Good afternoon ! I hope you all enjoy a wonderful Sunday !
We are in the heart of the summer, yet for some of us the summer has arrived to its end or it ends soon, since the time is limited to chose a school for their kids. Deciding to relocate is one issue. Deciding on which school to register your kid is another. Yet though, there are so many parameters to take into consideration...
Time Restrictions
Many schools give an admission deadline for January before the beginning of new school year. In the case of expat families though, there is the possibility of a late enrollment.
But what about your side ? It's ok if for example you accept a job offer let's say in Spring or early Summer. There is plenty of time to prepare yourself and the children, make an easy-going research about schools, house etc. There is even the time to travel (at least if we are talking about the same continent) at least once or twice to arrange all the procedures, to visit local schools and walk the neighborhoods you have initially chose through the internet.
Even if you accept a job offer in the middle of the school year, let's say in January, again there is the solution to make "partial moves". One leaves, the rest of the family follows when school year finishes.
But what if you accept a job offer end of July or mid August...? Hmmmm.... Too long for half of the family to stay back and pay all the expenses X 2, too short notice to have everything in order until 1st of September for the first school bell ! So ? What are you doing then? One solution would be to chose the "partial" move as we said before, if of course you can afford it. The other solution could be not to waste a single second and start running... ! BUT, run in an effective way and not like a headless chicken !
What I mean is that spare a moment and write down the core issues setting up your top priorities : Home and Schools. Map the zone you will move. Where is you job ? How do you plan to move every day ? Are there homes/schools there or is your work in an industrial zone ? What is the closest city/village, are there schools there ? what kind of schools ? check also if there is a ranking system. That would be really helpful for your choice. Calculate distances and take into consideration traffic and unpredictable conditions into consideration.
Financial Restrictions
What if there are no public schools close to your job or what if the schools you found are of low level and you have to chose a private or international school ? Bingo... ! Again, it depends. For example, there are companies paying the school fees for their employees when transferred abroad. Some other companies include home and school expenses in their relocation packages; of course there is also the category of the companies paying nothing than the salary. In that case, you could either chose a long distance ride to your work or a home education.
Quality Restrictions
Let's say you have the time to be prepared-or not-, you have the money -or not- and you find out there are no schools with adequate educational system. What then? In this case, the reply is not so easy. Either you check the level of "inadequacy" those schools are and you decide, or you chose home education, meaning discipline, time and a huge effort.
Language Restrictions
What happens now If your kid doesn't speak the local language and either you don't afford or you want for your reason to chose a public school? Fortunately, as experts say, children are like sponges and within 3 months, the majority of expat kids are able to speak the local language and they face no educational issues both in their school and social life. Additionally, for private schools- there is the possibility to register your children in extra language supporting courses. In the case of a public school, if you see that your kids need extra help, you could always address to the local expat community where you could find private teachers to help.
From all the above, it's needless to say that the decision about a school is a riddle to solve taking a lot of factors into consideration. If you have the time, make a deep research, contact the schools and plan your visits. If not, make a very strict filtering and proceed the soonest possible.
In any case and under all circumstances the key here is to be calm in order to make the wisest decisions for you and your children.
