British School or Area in Miami? (Tampa, Orlando: 2014, home, neighborhoods)

[Wrights-Abroad]

Hi,

We are a British family of 4 who will be moving to Miami in 2014. We are hoping to ask for advice on schooling and where to live.

I’ve seen other posts recommending various places to live, however, I would like to ask a few things, if possible:

1. Is there a British school in Miami?

2. If not, where do Brits attend school, if money isn’t an issue?

3. Where is the best area to live?

4. Most cities we’ve lived in, while abroad, typically have an area that most British & Europeans tend to live in. Does such a place exist in Miami?

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Wright Family

[soulsea]

Hi,

When you say 'British School' do you mean one that's in the context of A/O Levels?

If so I've actually never heard of such a thing in the US in general. There are some (not in Florida) that do something called the international baccalaureate program but obviously that's a different structure.

Many moons ago (early 80's) I went to such a school in Athens Greece called Campion, in fact that's how I learned English ... I'd also be interested to know if there are such schools, it might actually convince me to have children.

13 years ago I ended up marrying a lovely young lady from Renfrewshire, so that's how I keep my British connection going ... that and a steady importation of Frazzles.

[MiamiRob]

The ex-pats live all over the place in Southeast Florida. I heard there were close to half a million ex-Pats living in the Miami metro area.

[doggiebus]

Originally Posted by Wrights-Abroad

Hi,

1. Is there a British school in Miami? Never heard of a "British School" in South Florida.

2. If not, where do Brits attend school, if money isn’t an issue? We have discussed the best private schools in Miami in this thread. https://www.city-data.com/forum/miami...ols-miami.html

3. Where is the best area to live? Take a look at the map link, it should help you to determine the better areas from the bad areas: Miami Neighborhood Map

4. Most cities we’ve lived in, while abroad, typically have an area that most British & Europeans tend to live in. Does such a place exist in Miami? I haven't noticed one, I think the British don't congregate in just one area in Miami.

This should help!

[unclealbertt]

Any beach community, urban core, Coral Gables, and Pinecrest. Parkland up in Broward has tons of british people too for some reason.

[Wrights-Abroad]

Thank you all for the quick responses.

soulsea - Yes, I was hoping there would be a school offering GCSE's & later A-Levels. The IB diploma is a decent option but from personal preference and experience with other international schools, I feel the robustness of the English National Curriculum is superior , primarily due to the style in which teachers approach teaching by engaging students rather than setting lessons as with the IB. Also, one of our big concerns is that the IB doesn't require any sort of qualifications in order to become an IB teacher. i.e. IB schools can self-qualify their staff. With GCSE's and A-level's, actually even in the early years, teachers must be qualified through a government body.

doggiebus - I really appreciate the effort you took in your response. The links are useful indeed.

unclealbertt - From the places you mentioned, including Broward, which of these areas has the least crime/best family environment? From what I have read on the the various forums, it seems that quite a few of these areas back-up into bad neighborhoods. Is that so?

As our company moves us around quite a bit, we would like to create some form of stability for the children. We do want to be a part of the general Miami community but would also like to be around a decent population of Brits so that our children have some elements of home surrounding them. Is Broward a good community? Would you say there are more Brits located there than say in Pinecrest or Coral Gables?

Again, a big thanks to everyone who took time to respond!

[bale002]

Originally Posted by Wrights-Abroad

As our company moves us around quite a bit, we would like to create some form of stability for the children. We do want to be a part of the general Miami community but would also like to be around a decent population of Brits so that our children have some elements of home surrounding them. Is Broward a good community? Would you say there are more Brits located there than say in Pinecrest or Coral Gables?

Again, a big thanks to everyone who took time to respond!

Broward is too broad, it's a huge county, as is Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach County, among the biggest in the US at least by territory, and by population some 7 million overall.

To me, significant population means, among other things, the ability to, indeed, affect local school curriculum.

To my knowledge, there is no significant concentration of Brits anywhere in the tri-county area. I believe there may be some in the Orlando-Tampa Bay area. Contact the respective British consulates for details on where the British population live and may be concentrated in Florida (it may be nowhere in particular).

The consulates should also have some recommendations on schools, but you already have your answers: no British schools in Miami (there is a French school - the French concentrated in Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Pinecrest), your best bet in Miami is Coral Gables/Pinecrest and the Gulliver School, among a few others (see the list), perhaps try the coastal areas, though those feature some concentration of Jewish and nowadays Russians populations (a few Italians in Miami Beach, downtown, Coral Gables).

In addition to the French school, some public schools, notably in Coral Gables, offer language and culture curricula approved respectively by the German, Spanish, and Italian governments. There are plenty of private Jewish schools, especially in the Miami Beach and Aventura areas, but also Pinecrest, and I expect the Russians to start to establish something, probably in the Sunny Isles area, within a generation, while the Latin American populations seem to be content with sending their children to the already established private schools, exemplified by the fact that, despite being here for several generations now, there are no private schools to speak of in the Brickell and immediately surrounding areas.

As for Broward, you are limited to a few pockets and specific municipalities: one or two neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale itself, Cooper City, Weston, Parkland as mentioned (but not sure about any British population there), perhaps a few others along the coast, but, again, I do not believe that there is any significant concentration of Brits in any of these locations, maybe some folks from the English-speaking Caribbean.

But, again, check with the British consulates for any information they may be able to provide. My guess is that, for any significant population of Brits, you may have to focus on the Orlando-Tampa Bay area. If there are any in the tri-couty area here, they are not very noticeable, like the French and Germans, for example (hear a lot of French, know some French families, see a lot of German license plates).

Good Luck!

[Wrights-Abroad]

bale002


Wow, I really appreciated the detailed advice. I will take you up on this and contact the consulate!

Again, thanks for taking the time to post, extremely useful stuff.

[Lo Maximo]

If you're a football fan, I know Brits gather at Churchill's in Little Haiti to watch games: Churchill's Pub

[lulu6094]

Hi,

I have seen all the above posts and understand this conversation happened last year and I may be too late ask questions.
I am a Private English tutor and English native however most recently living in Moscow as a tutor. My work has brought over to Miami a number of times and I really like it here. I would like to ask if you found a 'British School' or something similar which may be suitable for an English Tutor to work in?

Any information would be gratefully received.

Many Thanks