The driving forces behind your move to the UK will very much affect how you approach moving your family’s schooling. Most families fall into one of the two following categories:

i) You are considering a move to the UK and can relocate of your own volition

If you are considering a move to the UK within the next few years, and intend to take your time about it, then you are one of the lucky few!

We would first suggest seeking immediate visa and immigration advice (if required), and plan to arrive for the next standard school entrance point of 4+, 7+, 11+, 13+, or 16+. This approach will give you the widest range of school options. You can find further details in Top School Guide’s applications guides section.

Of course, you are also welcome to schedule a chat and to use us as an initial sounding board.

ii) You need to relocate within the next few months for work or personal reasons…

…then this is the relocating an education guide for you. Read on!

Sending out tens of copy-and-pasted emails to schools is not going to get you good results. Yes, you will need to move quickly and flexibly, but first take the time to outline and prioritise your family’s relocation requirements. The move has to work for everyone.

You’ll need to consider visas, entrance points, curriculum, future plans, locatoin, lifestyle and budget. Let’s have a quick look in more depth about key considerations when relocating an education to the UK.

i) Visa*

The most common scenarios are:

• Your employer will sponsor your visa. Your children will therefore be dependents under your visa and entitled to apply to schools in the same way as a British citizen.

• You are relocating to the UK as an investor or entrepreneur. Again, you should be allowed to bring children under 18 as dependents.

• Your children need a school to sponsor their visa. This significantly reduces the range of schools available, and is therefore best avoided if possible.

If you have no idea about your visa/immigration options then you are best to seek professional advice first: It will be the first thing schools ask, and they’ll need clarity before you can progress further.

*Top School Guide is not authorised to provide visa and immigration advice, and this outline should not be considered professional or personal advice. We can introduce you to qualified immigration professionals if you wish, and it is also worth referring to updates on the government website for information on visas and immigration.

ii) Age and Stage

You’ll need to figure out exactly when you plan to arrive, how old your child will be at this point, and what stage or year group they will therefore fall into.

For example, if your child’s DOB is in February 2012, you’ll be looking for an 11+ (Year 7 place) in September 2023, or Grade 6 if you are going for an IB curriculum school.

Refer to the following table if you need to identify your child’s required Year Group/Grade.

iii) Curriculum

On the subject of curriculum, you should know whether you favour the local curriculum (English or Scottish) or the International Baccalaureate curriculum. This will have a huge influence on school choice, and is very often dictated by how your young person’s education stage aligns with your long and short term plans.

If you need an overview of the differences, take a look at Top School Guide’s curriculum guide.

iv) Long and short term plans

Curriculum choice is closely related to your long and short term plans. You will (hopefully!) have an idea of whether your relocation to the UK will be permanent, or if there is a high chance that you’ll move on again within a year or two.

If you are staying long term, then opting to take the local curriculum will give you a wider range of school options.

However, if it’s likely you’ll be moving on again whilst your young person is still in education, then it could be wise to retain the inherent transferability of the IB curriculum. It is extremely challenging to move schools part way through the 2 year GCSE or A-level programmes, so avoid having to do so at all costs.

More on this later!

v) Location and Lifestyle

One of the first questions we ask relocating clients is where they’ll be working. Often it’s in central London, sometimes there’s the requirement to be near an airport. It is now quite common that hybrid working is possible, meaning you could consider a longer commute if it is not a daily occurrence.

Let’s assume you will be working in the City of London. The UK’s public transport system means that you could potentially live somewhere urban, suburban, or even semi-rural, all within an hour’s commute.

So think about what suits your family best, be it a buzzing apartment in Knightsbridge, or somewhere a bit quieter and greener.

It certainly pays to have a general idea about what you want, but to be flexible. Most relocating families will prioritise finding the best school, and then find a suitable place to live thereafter.

vi) Budget

State schools are free. However, it is extremely rare that you’ll be relocating at the perfect time during an application window. This means the most in-demand state schools will likely be full.

In addition, to get in a great state school you need to live very close by. As a result, house prices and rentals near the best state schools often have a huge premium.

Private (independent) schools are fee-paying. A day school could cost anywhere between £8k – £35k per year.

As a vague rule of thumb, independent school fees tend to increase as your child gets older, and generally increase the closer you get to London. Specialist “international” IB or overseas curriculum schools can also carry a premium.

If you already have an idea of where you plan to live, check out typical rental or purchase prices on Rightmove or Zoopla. Most available British properties end up on these sites.

It can pay to tally up your accommodation, transport, and education costs. Ff you are moving here for work, tyou may still have time to negotiate adjustments to your relocation package.

Review your considerations as a family

Before moving onto the next step, review the above 6 considerations and make sure you have as specific ideas as possible.

As always, Top School Guide would be happy to chat over any of these points with you in more detail. Just submit an enquiry and let us a know a convenient time to set up a video call.

Top School Guide’s school admissions advice focuses solely on private/independent schools.

It should come as no surprise that those who are willing and able to pay for their young person’s education usually enjoy a better experience. This applies to both the application process and the educational outcomes.

But if an independent education is unaffordable, here is a quick summary of how you can go about relocating to the UK and getting a place in a state school:

i) Decide where you want to live. You can then identify good schools on the OFTED site and call schools directly to ask about available places in your child’s year group.

ii) You won’t be able to register with the Local Authority for a place until you have a confirmed residence within that school’s catchment area. So if your target school does have an available place, try to rent somewhere asap to get hold of a signed rental agreement! You’ll also need confirmation of your child’s right to a school place (i.e their visa.)

iii) Hope that you can get the paperwork in place before someone else.

Frustratingly, you are a little hamstrung when trying to relocate an education to the UK’s state school system. Timings and the administrative process work against you, and more than a little luck is required.

When going for a state school might be a good option

For older students, the potential for disruption and academic/social pressures are much greater. We would therefore recommend pulling out all the stops to relocate them to the best possible private school, if you can.

But, for younger children, you might have a bit of wiggle room. If they are under 11, it is perfectly acceptable to relocate them into a “Good” rated primary school with a welcoming community and active PTA.

With a  bit of research, you can target areas with good academically selective grammar schools at 11+. If they are successful on entrance exams, your child could go on to enjoy a free education at an academically selective state grammar school.

You could alternatively use the money saved whilst they are in a state primary school to invest in a more personalised and well-rounded education at a private senior school at age 11+.

How NOT to relocate an education to the UK

Whatever you do, it is best to avoid arriving in a location you know little about, then contacting the Local Authority to ask them to provide a school place for your child.

Chances are that the best options will be full, and the Local Authority has no obligation to provide you with a school you like. What you’ll end up with is a lottery.

Going down the state school route always means you have less choice and less control about what you end up with. But if circumstances dictate that you must go down the state route, then make sure you do the legwork and have your plan in place well before you arrive.

If you’ve got this far in the guide, it means you are ready to relocate your child’s education to a top private school in the UK.

So here’s how to go about it:

1. Know what you are looking for

Make sure you have outlined your family’s requirements as follows:

Location:
You’ve agreed 2 or 3 locations that look like they fit your work/travel commitments, lifestyle preferences, and accommodation budget.

Curriculum:
You’ve assessed if and when you are likely to leave the UK in the future, and chosen the most appropriate curriculum. If you are still not sure, you can find more information in our UK schools’ curriculum guide.

School academic level:
Review your young person’s school reports to help you target schools of an appropriate academic level.

Keep in mind that higher-ranked schools in the UK are more competitive to get into, and generally in more demand. And, whilst most private schools can cater for the most academically-able students, you don’t want an A* student to end up in a school where they’ll feel underchallenged.

School environment and personality:
You’ll need to outline some preferences about schools. Do you want urban schools, or prefer more fresh air and outside greenery? Single sex or co-ed? Religious? Traditional conservative ethos or a more progressive and liberal outlook? Uniform? Sports, Art or other subject specialisms?

Work with your young person to prioritise what is important to them. Creating a wishlist is a good place to start.

Age and stage:
You know when you want your child to start, and what Year Group or Grade they’ll be joining.

Visa:
You know what the situation and what the timelines are. Schools will ask and will be unable to take things further without clarity.

2. Build up a list of target schools

Use our school filter to get started, narrowing down schools by curriculum, age, gender, academic level and more of those key priorities.

You have the option to build and submit a shortlist and, when you submit this to us, we’ll get in touch to discuss suitability and chances of a successful application.

However, most families relocating an education to the UK are applying late or out of sync with the standard entrance points. This inevitably means reduced availability of places so, at this stage, you will likely need to cast the net wide and make this a fairly long list of target schools using 2 or 3 suitable locations as your starting point.

At this point, don’t be too picky: You’ll need to get some confirmed school opportunities before you whittle them down further.

3. Prepare your documents now

Most schools will request:

• The past 2 years of schools reports (name and date each report clearly as PDF files)

• Any relevant Ed Psych report

• Any additional pre-tests or assessments

• Passport page, possibly birth cert

• Personal statement (sometimes mandatory, ALWAYS beneficial)

• Proof of visa status

4. Get calling

Before you pick up the phone, please prepare yourself for inevitable rejections. So many relocating families we speak to will be looking to join at a non-standard entrance point, but want a top 10 London school. Sorry, but it’s extremely unlikely to happen: Most of these schools will have very specific registration windows – and a waiting list as long as your arm.

At this point, you are really just calling around to find available places in your target areas. Keep an open mind and stay positive.

When you do get an encouraging response, be ready to ask further details to gauge how well the school meets your requirements, and get details on the next steps.

You will likely need to move quickly, so have those application documents ready to send with an email introduction about your family, and an explanation of why the recipient school is of particular interest.

5. Apply decisively

After an afternoon or two of calling around the best independent schools on your longlist, you should now have a handful that have confirmed availability and interest in your young person.

Now is the time to get all family members together to assess the options. You’ll need to apply quickly to 2, or a maximum of 3, schools.

Most schools will allow relocating students to sit entrance tests overseas and interviews online, provided suitable test invigilation can be guaranteed. So you should well be able to register and get offers in hand before you even set foot in the UK.

However, it is not easy to make a final decision without having visited each school and sussed out the local neighbourhood and some suitable properties.

So whether it is all of you or just one parent, make it a priority to have your family visit before making a final decision.

Top School Guide can help you relocate an education to the UK

In addition to providing this useful free guide on relocating schools to the UK, Top School Guide also offers bespoke school application services.

As mentioned, going down the state school route is something of a lottery and is not something we can influence or help with.

However, if you are looking to find the best private school for your UK-bound family, we will certainly be able to help. We already know the schools and where places will likely be available. So once we know more about you and your young person, we can contact and match you up with the best available schools.

In some cases we can open otherwise closed doors, and our experience will save you a huge amount of time and stress. After all, most relocating families find they have enough to be getting on with already!

Our school relocation services include:

• Initial discussion about your family’s preferences, priorities, timeline, prospects and strategy.

• School report analysis and discussion of past and future education with your young person/people.

• Provision of online aptitude test if it is deemed useful in supporting applications.

• Contacting suitable schools and providing you with a report of recommended schools which have confirmed available spaces and interest in your application.

• Further support managing all school communications and application processes on your behalf, if required.

• Help preparing student personal statements, provision of level-appropriate practice entrance papers, interview practice.

• Continued personal and unbiased advice for parents.

• Continued motivating and supportive mentoring for students.

Please get in touch to arrange a no-obligation initial chat to find out how the land lies and ask whatever initial questions you may have.

Wherever you are from we very much look forward to welcoming you to the UK, and hope we can help you find the very best independent schools for your family’s move.

+44 1892 862554

hello@topschoolguide.com