We are in exactly the same position. We have moved from between the commons to New York ( upper west side) this week. My daughter is 2.5 years so would start nursery this year - September and I am a little confused about the best nursery to go for !

When are you moving out ?

We moved over here 2.5 years ago - a friend just forwarded your post and suggested that I respond, so here goes...

School does start a year later for most kids - a school-year cohort is 1 Jan - 31 Dec rather than 1 Sep - 31 Aug. Kids start school the September after all have turned 5, so if your child was born at any point during 2011, he or she will start school in Sept 2016.

I'd second what the previous poster said about considering living outside the city for schools. We live in Larchmont, in southern westchester, 30 mins from grand central and right on long island sound. It's lovely and the schools are great - that's why a lot of ex pats live up here and in Rye, just along the coast. Once you're outside the city, your child automatically gets a space at your local school if you're in its catchment area, even if you move there the day before school starts, so a big change from the UK. no worry about the application process... In the city, it's a bit more complex, as there are also charter schools that don't admit purely on where you live - a lot of these are really good, really oversubscribed and admit by lottery. However, in areas like Brooklyn, the local catchmented schools are also good. I've got British friends there if you want me to put you in touch (not sure where you're planning to live). Private school is prohibitively expensive, and outside the city, pretty much everyone sends their kids to the local school anyway.

On preK, there's loads of options. In the city, De Blasio has brought in universal preK (like the 16 free hours that you get in UK), which is what i guess you're thinking about applying for? OUtside the city, that doesn't exist although virtually all kids go to preK 3 and preK 4 (based on their age).Or there's loads of private stuff. There will be a waiting list for the good ones, but you'll find a place. I guess you need to decide where you'll live first (or maybe you have?) and work out from there. no state-run place will start the admissions process until you've got a lease signed.

And I could waffle on about educational differences, but this post is already quite long! suffice to say that we're really happy with the standards of education in this district (we moved to this district specifically because of the schools as my son is in special education) but it varies hugely - affluent places have good schools, poorer ones generally don't. Happy to talk some more or put you in touch with friends in city if that's where you're moving to.

Good luck!

Not sure if you have sorted accommodation yet but if you are happy to commute 30minutes into the city each day southern Westchester is great. The majority of areas here (Bronxville, Scarsdale, Pelham) have excellent state schools, so no need to go private.
We moved here from Battersea in December and I'm really enjoying it.

There are major differences in the philosophical underpinnings in education between the two systems, but that is a whole different conversation.

Practically, the biggest differences are in the early years (4-8) and again from age 14+. The middle years have little perceptible differences other than terminology and approach.

In the US, full-time ed doesn't really start until 6. Age 5 is Kindergarten, and many schools only have this as 1/2 day. Most families will have had their children in pre-school prior to this for 1-2 years, or more depending on the working status of the parents.

A major difference is that the early years are much more an exploration: experiential, social, holistic, child-centered and encouraging of self-motivation in the States. There are many who pursue the Montessori approach, and this approach is found even in state Kindergartens. There isn't as much push for the basics behind reading and writing until developmental variances even out (even past Kindergarten until grade 1 or 2). Whereas here, reading and writing is focused on heavily from age 4. In the US, when developmentally most children are the same, they move very quickly through those skills and the standard would be about the same as here by age 8. (Think of analogy to walking: some kids can do it at 10 months, some not until 20. If you tried to push all kids to walk at 13 months, it would be a bit of a battle, but they'd all come around and start running and kicking balls by 24 months).

So if your child starts in the States and moves back here for year 1, they will be a bit caught out. However, if you are there until year 4, they will slot right in.

Another difference is the freedom in most cases to make your own decision on the readiness for your child to start school. Many parents in the US who have a late summer baby will choose to start their child a year later. This creates a wider range of ages in each class. Also, if a school feels your child is more capable, they may move them up, regardless of age, or hold them back if the opposite is true.

My two eldest started in the States, and we have been here now for 6 years (I have four) so I've really experienced the differences. If you want to have coffee to talk through the approach you might want to take, I'd be happy to! Living abroad can be very challenging, and education is so important, it helps to have all the information you need!

We had a stint in New York when my boys were little so the older one started in nursery there. It's a much 'gentler' start to education- he wouldn't have started full days at school until the equivalent of Y2 but obviously does make work a bit tricky as you have a v long time of 12:30 pick-ups!

I hope you've got a very good package though - we didn't negotiate hard enough and dh was on 'local hire' conditions- we ended up moving to New Jersey as we couldn't afford the eye-watering rents in NYC itself

Watch out for ludicrously expensive pre-schools as well - a friend was paying my more for part-time kindergarten than it cost to board at Eton (her daughters did have Robert de Niro's children in her class though so maybe it was worth it )

There is an amazing Private American school in Cobham called ACS Cobham. Its starts from 2 and goes up to 18.

They are very welcoming and would probably be able to give you a lot of information about the difference between the US and UK education system.

Its the school I would send my child to if I won the lottery and I'm not American.

A friend who moved back to the US recently found that her daughter who was about to go into Reception here went into Kindergarten there. Grade one (start of elementary school) is roughly equivalent to Year 1 or 2 here (ie they are usually about 6) but the cut-offs for ages are slightly different and even vary between school districts. In this case her other daughter was born in September and was one of the oldest kids in her UK class but is now the youngest in the class over there. Some of the schools they looked at would have placed her in the year below though...
Not all school districts have free pre-school/Kindergarten provision so you may have to pay for this too. Basically, if you know where you want to live, you need to check out how it works in that particular area as it is not universal.

We're moving to New York for 3 years (I know, a dream posting!) and have 2 sons aged 3.5yrs and 9months. I'm trying to work out the differences between the US and UK systems - from what I see, most 'pre-schools' in America go from 2yrs to 5yrs and 'school' actually starts later at 6yrs. There's also a lot of reference to play based learning and Montessori approaches - it this true or is my google browser biased?!

If you have any knowledge of American schools (perhaps you've moved from there to Clapham!) any help would be much appreciated as I'm getting really confused and apparently now need to be applying ....!
Thanks in advance.