Moving abroad with children requires a lot of planning in advance to make the transition as easy as possible for everyone. There's no doubt that you'll be faced with hitches along the way, but everything that you can do to prepare in advance for your children's new school needs will help you move your whole family overseas successfully.
Specialist agencies have helped hundreds of teachers and their families move to new teaching jobs abroad. This is the advice they have to offer for anyone moving overseas with school-age children, whatever the reason for your move:
Find out what schools are available in the area that you are moving to. Your company may well offer one, or a limited number of schools that you as a family can send your children to. This may include full payment or a contribution towards school fees. Make sure you know exactly what your company is paying for and the additional costs that you will incur. Tuition fees can just be the start of the expenses with costs for such things as uniform, resources and school trips ending up being very extensive.
Investigate the curriculum your children will be learning in their potential new schools. It may well be a school delivering the English National Curriculum or a curriculum that your children have learnt in their home country, but the approach to learning and the standards may be very different. Your child may well have done some of the work before or may have missed out on parts of the curriculum.
Be prepared for your children to be learning alongside many children where English is their second language. Some parents see this as a very positive experience, others feel that their children are being disadvantaged. Your child may be one of just a few children in the school speaking English. This may be an issue when it comes to making friends. Children can feel very isolated in situations like this or may end up in a very tight group of 'friends' they may otherwise not have chosen, just because of language similarities. Help your child to prepare for this, suggesting ways to make friends through non-verbal actions.
Check out the pastoral care provided within the school. Some schools have an onsite counsellor or assign a pastoral head of year, some schools have a buddy system for new children. Some schools are much better than others at helping new children settle.
Organise an interview with the Headteacher of your children's school upon arrival in your new country. Disclose all information about your children at that point in time; the more the school knows about your children the better they can support them. At this meeting schedule follow-up meetings with the Headteacher so that you can be sure of regular updates on your child's progress as they settle into their new school.
If your child is joining an international school where many expatriate children attend, then expect the school to be the social as well as the learning centre for the community. Parents are often far more involved with school activities, there may be regular family-oriented events and usually plenty of opportunities for parents to volunteer support. This all helps everyone to settle in quickly and easily.
Learn some simple phrases in the host country's language before moving out. Once you're there, use them when you can. This will not only help you to settle in with the local community but will also show your children what a difference making an effort with your local language can make.
Research sport and social clubs in the local community that your children may want to get involved with. It's a great way to get to know local people.
Go in open-minded. Moving to a new country opens up huge possibilities to become immersed in a different culture and this can be a very enriching experience for the entire family. Don't limit your new life entirely to the social community created from the school; be prepared to look further afield. But in your first few weeks, your children's school can be a common ground to help make friends, share experiences and feel a little bit of home away from home.
http://www.findteachingjobsoverseas.co.uk provides services to teachers trained in countries with English as a first language. Particularly the UK and USA but also Australia, and New Zealand amongst others. Our website provides information to help find teaching jobs abroad, teaching jobs overseas, and teaching jobs Europe.
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