Hi,
hoping someone can give me some advice.
I am a single mum and a registered nurse.
I am eligible for dual citizenship and as soon as my divorce certificate comes through next week, plan to apply for my UK passport. Once we have been living there for a couple of years I believe my daughter can apply to become a citizen as well (so long as I can prove I have sole parenting responsibility, but thats another post).
My youngest child is 14 (almost 15) and we are thinking of moving to Fife for the start of the new school year so she would go in to S4 (I think). She is currently in year 10 here in NSW Australia (11th year of schooling) however she is one of the younger ones in her year and I think she would benefit from repeating the first half of her 4th year so she can get settled before highers as well as completing the full year of schooling for pre-requisites for highers (thoughts?)
I have sufficient savings to support us for over a year if needed although obviously I would hopefully have a job well before that. I would ideally like to get a job lined up before we leave, even one that may help with relocation costs etc. Struggling to find an agency that can source that, plenty from the other direction (Scotland to Australia).
The main concern my daughter and I have is in relation to her schooling. She is worried that moving schools halfway through high school would cause her problems with university later down the track (yes I have pointed out to her that if we move now then she would be eligible for local rates for university there as opposed to international student rates if she decides later on that she does in fact want to go to uni there). Does anyone have any advice around the differences in schooling and if that has any negative impact on prospects with university.
My thoughts are that she would be enhancing her schooling by experiencing another country and culture and that it means she would have additional options if she is unsure what country she wants to go to uni in (possibly wants to do something in medicine or science, so not cheap courses).
I realise that much of this for her is the fear of the unknown, she is a rational teen (unusual I know) and if I can present her with logical arguments then it might be enough to convince her.
I also realise that yes, I am the parent and technically could just override her on this decision, however I want her to feel she has at least some control over her life as circumstances have meant that she hasn't until recent times.
Many thanks for anyone that is able to offer some insight, it is greatly appreciated.
