He is 12 and has to negotiate a fairly difficult journey already over here, his Grandmother lives round the corner from the school too so at least he will have someone nearby if needed.   He will be playing football more locally outside of school yes, so hopefully he will be ok...

I've sent you a message xx

We're in the catchment area so he wasn't although all his male friends were. He was really keen on rugby when we first came and it's taken him a while to get back into playing soccer. He's left now and with the exception of one boy who has gone to work in the family business all his school friends are at university which is an indication of how academic the focus of the school is. I have a couple of friends with children at JC in years 8 and 9 in the music and drama programs and they're happy and both doing very well. I know they put a lot of effort into settling in new starters and possibly because of the focus on the arts it has a very gentle tolerant atmosphere. My son commented often on how he never saw the sort of bullying and conflict he saw in the UK.  As for making friends, if he joins a local football team he will make more friends near to where you live which is what my son has done.  How old is your son? Is he quite streetwise? The traffic around the school in the mornings can be horrendous. 

Thanks for the reply Deb, Was your son in an excellence programme and is he still there?, yes being far from home will make it more difficult to make school friends, we have that here already and he has just about managed to have a decent balance and has friends locally.