Family Stories
Planning a move abroad brings a series of decisions, and schooling is often one of the most significant. When looking ahead, it isn’t always clear how early choices might shape not only the first years in a new place, but the options available to children further down the line.
The reflections below share how different families approached those decisions, and what became clearer with experience.
Before the First Move
Before our first international move from the UK, schooling was the part we found hardest to get a handle on. We knew it mattered, but it was difficult to know how much it should shape our wider decisions when so much else felt uncertain.
We were trying to picture what everyday life might look like once we arrived -work, routines, settling in - and school sat somewhere in the middle of all of that. Important, but not easy to prioritise when we didn’t yet have a feel for how things would work in practice. We wanted to make a sensible choice that would give us a solid starting point, without fully knowing what would become more important once the move started being real.
Looking back now, we can see that school influenced far more than we expected. It shaped routines, how we managed our professional commitments and how quickly everything else began to feel workable. It turned out to matter even more than we realised.
School as the Constant
I’m a single father with two young daughters. My work involves moving internationally every few years, often with limited notice. From the beginning, I knew that schooling would play a major role in how my girls experienced these moves.
Initially, I focused on curriculum recognition, language of instruction and how easily transitions could be managed. What I underestimated was how important emotional safety would be: for my children and for me as a parent.
Over time, school has become where my daughters rebuild confidence, form friendships and find continuity when everything else changes. It has also become my gateway into meeting other parents and creating my own social connections.
Looking back, I now understand that when a school fit is right, daily life feels calmer and more secure. When it isn’t, the effects are immediate and unsettling. When that part works, the rest of life feels much easier to manage.
When the School Fit Changed
We moved internationally with three children, first to a large global city in 2021 and recently to a much smaller island community.
In the larger city, we felt choice and academic standards were the main advantages, and we were really pleased with the incredible facilities of practically all the schools we researched. In the smaller setting, we expected fewer options would mean simpler decisions. Because we were only interested in accredited international schools, we also expected offerings would be similar to what we had become used to.
What surprised us was how very different each school felt even within a small island community. Scale, relationships and expectations were different in each context and, while we were initially concerned about what seemed like a down-grade in facilities and infrastructure, we decided to place our children in a much smaller, community-orientated school.
This brought an entirely new dimension to their education and to our lives as a family in general. We decided to embrace this change and we are thriving.
We learned that when our children feel recognised and build strong social bonds and relationships with their teachers, family life settles more easily. We came to understand that school choice isn’t necessarily about the best system or facilities, but the right social and emotional fit at that moment.
Raising the Bar
We relocated internationally as a family while balancing demanding professional lives. Our priority was to find an established, accredited school that would allow us to settle quickly and provide a solid base for our children, while still allowing us to travel between locations for work.
On paper, the school met our requirements. It followed a recognised curriculum and appeared to offer a broad, international education. We expected it would provide sufficient academic stretch and opportunities within the school day.
Over time, we found ourselves supplementing more than expected. Additional tutoring and external activities added complexity to already busy routines. While workable initially, it became clear that this balance wasn’t sustainable as our children grew older.
Now, as we prepare for another move that will coincide with our eldest entering secondary school, we are approaching school choice with greater intention. We are thinking carefully about academic standards, structure and long-term pathways, and how schooling can realistically support our children and our family life over time.
Looking back, we’ve learned that accreditation alone doesn’t guarantee the right fit. What matters for us is whether a school’s provision genuinely aligns with our needs and expectations when the aim is to settle for the long term.
