This article examines migrant women’s encounters with formal and informal education in what can be termed new immigration rural destinations. It asks to what extent educational opportunities are realized in these new destinations. It displays that education aspirations may be endangered because of the desire to attain economic goals and thus need remedial action. Specifically, it refers to qualitative data gathered in rural (and remote) Boddington in Western Australia, and rural Armagh in Northern Ireland. The article engages with two interconnected dimensions of this migrant/migration experience. English is not a first language for the participants and it first explores the provision and consumption of informal English Language classes. In doing so, it shows the intricate social and cultural dimensions of community-based English language instruction. Second, it attends to migrant mothers’ perceptions of and responses to children’s formal education. The paper points out transnational senses of, and tensions around, ‘local/rural’ pedagogies and resultant migrant strategies.