Santa Clara, CA

There is a chance that we might be moving to the Santa Clara area in a year or so.  Does anyone have any first hand experience in living around this region?  I'm most interested in education-we have one child with special needs and one child that is quite able.  Any thoughts on parochial schools would be good as well.   
 It would be a job transfer, so I'm looking at DCF as well (MrRed5 had a green card for 10 years and gave it up when we moved in 2005).  We will be filing without a sponsor, as no one in my family would be able or willing to.  Our thinking at this time is that it is better for him to go over on a green card instead of getting the company to obtain a work visa. 
Thanks 

I grew up near there! Parochial schools: I'm fairly conversant with the high schools but I believe your kids are younger?  My mother taught at St Lawrence (in Santa Clara) for a few years in the 80s and Sacred Heart (in Saratoga) until almost 10 years ago.

http://www.harker.org/ is the hoitiest-toitiest of the private elementary schools and is entirely secular. It's the kind of school you put your kindergardener in when you've decided they're going to graduate from Harvard Law Summa Cum Laude.

Here's a list of private schools in Santa Clara County: http://www.baprivateschools.com/santaclara.htm#santa clara.  It's worth mentioning that it's a fairly large county and Morgan Hill, for instance, would be at the far side from Santa Clara (city of).

And happy belated birthday 

I grew up near there! Parochial schools: I'm fairly conversant with the high schools but I believe your kids are younger?  My mother taught at St Lawrence (in Santa Clara) for a few years in the 80s and Sacred Heart (in Saratoga) until almost 10 years ago.

http://www.harker.org/ is the hoitiest-toitiest of the private elementary schools and is entirely secular. It's the kind of school you put your kindergardener in when you've decided they're going to graduate from Harvard Law Summa Cum Laude.

Here's a list of private schools in Santa Clara County: http://www.baprivateschools.com/santaclara.htm#santa clara.  It's worth mentioning that it's a fairly large county and Morgan Hill, for instance, would be at the far side from Santa Clara (city of).

And happy belated birthday 

Thanks noirem! You are right, the girls are 10 and 7 (years 5 and 2).  I would like to send our girls to a Catholic school but we will have to see how far our $$ goes.   
If we do make the move we will be going from an expensive part of England to an expensive part of the States.  Based on what little research I have performed so far there are some decent public schools in the area.  I think the challenge for us is to be able to afford to live in those areas. 
Thank you for the birthday wishes as well-the day was wonderful, what isn't so wonderful is turning 43!

Hi Red 5,
I am from that area (Willow Glen) and have 3 kids, ages 9,12 and 14.  I am pretty familiar with the schools in San Jose, Campbell, Cambrian, Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga.  Feel free to PM me and we can talk more.

Picking a school is a big challenge. The public schools in Willow Glen are not high performers, so my kids ended up going private - Mulberry School in Los Gatos, Almaden Country School for middle school, and my oldest starts at St. Francis for high school in the fall.  My brothers' kids have gone to 3 Catholic schools and are finally happy with Holy Spirit, in Almaden.

There are a lot of choices, depending on what you are looking for.

Hi Red 5,
I am from that area (Willow Glen) and have 3 kids, ages 9,12 and 14.  I am pretty familiar with the schools in San Jose, Campbell, Cambrian, Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga.  Feel free to PM me and we can talk more.

Picking a school is a big challenge. The public schools in Willow Glen are not high performers, so my kids ended up going private - Mulberry School in Los Gatos, Almaden Country School for middle school, and my oldest starts at St. Francis for high school in the fall.  My brothers' kids have gone to 3 Catholic schools and are finally happy with Holy Spirit, in Almaden.

There are a lot of choices, depending on what you are looking for.

Thank you for your reply!    Sadly, it now appears that the job may not materialize.  Both MrRed5 and I are quite bummed at the moment-but we have come to the conclusion that it would be best for our family to move back to the States in the next 4 years (before our youngest starts secondary school). 
If we do end up moving to the Santa Clara area I will definitely PM you.