Gwyneth moves to London full-time, prefers British schools

American actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband of three years, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, have decided to take up permanent residence in London, reportedly in order to take advantage of the English school system.  According to the Daily Mail, the couple — proud parents to Apple, who turns 3-years-old next week, and 1-year-old Moses — recently purchased a neighboring house in Belsize Park, and intend to combine the structures into one residence which will serve as their full-time home. 

They bought the house next to their London pad so that they can have more space.

In another recent real estate transaction, Gwyneth sold her lower Manhattan townhouse for $8 million, nearly double what she paid for the property two years ago.  According to sources, the switch to London from New York is directly related to the couple’s scholastic goals for their children.

[They] plan to put their children through British schools.  Gwyneth is particularly impressed with the English education system.

Source:  The Daily Mail

Comments

Gwyneth has made it clear that she preferred living in London for years now. I think even before she had kids. I think her moving to England full-time has little to do with them having better schools and more due to the fact that she wants to get settled in London full time before her kids start school. Manhattan has some of the greatest schools in the country if not the world. If Chris and Gwyneth had chose to stay in NYC, they could have easily found a great school to fit the type of education they want for their children.

- Dawn on May 6th, 2007

Yes, Dawn, that is true, but it’s also true that British education system is high above the level, and that when compared to Manhattan, London has got many more historical monuments…history, actually. Anyway, if she thinks it’s better for her kids, why not? And, I’m also certain it wasn’t all about schools that she moved full-time to the UK.

- Ana on May 6th, 2007

who are we kidding, Gwyneth Paltrow has had this horrible anti-America attitude for some time now. Untl she’s lookng for the paycheck from her latest movie…

- Gab on May 6th, 2007

I lived in England as a teenager and my husband lived there from the time he was a child until he was an adult. He attended British schools as a child before entering the dodds(military base schools)systems as a teen. The English school systems really are great and above the level of most state side schools. I can understand why she would prefer to have her children in them. If I could afford to move back to England so that my child could go to school there, I would.

- Heather on May 6th, 2007

Well, my husband is English and I have the same options as Gwyneth, and have chosen to stay in NYC. Though *generally* the British school curriculum is probably better as a whole than the NYC public school one, most of the public schools in London have actually suffered a similar fate to NYC schools and have gone downhill.

However, this is all pointless, since there’s no way Gwyneth will send her kids to public school anyway — and if we’re comparing posh London/NYC private schools, they are pretty similar. This is just another one of her anti-US slams, IMO.

She’s a product of a posh NYC private school, and feels so well-prepared from her education there, that she often speaks in an authoritative tone about a lot of thing – and talks about how educated she is…even though she never went to college. If a private NYC school was good enough for her, I’m sure it’s fine for her kids too.

- PSB on May 7th, 2007

I’m actually English and have only been living in the US with my American husband for 6 1/2 years,while i love the way of life here in Tx more than i did living for the first 28 years of my life in London i have to say as the mom of three kids i’d rather mine were educated in England as well .. i’ve got a 13 yr old daughter here in middle school and while parent/teacher communication is better here i feel she was learning more in England and at a better pace.

- Theresa Heath on May 7th, 2007

Having attended both an American high school and a British comprehensive, I can safely say that British secondary schools have a far nicer and healthier atmosphere compared to the American equivalent. None of that silly “hierarchical” structure among the students and those popularity contests that exist so prominently in American schools.
I was much happier in British schools than I was in the American, and I have actually decided not to ever raise children in America for that precise reason.

- Kels on May 7th, 2007

Totally agree, PSB. She has such an obnoxious, condescending tone whenever she talks about the US and especially when she compares the US to London. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
And to add to what you said about her going to a posh NYC school but not college-she apparently had very poor grades at Spence, the school she attended in NY, but because her father had connections, she was offered a spot at the University of California-Santa Barbara and either dropped or flunked out. I guess she was just too good for the public California higher education system. *sigh*

- Lauren on May 7th, 2007

While i agree, that prehaps British school have a more defined curriculum and “pace”, i’d much prefer any child of mine to stay in mandantory schooling until age, what? 20 or so, like in America/Anywhere else.

(Im not sure of the age requirements as i am British myself)

Unless your child is sent to Private school, you can leave at 16.. and arent required to attend college or Uni, its totally voluntary and optional. And, that is what i hate about my country lol.

Im 22, and at this particular point in my life. I’d much rather have being forced into schooling until this age, than the leaving at 16 and not really making anything produtive with my life – Other than being married and working in a bank lol.

- Dorkiee on May 7th, 2007

I laughed at that comment because we moved to the US specifically so that our son would grow up away from the British youth culture of bullying, cruelty, and antisocial behaviour. I grew up primarily in the US (to British parents) and my husband in the UK. We had been living in the UK, intending to remain there permanently, when I fell pregnant. We talked it over and felt that our son had the best chance of a happy and secure childhood being raised and schooled in the US. He will be attending private school, so I suppose that the “quality” will be similar, but the youth culture is very different here. Never easy, but we feel that things are a bit less nasty on this side of the pond. Time will tell…

- Nicola on May 7th, 2007

Look, even if British public schools are a million times better than NYC public schools, she’s still not sending her kids to ANY public school—so all of her comments are irrelevant and just said to be annoying. This is why she has gone from one of my favourite stars to one of my least favourite in the past five years.

She’s always finding reasons why America sucks and Britian is great (I think Britian is great too and hope we’ll be able to raise our kids half the year there too), but if she truly feels that way, why not just give up her American citizenship and become British? Oh yeah—she can’t make loads of money working within the British film indistry and she needs a US passport to work here.

The real irony is that on the whole, the British people loathe her (they find her really boring and condescending), and she’s always slammed in the press over there. With her bad attitude, she can’t win on either coast.

- PSB on May 7th, 2007

I think she’s moving to England because her husband is from there. If she wasn’t married to an English man, she probably wouldn’t move there. The English will probably tell her to go back to the U.S.A. anyway because she’s gotten so snooty.

- Mariyn on May 7th, 2007

I would think it was a practical decision, more than U.S. vs. English schools. Coldplay’s other band members live there, so it makes sense for the family to put down permanent roots in England, rather than NYC.

- josiekate on May 7th, 2007

She should just stay in England. I’m pretty sure she’s worn out her welcome in the U.S. anyway.
I get really tired of her constant anti-American slams (and I’m Canadian!).

- TwinMom24 on May 7th, 2007

I can’t blame her. Even though I think she’s a snob, there is validity to what she’s saying. My kid goes to a posh private school in Miami (granted S. Florida is a crap place to educate your child but…) with celeb kids and the kids of the ungodly wealthy and guess what? It’s still a sub-par school. There are better schools in the Midwest if you want your kids to go to private school.

And….get this, my kid’s teacher is English with an Oxford degree and told me that the standard for education in England is way higher than it is in the US. She meant state-sponsored and what we call ‘private’ schools. Even our privately-educated kids aren’t nearly as smart as English kids in similar schools. We are THAT far behind the rest of the world. America just seems to be getting dumber and dumber.

I say Gwyneth is smart and KNOWS the score when it comes to her children’s education. I wish I had her choices!

- zelda66 on May 7th, 2007

I think gwyneth is smart with a great attitude. She and Chris does what they feel is best for ‘their’ family. The press always twist her words around. She never said she prefers english schools, a “source” said it, but that it gossip for you and people believe everything negative about people, especially her.

- ppm on May 8th, 2007