Moving to the UK to teach - Experiences

Starkystark

Hello everyone,

I am mainly aiming this at people who have experience of moving to the UK. I will be starting my NQT year in September in a school in Kent. I am heading over the 10th-14h of this month to sort out accommodation. I also hope to sort out my phone/opening a bank account and getting my national insurance number. The recruitment agency I'm going with has said that they would help with this at an induction day on the 26th but I want to try get these sorted as soon as I can. Does anyone have any advice on sorting these out?

Also I really really want to bring over my car as the school I'm in is quite rural and I don't want to live near it. I hope to live in a town. Does anyone have experience of this? Selling my car is out of the questions as I have only just got it and am madly in love with it.

Any help I would greatly appreciate.

Dave0301

Will be starting my 3rd year teaching over here in September, and like you, I moved over as a NQT. I am quite close to Kent as well.

In terms of the teaching aspect, it may be a shock to the system initially in terms of the workload, but if you manage your time effectively and keep on top of it, it does get easier. The first term will be the most difficult. If you have any questions regarding this, ask away.

Once you have an address, you will be able to get a bank account and a National Insurance number. If you look up the various banks online you can see which one would be most accessible for you, i.e. do they have a local branch etc.

To get a NI number you will need to ring up the application line and make an appointment at your local Jobcentre Plus, all the information you need about that is here. You will have a short interview, it is all very straightforward. You may need to prove you have a job, although your agency should help you with all that.

Not too sure about the car issue, as I came over without. Although a quick search here, and from elsewhere online would seem it is a bit of a hassle, maybe sell it and replace it with a similar one in the UK?

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

Starkystark

Hi Dave,

Thanks very much for your advice. It was very helpful. I'm expecting it to be a shock to the system - and all I hear is negativity about the workload. But is nice to hear that it does eventually get better. I did my PDE in Cork with school in the mornings and college in the afternoons - for the full year - so I'm expecting the workload and pressure to somewhat like this - hopefully a lot less!!!

How do you find living in Kent? Is the public transport good? Also did you find it difficult opening up a bank account - this question is rooted from a cousins experience of trying to open up one over there.

Samsara1986

Hi Starkystark, thought I would throw in my tuppence for you - I taught in a secondary school in Kent for five years.

As a NQT, as I am sure you are aware, you will get a lot of support and a slightly reduced timetable (I think it is 10% less). Ensure that you have been given this reduction (you probably have), as it is your right to receive this. On top of this, you will be assigned a 'NQT mentor' - someone within your department, who you should regularly see and be able to ask for advice/guidance. Also, you will receive regular observations of your teaching. All of these should be supportive and offer you guidance. From the teaching aspect, your first year will be a tough year (but this is the case whatever country you begin your career in!); however there are lots of systems in place to help and guide you.

Opening a bank account should be no hassle at all. If it helps, I went with HSBC and found their charges (overdraft etc.) very reasonable. Their internet banking is very handy also.

Kent is massive, so it depends on where you are going as to what it is like! The quality of life can vary immensely depending on what part of Kent you are in (for what it is worth though, I was in what would be considered a 'rough' area and still had a great time!). However, wherever you are, you will not be far from gorgeous countryside. The good thing about Kent is that London is so easily accessible via the great train network; you should avail of this ease of transport as much as you can!!

Good luck - you will learn lots!!

gubbie

Starkystark wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I am mainly aiming this at people who have experience of moving to the UK. I will be starting my NQT year in September in a school in Kent. I am heading over the 10th-14h of this month to sort out accommodation. I also hope to sort out my phone/opening a bank account and getting my national insurance number. The recruitment agency I'm going with has said that they would help with this at an induction day on the 26th but I want to try get these sorted as soon as I can. Does anyone have any advice on sorting these out?

Also I really really want to bring over my car as the school I'm in is quite rural and I don't want to live near it. I hope to live in a town. Does anyone have experience of this? Selling my car is out of the questions as I have only just got it and am madly in love with it.

Any help I would greatly appreciate.

I speak generally about this but this was all just my experience.

1) Accommodation: My experience of getting accommodation is that it moves very quickly. I've been over here for a year and am currently moving to Bristol. In both places, anywhere good basically goes straight away. If a place is good, don't delay!

2) Bank Account: I went with Barclays and they were so quick. HSBC wanted an interview to check that I could set up a bank account however Barclays said that they have some sort of arrangement for setting up bank accounts from certain countries and all we needed was our passports.

3) The car... I brought mine... and it was such a massive hassle I kind of do wish I'd just bought one over there. Do this:
- As soon as you get to the UK, fill out a NOVA form. It just says that you have the car in the country. You have two weeks to fill it out if you intend to register the car in the country. If you go over these two days it costs £5 a day extra.
- As soon as you get accommodation, get them to send one of these: import pack. Took like 3 weeks for it to come.
- You have up to 6 months being able to drive on your Irish plates. Irish insurance companies will generally give you a months insurance. Before you can register the car you need British insurance. My insurance company covered me for a month while I sent off the documents. If you're ringing up companies, ask them straight off, if they insure imports while you get it registered. Instead of taking your plate numbers they take your VIN number.
- Bring proof of no claims bonus, all registration documents

If you have any questions about the car, I don't mind you sending me an email about it. It was such a hassle and I would have loved having someone to help me! The amount of time I spent on the phone to the DVLA and HMRC... and no one knew what to do! Well, now I'm definitely an expert

4) Workload: I did my PDE in Cork. At the end of the year I kept all my resources thinking I'd definitely need these again... I just returned and threw everything out. What I thought before was good teaching was not good teaching! I've learnt so much... And the workload is... unfortunately greater. It does get easier though, and teachers actually help you! Don't be afraid to ask for help in the school. There is such a team spirit among staff in comparison to back home. You will get so used to people coming into your class and at the start USE one of your PPA's (free classes) to go see other teachers teach. They won't mind, and believe me, it'll help greatly. You will learn SO much.

lulufinn90

Everything said above is correct. Im in Sevenoaks in kent one year now. the hardest part was getting the car sorted. make sure you do your vat clearance as soon as possible. I had to get a type approval from Rennault which took a few weeks to get so you need to get on to that soon. Insurance was the hardest part as you need temporary insurance which must be done on a chasis number and will cost you extra for the first year as there are few insurance companies who will do it. all in all my expenses for changing the car was 800 insurance included. car tax is great though its only 30 for the year. once you send the forms to the DVLA you will have it sorted within 10 days.

Its not too bad over here. I was in DCU for 4 years so its a lot quieter to dublin but you get used to it and its only a 40 minute train trip to charing cross anyways.

If you need anything give me a shout on boards

CisaLarroll

Starkystark wrote: »

Hello everyone,

The recruitment agency I'm going with has said that they would help with this at an induction day on the 26th but I want to try get these sorted as soon as I can. Does anyone have any advice on sorting these out?


Hi i am an NQT an currently taking induction hours this year in Ireland. I will have a level 8 degree and my induction completed by March 2015. I am hoping to complete my probation hours/ dip, in the UK to become a fully qualified teacher but I don't know how to go about it. I have heard that it is easier to obtain primary school teaching jobs in the UK.
You mentioned that you are with a recruitment agency. What is the name of the agency and did you find it difficult to get a teaching job set up over there? Did you fly over for interview? I am hoping to move there in April and perhaps sub until the summer. Ideally I would love to have a primary teaching job set up for September 2015. Any advice on finding an agency or getting et up with a job would be appreciated.

Lisa

lulufinn90

CisaLarroll wrote: »

Starkystark wrote: »

Hello everyone,

The recruitment agency I'm going with has said that they would help with this at an induction day on the 26th but I want to try get these sorted as soon as I can. Does anyone have any advice on sorting these out?


Hi i am an NQT an currently taking induction hours this year in Ireland. I will have a level 8 degree and my induction completed by March 2015. I am hoping to complete my probation hours/ dip, in the UK to become a fully qualified teacher but I don't know how to go about it. I have heard that it is easier to obtain primary school teaching jobs in the UK.
You mentioned that you are with a recruitment agency. What is the name of the agency and did you find it difficult to get a teaching job set up over there? Did you fly over for interview? I am hoping to move there in April and perhaps sub until the summer. Ideally I would love to have a primary teaching job set up for September 2015. Any advice on finding an agency or getting et up with a job would be appreciated.

Lisa

Basically in the UK all newly qualified teachers have to do an NQT year which basically is where you get 2 additional preparation times (free periods) per week and you have 2 observations per term. one is with the subject leader who acts as a mentor and the other is with a member of the school leadership team. You then work with the subject leader to improve and get better at the job and get used to how things are done in the UK.

I didnt go with a recruitment agency as such. I turned up to a kent county council recruitment day. I was then contacted to attend interviews after. The best place to look for jobs is kent-teach or tes.co.uk. Don't rely on agencies there are certain ones that I shall not name that recruit for the schools that nobody wants to work in. The only good one that i have heard of is KS education. The agencies/schools usually pay for your flights over to interviews.You will also get asked to teach a lesson with the principal present to observe. some schools may give a relocation allowance (mine didn't).

AJG

Interesting thread... my own experience would be a little different.. I'd been working in Ireland subbing and taking any work I could get (graduated from a PGDE in 2008) and got sick of the temporary nature of it all and took the plunge to move to Bristol in January. I'd actually moved to working in youth work for the last couple of years (sub work had dried up completely) so hadn't taught in a classroom for a while... so I decided to take a support role for a year to see if I could hack the U.K. system... before taking a full time teaching role. I work as a Curriculum Learning Mentor (google it).

Long story short... I don't think I can hack it long term. I actually sat down with my deputy head to have a chat about it recently and aired some of my grievances but we both agreed that a lot of my issues are systemic ones rather than being down to individual schools. Teachers in the U.K. have far less autonomy, are under constant scrutiny and the workload is to be frank... insane. I've been watching from the sidelines as the profession over here hemorrhages people at a pretty steady pace. The staff in my school seem pretty overworked and the schools seem to get by on the goodwill of NQT's or teachers mainly under 30 who in fairness to them go above and beyond their duty (and to their detriment won't say no to any demand that senior management make of them)... They all seem to be working 50 hour weeks from what I can tell... and the kids don't seem to be benefiting from any of it. It all seems to be for Ofsted, management, etc. I'm actually convinced that grade inflation is taking place (although I can't prove it) because the grades don't seem to tally with the quality of work that students are producing. I could go on...

But as far as getting set up over here I was lucky in the fact that I'd spent a few years living in London in my early twenties so I already had a bank account and NI number.

In relation to the car it seems to be a bit of a grey area around driving it with Irish plates. According to what I read on the DVLA website you shouldn't really be driving it around at all but it took me 6 months before I sorted out a U.K. reg plate. As for Nova I just entered 0 and said the car was a gift. Got charged nothing and nobody chased me up about it (you declare it online yourself)... My insurance cover is still based in Ireland and I'll sort out a new policy once that runs out...

So my next move? I'm not too sure? I'm currently sussing out jobs that can capitalise on both my youth work/social care/education experience. I've also been debating going down the private tuition route. My current job is paying the bills at the minute but there isn't much scope for progression. I know if I did re-enter teaching I'd last a couple of years max. I don't really meet teachers over the age of 35 over here and they say something like 80% of people leave the profession within 5 years. I actually readily admitted to my Deputy Head that if I had come up through the U.K. system it's unlikely I would have entered the profession.

So to add to the fright fest it doesn't look like there will be much opportunity for the foreseeable future and the U.K. for all of it's faults is a much cheaper place to live (I swore I'd never move back, how wrong I was:)

Sorry to be overly negative but I guess having come up through the Irish system as a student and having worked as a teacher there it's coming purely from my hard won experience. I'd say if your young (under 30) and are new to the profession then go for it. I guess being little older than that I'm less likely to put up with the BS that seems to haunt the profession in the U.K.

Any points you want me to clarify... PM me.

gubbie

AJG wrote: »

Interesting thread... my own experience would be a little different.. I'd been working in Ireland subbing and taking any work I could get (graduated from a PGDE in 2008) and got sick of the temporary nature of it all and took the plunge to move to Bristol in January. I'd actually moved to working in youth work for the last couple of years (sub work had dried up completely) so hadn't taught in a classroom for a while... so I decided to take a support role for a year to see if I could hack the U.K. system... before taking a full time teaching role. I work as a Curriculum Learning Mentor (google it).

Long story short... I don't think I can hack it long term. I actually sat down with my deputy head to have a chat about it recently and aired some of my grievances but we both agreed that a lot of my issues are systemic ones rather than being down to individual schools. Teachers in the U.K. have far less autonomy, are under constant scrutiny and the workload is to be frank... insane. I've been watching from the sidelines as the profession over here hemorrhages people at a pretty steady pace. The staff in my school seem pretty overworked and the schools seem to get by on the goodwill of NQT's or teachers mainly under 30 who in fairness to them go above and beyond their duty (and to their detriment won't say no to any demand that senior management make of them)... They all seem to be working 50 hour weeks from what I can tell... and the kids don't seem to be benefiting from any of it. It all seems to be for Ofsted, management, etc. I'm actually convinced that grade inflation is taking place (although I can't prove it) because the grades don't seem to tally with the quality of work that students are producing. I could go on...

But as far as getting set up over here I was lucky in the fact that I'd spent a few years living in London in my early twenties so I already had a bank account and NI number.

In relation to the car it seems to be a bit of a grey area around driving it with Irish plates. According to what I read on the DVLA website you shouldn't really be driving it around at all but it took me 6 months before I sorted out a U.K. reg plate. As for Nova I just entered 0 and said the car was a gift. Got charged nothing and nobody chased me up about it (you declare it online yourself)... My insurance cover is still based in Ireland and I'll sort out a new policy once that runs out...

So my next move? I'm not too sure? I'm currently sussing out jobs that can capitalise on both my youth work/social care/education experience. I've also been debating going down the private tuition route. My current job is paying the bills at the minute but there isn't much scope for progression. I know if I did re-enter teaching I'd last a couple of years max. I don't really meet teachers over the age of 35 over here and they say something like 80% of people leave the profession within 5 years. I actually readily admitted to my Deputy Head that if I had come up through the U.K. system it's unlikely I would have entered the profession.

So to add to the fright fest it doesn't look like there will be much opportunity for the foreseeable future and the U.K. for all of it's faults is a much cheaper place to live (I swore I'd never move back, how wrong I was:)

Sorry to be overly negative but I guess having come up through the Irish system as a student and having worked as a teacher there it's coming purely from my hard won experience. I'd say if your young (under 30) and are new to the profession then go for it. I guess being little older than that I'm less likely to put up with the BS that seems to haunt the profession in the U.K.

Any points you want me to clarify... PM me.

What amazing insurance company are you with that they're allowing you to drive in a foreign country for over 8 months? I was told by 2 insurers at home that I couldn't get it longer than 3. My insurer here in England will only allow 30 days driving in foreign countries and even then that was an add on.

And how do you have english plates but irish insurance?!

AJG

It's through a fleet policy with a company I used to work for in Ireland (favours were called in). Like everything back home... 'it's who you know' (this applies by and large to jobs too).

The DVLA accepted the insurance cert so I guess it's all good with them... The policy runs out next year so I'll sort something out when that happens. But yeah I'd imagine that scenario is a pain in the arse otherwise. I know I waited over 3 months to get an updated registration certificate from the Irish authorities. But once I had my documents together it took only two weeks for the DVLA to issue a U.K. reg number and two hours to get plates pressed up.

This thread actually was a big help... it's actually the first time in months since I've written my grievances down. I've been in education for nearly 9 years and it only took 9 months of working in the U.K. to kill that off. They don't seem to do the work/life balance thing very well. The level of disenchantment among staff in the schools I've been in is palpable. So I'll see where I end up. Interesting times.