carolinephillips

I beg to differ. If you have represented your school/club at national level you get bonus points, to recognise the time spent training and away from the classroom attending meets. In the case of one of DD's schoolmates who was in the Australian swimming squad for the junior olympics, she got 5 bonus points. It would have given her an ATAR of over 100, so she didn't actually need to use them to get into uni. Not all sports people are dumb!!
You can also get sports scholarships to uni.
DD was a state level swimmer, so although she trained up to 7 times a week, she wasn't deemed good enough to get any bonus points. You do have to be very good indeed.

The ATAR is a mark given for your results in the HSC, and it depends on how well you have done in your subjects, but is altered by the weighting given to each subject and your ranking given by the school for each subject. It is somewhat like the Uni admissions points in the UK, except that everyone who takes the HSC gets the ATAR mark, whether they are going onto uni or not.

Shipton

My apologies....I didn't realise that the mark used for university entrance was called ATAR. I thought it was called something else so please accept my apologies.

I checked on the ATAR website and it said

"Does the school I attend matter?

No. The school attended does not feature in the ATAR calculation. The ATAR calculation is based only on marks provided by the Board of Studies NSW; no other information is used."

The ATAR website has lots of information.

But I don't know enough to agree or disagree on your other comments re sport played giving you bonus points. I know that if there has been a tragedy very close to the HSC exams, then allowance is made for this and bonus marks can be added.

Hope all this information that everyone has provided helps someone with their decisions.

carolinephillips

The school itself doesn't matter, but each school ranks its pupils in order for each subject they take. This is based on the marks they get for their trials. If a pupil does much worse than expected by the school then their mark is moderated, this is also the case if the pupil does better than expected, when the mark is moderated downwards. It happened to one of DD's friends, who did unexpectedly well in one of her exams- she'd worked really hard to get a poor mark up, and got a higher band than predicted. Yet when the ATAR came out, her mark had been reduced by 5. I really don't think it is a fair way of doing things IMHO.

IndieG

In my daughter's school, the SAC (subject tests) ranking was not based on trials but on the cumulative marks attained on every individual SAC (and they had at least 6-8 tests in each subject throughout the year).

I've only just worked out how the subject scores are calculated and it is so complicated! VCAA (VIC curriculum & assessment authority) claim the system is fair - some schools mark their children more harshly in the SACS whilst others are very generous with their marks. I'm still not sure whether or not the system is fair.

When my daughter moved here into Year 9 (from a British Curriculum school), I cannot recall her mentioning it being too easy or it was stuff she had already covered in primary/years 6-8. She went to a state school (selective) and I guess just like any other school there are some good and some really awful teachers (just like in a private school). The standard in years 11 and 12 (VCE) is definitely high and competition at the top end of her cohort was intense.

I'd suggest you come here as early as possible so that your kids are Aussie citizens at the time of entry into University - in case they require loans to assist with their tuition fees. This is because only citizens are eligible for FEE-HELP/HECS-HELP (Higher Education Loan Program). http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/Stud...%20booklet.pdf

paulry

I agree. When we came here I was in favour of going private but my wife wanted to send them to state schools - for good sound financial reasons really. Expensive enough to move to another country without the added burden of paying for private education. I'm very glad her opinion won the day. Before we got here we did research to identify the best state schools and moved into those schools catchment area. Both my lads have thrived and are doing very well, the eldest is in his 2nd year at uni now and the second has just begun college.

We came over at the beginning of our eldest's GCSE year, let him have a few months off while we traveled and he started year 11 the next February. The alternative would have been us waiting while he completed his GCSEs and having him begin his year 11 the next year instead. No right answers to this one - whatever each family's preference is really. Best to ask the students' opinion though. The thing to remember is years 11 and 12 are like an A level course so a person will be unable to start half way through year 11 or the beginning of year 12.

Mine are a bit like that. Both are doing very well, one through hard work, commitment and self-discipline and the other because he's extremely clever but lazy until revision and exam time - a win-by-the-skin-of-his-teeth kind of lad, the little (well, 6 ft 2) bugger. Both love sports

Yeah, I've never fully understood how they do it but marks can get moderated up or down dependent on how the rest of the school and other schools in the state do ...or something like that. I'm not a fan of that system.

paulry

That's good advice.

We've had to pay the first two years in full because we're not yet eligible for HECS. We don't even get the prompt and full payment discount.

Molly Coddle

Yeah, it seems that we may end up having to do the same.

cinderella

Dear Shipton,

We have been waiting for years to get all our Ducks in a row (I like that). It is impossible to get the perfect time when your kids are older, we should have moved when they were little. Then we had a lovely mother in law to look after, sadly she has passed away August last year. We have now got to the stage that we feel we just have to make it happen. If we don't do it summer 2015 we would have to wait until daughter has finished A levels, so another 4 years from then. Can't come now as No2 Son just started A levels. I have been member on here since 2002, so you can see the pull never goes away.
Thank you for your thoughts.

brits1

Hi, each State in Aus has different forms of education if I were going to WA I would migrate before year 11 starts at High School as that is when Tee's start, if you child does not want to go to Uni then he would not really have to do the formal Tee's which are similar to the Scottish system, like an English A level but not quite. Gcse's are not really the equivalent of anything in WA. Good luck with everything

Shwarmakarma

Shipton, I was very interested to ready your post. My daughter is at Oxford High in year 7 and has been there since year 2. We are seriously considering moving to Perth (Joondalup) in either September or December. I have looked at schools in the Perth area and there is one called Perth Modern School for gifted and talented students. I feel a bit presumptuous applying for such a school but I wonder, in your experience, if I'm being faint hearted?

I also need advice on which year group to enter. My daughter was born in August so has always been the youngest in the class. If we were to move in September - in her entry to year 8 in the UK - what should I do about which year to enter her into for school? Should she join year 7 and 'repeat' the end of the school year she just completed?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Shipton

Hi.

Oxford High that my daughter attended is a selective high school so I am not sure which Oxford High your daughter is going to if she was there in primary school.

I must say that I know nothing about schools in Perth so I'm sorry but I can't give you any advice re the particular school that you are looking at.

Regards which year to put her in, I would definitely start her in Year 7 assuming you come back say in the September. Carly's birthday was in the September and even though she had done a year of high school in Oxford, she went into Year 7 at the local high school for the last term (we arrived back in the September). She was accepted in to Year 8 at North Sydney Girls High and started the following year. Applications for acceptance in Years 8 and above at selective schools are made directly to the school. I realised that they liked a "complete package" in applying for year 8 and above, unlike entry into Year 7 which was based solely on the result of the one exam that they all take. She was an outstanding athlete in different sports. It depends how many kids have left the school (moving overseas or interstate) as to how many vacancies there are in Year 8.

I called the Dept of Education in Sydney (from Oxford) and spoke to the section that dealt with entry into selective schools and they were very helpful in advising me what to do and what the criteria was. They sent me information and were happy for me to call back for further clarification. I am guessing there is something similar in Perth. Sorry that I don't know anything specific re Perth's education system.

My son gained entry to North Sydney Boys into Year 7 by sitting an "international examination" in Oxford. I can't remember if there was one or two exams. This exam/s is obviously set to test intelligence (I am assuming this?) so the student wouldn't be disadvantaged if he/she had been following a different curriculum in the UK. This was arranged by the education department in Sydney and held at his local primary school in Oxford under very strict conditions. There was a supervisor provided by the testing company and he obviously did the exam/s on his own. His local primary school was very helpful in facilitating this and he was able to sit the exams at the school....which was great as it reduced the stress for him. His birthday was the end April so he was going to be young for Year 7.

Hope that any of this helps. I would be contacting the Education Dept in Perth and talk to relevant people in the selective schools section. They would know what the situation is in WA, and maybe some advice about the particular school you are looking at and what is your best course of action. If you don't get a helpful person, call on another day until you do get someone who is helpful. The people in NSW couldn't have been nicer and made the whole thing easy for me. cheers

carolinephillips

My daughter completed Y7 in the UK at a grammar school, and was put into Y7 for the last term when we arrived in late August. It gave her time to make friends,find her feet and get to know the school. She didn't have to take the end of year exams either!! She is now at Uni, so it did her no harm to "drop back" so to speak. She is a January birthday but was young for her age, so going into Y8, which she could have done academically, was better for her socially, and it gave her extra time to mature before taking Y12 exams.

(My grandfather was Acting Head of Oxford High back in the 1950s!)

paulry

If you wait until you have all your ducks in a row there's a risk you'll never do it and your emigration options will turn into a pumpkin (sorry, couldn't resist ). You really need to make a plan and if need be force it to happen. Did you eventually use your USA DV lottery visa?

carolinephillips

Quoting myself, to put in the words I missed out and it wouldn't let me edit.

Shipton

Hi Caroline Fancy your Dad being an acting headmaster at Oxford High in the 50s!...was it a selective school in those days. Totally agree with everything you said doing a term of Year 7 and then going into Year 8 the following year. Carly has been working as a lawyer in Guernsey for the last 5 years and has just got engaged so not sure when she'll come back to Sydney!!!!!