The terrible tragedy that has unfolded in the Ukraine has appalled all of us in the United Kingdom, but it’s impossible for us to imagine the anguish and stress that displaced families are going through. For those arriving in the UK with host families one of the immediate issues to deal with is sorting out school places for school age Ukrainian children. We have spoken to a number of local council education departments to put together a guide to help families needing to make applications for school places.

Over the last few months, we have been lucky enough to work with several Hong Kong based families embarking on a move to the UK and needing to find school places within the British state or private schooling sector for their children.

Unfortunately, there is evidence that some popular misconceptions are gaining traction in Hong Kong amongst families looking to make the move.

The pandemic has posed a massive challenge to everyone, no matter their age.

For families with school aged children and for those who might previously have sent their kids to early years/nursery settings, the pandemic has been especially difficult.

For relocating families coming into a locked down education system and understanding the options ahead of school places becoming available can be a nightmare, which is why the Advisers at Educatus have put together this list of helpful links. It signposts a wide range of online resources to help kids learn, whatever their age and level of attainment.

In new measures to battle the Corona Virus ahead of the vaccination roll-out, Primary and Secondary Schools in England have now been told to move to remote learning for most pupils until the end of the UK mid-term break in February. The only exceptions to this are for vulnerable children and children of critical workers - who will be able to go to school in person each day. Nurseries and other Early Years settings will remain open as they have done in previous lockdowns.

In what many see as the storm before the calm, an increase in the transmissibility of Covid 19 through a new mutation of the virus has seen the UK and the devolved Governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland taking further action to control the pandemic ahead of an ambitious vaccination programme. These new restrictions are running parallel with the UK’s largest roll out of the two authorised vaccines, with the newly approved and easier to store ‘Oxford/AstraZeneca’ vaccine now being administered alongside the ‘Pfizer’ vaccine across the whole of the UK.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a period of enormous change and uncertainty in most countries throughout the world. In many locations including the UK, children and young people were forced to experience the sudden and unexpected closure of schools, colleges, and universities quite early in the pandemic. Consequently, students (and their teachers) had to adapt to a new way of life very quickly - whatever that looked like, whether that be learning by ‘Zoom’ or specialised online platform, by parental home schooling or in some cases, receiving no education at all.

If you are relocating to the UK with school aged children, here’s what is happening with our schools:

If you are hoping to relocate to the UK this summer, the good news is that slowly, things are now opening up. With lock-down easing in the UK, schools are gradually opening and businesses such as retail, realtors and estate agents are now up and running. Given this positive news, businesses and individuals are now feeling able to plan that all important job relocation.

When families with children relocate, schooling is often the most important part of the move – and the most stressful. Families worry about how the children will make the transfer from one country and schooling system to another. They are concerned about whether the new school will be a good one and how the children will cope with language and curriculum differences. What’s more, the effects of the changes in environment, when they return home as well as when they leave, should not be underestimated.