By Lucy Castillo

When a family relocates to a new country, there are a hundred things to organise. The home. The logistics. The paperwork. The routines that need to be rebuilt from scratch in an unfamiliar place. But in my experience, there is one decision that carries more emotional weight than any other. The school. Because everything else in a relocation can be adjusted. A house can be changed. A routine can be rebuilt. But a child’s experience of arriving in a new country — feeling safe, feeling welcomed, feeling able to adapt — sets the tone for everything that follows. For the child, and for the entire family around them.

This Is Not Just a Logistical Decision

I am a qualified early years educator. I have worked with children across different countries, cultures, and family environments for most of my professional life. And what I know — both from my training and from years of experience — is that a child’s ability to adapt to a new environment depends enormously on how that transition is managed. A small child does not understand why they have moved. They do not understand the new language, the new faces, the new routines. What they understand is whether they feel safe. Whether someone familiar is nearby. Whether the adults around them are calm. When a family arrives in a new country without the language, without contacts, and without anyone who understands the local system, that transition becomes significantly harder. Not impossible — but harder. And the impact is felt by the child first.

The Moment That Stays With Me

I remember a young family — a footballer who had just moved to Europe, his wife, and their baby daughter. They spoke no English. They knew nobody in the city. And they needed to find a nursery for their daughter so that the mother could have some time during the day. As it happened, I already knew the nursery they were considering. Children from another family I had worked with for years had attended there. I knew the staff. I knew the environment. I knew it was a good place. When I arrived at the nursery one day on an unrelated errand, I found the mother there — looking uncertain, unable to communicate with the staff, holding her daughter and not knowing what questions to ask or how to ask them. The moment she saw me — someone who spoke her language, who knew the place, who understood both worlds — she was visibly relieved. Not because I solved anything in that moment. Simply because she was no longer alone in it. I stayed with her. I spoke with the staff. I explained the adaptation process — the way a good nursery introduces a young child gradually, starting with short visits, building slowly, always watching how the child responds. I offered to be present during those early sessions so that her daughter had a familiar face nearby while her mother could not stay. That conversation was how she became my client. Not because of a CV or a formal introduction. Because in a moment when she needed someone who understood, I was there.

What the Right Support Actually Looks Like

Finding the right school or nursery for a child in a new country is not simply a matter of searching online and booking a visit. It requires understanding what the family is looking for — their values, their language needs, the child’s personality and stage of development. It requires knowing which institutions have real prestige and which simply appear to. It requires understanding the local system well enough to ask the right questions and interpret the answers honestly. And it requires sensitivity to the adaptation process — because even the best school in the world will not work if the transition is not managed carefully. Children need time. They need consistency. They need someone who understands that the first weeks matter enormously, and that the support a family receives during that period shapes everything that follows. For families who do not speak the local language, this support becomes even more critical. A translator for the first meetings with teachers. Someone who can explain the school’s approach and culture in a way that actually makes sense. Someone who can be present during the early days so that the child — and the mother — does not feel alone.

Why This Is Part of My Work

I include education and school placement as part of my relocation and settlement services because I have seen, repeatedly, how much it matters. A family that finds the right school quickly settles faster. A mother who feels confident about where her child spends their days is able to focus on everything else the relocation requires. A child who adapts well becomes the foundation on which the whole family’s new life is built. This is not a side service. It is often the most important one.

UPDATED AUTHOR BIO FOR WEBSITE

Lucy Castillo is a Private Household & Lifestyle Operations professional and qualified early years educator with more than 25 years of experience supporting private families, professional athletes and international households. Her work spans household operations, education and settlement support, international relocation, family logistics and high-trust private environments. She is also the founder of Curve Luxe by Lucy Castillo.