From where I am, almost everywhere is Up North (and therefore grim).

Ice should be able to find furnished lets. Quality won't be anything special, I'd imagine (and remembering my old student accommodation).

Most lets are unfurnished. Ikea is not a bad place to look and their stuff starts cheap. Second hand will get you bargains, but consider how you're going to move that three-seater! Maybe phone a friend.

Cheers!

As a Londoner, if you can get a 2-3 bedroom DETATCHED house, you'd be doing really well.
Of course, prices are a bit skewed near London, and letting is a bit different I guess... still...

BUFF, don't feel too bad that us southerners don't take too much account of Scotland, otherwise you chaps up there would end up seeing more of us going on caravan holidays

it's bad enough as it is! :O
I live about 1/2 hour away from 1 of the most scenic places in the world (Loch Lomond) & I avoid it like the plague for most of the year.

Still, just think of that nice long drive each way with the kids in the back screaming (hopefully that's put you off ).

Well, I expect to be going to the UK with a bunch of other nurses, and we'll be living 3-5 per house for some time, so I expect there'll be some helping hands when the time comes.

Been watching the Discovery channel and figured that I can either get a bike OR a car before I move in my family to the UK. I guess for all practical purposes, I'm going to have to put off getting my dream bike for now. Grumbles, shucks, and all other comments.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me about schools in the UK? I hear education is free, but is it any good?

Sent off my NMC application forms, hope to be hearing more good news soon!

State education is free but there are also private fee-paying schools available - strangely in England these are often called public schools when in fact they are very restricted .
As for the quality of state schools some are excellent, some are pretty poor & others run the gamut in between. However, a lot of information is freely available as to their perfomance levels.

From my point of view in North London, it goes like this:
You have 2 types of state schools (comprehensive, for normal people, and "grammar" schools, for clever elitists) and private schools, which is for rich upper class elitists. Like me and pretty much everyone else, you'll probably going down the "comprehensive" type of school, which makes up probably about 90% of the pre-adult education in the UK.

As for which precise school you go for, well... that's a tricky question that you'll have to figure out based on league tables and local information. The only thing is that it's very difficult to figure out which is which just based on the league table information - it is very possible to be in a school that has very good staff but crap league table results because of their intake (disadvantaged/difficult ethnic backgrounds, for example).

On the other hand, most schools fall around the "average" mark, so by and large, you should be okay. You see a lot of stuff in the news about panicky parents not wanting their kids to get stuck in a craphole of a school (plus the whole post-code lottery) but as with all things in the media, this is very much a marginal situation.

Oh, and yes, state education is free.
However, school uniforms usually aren't, and textbooks, especially when you get to A-level standard (age 16-18, if you're in it for the long run) can start to get a bit pricey.

How "pricey" are private schools? Like, how much for a school year? Should I strive to put my son on a private school? Or are public schools good enough?

Gopher, I don't understand what you mean about "grammar" schools. Is it like Science high school here wherein the curriculum is more science-based? Also, what are league tables?

I was told that to put my son in a particular school, I have to live in a particular area (catchment area was the term). Any truth in this?

Hi Ice,

The catchment area thing is true - It's worth knowing where the better schools are. Being near a good school does not guarantee a place, though (good schools don't have many spare places).

The UK's state education system is not too bad. The school year is September-July and kid's usually start at 4-5 years old. Secondary education (10-11 years old to 16 or more usually 18) is mostly at what are called Comprehensive Schools. These may have different names - many specialise in stuff like science or the arts and call themselves colleges or academies.

The old Grammar School system is a leftover from history and places are gained by entrance exam (the 'Eleven Plus'). They may be elitist, but will give a good education and can be a real springboard. They are rare though, I only know of one and it's 30 miles from where I live. Most schools became Comprehensive forty odd years ago.

All UK state schools are regularly examined by a govt organisation called Ofsted, which publishes a league table of all schools in the country. The results can be slightly influenced by a clever school, but give good general guidance.

Fee paying schools (the 'public' ones) are damned expensive.

Cheers!

Fee paying schools, which everyone that I know calls "private" (or boarding, though they aren't necessarily the same) can range from four to five figure numbers, depending on prestige. Forget it.

I only know of one proper grammar school in my old London borough, although there are plenty of comprehensives that still retain the word "grammar" in their name.

Vitesse's point about "specialist" comprehensives is also a point to note - if a school is a specialist in physical education or arts (more the former) then that's a sort of rule-of-thumb indication that they're not necessarily that good. 'Course, that could just be my London instincts again.

Vitesse, so what happens if I live near a good school, but they don't have a place for my son? He will be in 1st grade by the time I move my family to the UK. The agency guy even suggested I move them on July or August, to give them a month or two to settle in before the school year starts.

So if I understand this correctly, "Grammar" school is good, "Comprehensive" is the average, and any school that "focuses" on arts or whatever is crappy, yes?