectivity employed and (apparently) no regard to the original poster looking to give his children a good grounding, but simply to give one of your hobby horses an outing, then you are in the wrong place.

But then, as someone who has only taught his Science - in a public school - in a team of 14 other specifically-qualified men and women for 30 years, what do I know?

Sam

well both my parents are teachers, and I believe so is miles' wife so we do have some insight too - I'm not knocking a whole proffesion or dealing out verbal napalm - but it is a fact that there are many teachers who are not masters of the subject they teach, for example when I was at school i was taught CDT (ie woodwork) by the religious studies teacher, until he severed two fingers on a bandsaw - we were also taught geography by a german teacher, and physics by a mathmetician.

there are equally teachers who are masters of their subject - including my mother awarded "a science teacher of the decade" award a few years back who do not have formal teaching qualifications (my mother has a Dphil from Oxford in biochemistry but no Pgce or BEd)

This is not a private hobby horse moment either - it is highly relevant to the OPs desire to give his children a good grounding in that he will need to select his childrens school carefully regardless of whether it is a private/public school (in the UK private schools are confusingly known as public schools) or a state school. For example were he to settle near Thame he would havbe a choice of several top flight state schools offering arguably as good an education as many public schools - but equally he could also unkowingly select some extremely ropey schools in the edge of oxford

 

[pren]

I wasn't aware that private schools didn't require a formal teaching qualification. My good lady is a Welsh teacher in a state secondary school. She has a degree in Welsh language and literature as well as a PGCE qualification.

Due to budget cuts to her school, she is also having to teach IT and French. She studied french at school up until GCSE level and is currently managing to stay a couple of lessons ahead of her students in IT. She learns it and then teaches it. There is a Spanish teacher at the same school who is teaching her kids on the same basis. Both my wife and the spanish teacher are working under their respective heads of department in these subjects (they're not the only ones teaching the subject!!) and are supervised to ensure they are following the syllabus.

I don't know how public schools operate but I'd assume they'd use the tuition fees to only employ highly experienced teachers with an in-depth understanding of their subject.

 

[Chems]

Alitalia fly Rome to East Midlands as well which opens up the Midlands. Derby in the peak district is very nice. So much nice country side to choose from in England it would be hard choice to make!

 

[BradNaylor]

There seem to plenty of options to fly to Rome from Manchester - the UK's biggest airport outside of the London area.

http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/flights/Rome/Manchester/

Living costs are a lot cheaper up here, the people are friendlier, the schools better, and the countryside infinitely more beautiful!


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