neil248

Very interesting, I would have thought it better to have you child in a class of like minded peers and have a quality experience at school rather than be a so called big fish amongst a bunch of idiots.

jad n rich

It was interesting 2200 kids and among the ' idiots ' as you call them, were many teachers kids and the IB stream which son did for 2 years.

Outside of the IB, you didn't have a traditional class with a set teacher. You didn't even have an assigned room or locker. Just a backpack and a timetable. Every lesson was a mix of the 360 kids in grade 12 depending on the subject.

He came out with a great OP, second language, choice of UNI in 2 states, and saved us about $90,000 on the private down the road.

In a private he would have had a class and a teacher and been pushed to work. In state he learnt if you dont do the work you dont get the result. That I think will be more useful in UNI, and life.

In our local catholic he would have been educated for under $5000 a year, but he was honest enough to admit the hour a day of religious studies would be hypocritical as he is an atheist. It also seemed to have an almost all surf kids mix, well non mix. He met a wider range of people by going state. Yep some you would not want to mix with but hey thats life.

Shipton

It appears that Qld has a totally different system altogether. In NSW it isn't complicated at all so guess you should come to NSW.

chris955

I personally wouldnt be moving once kids started secondary education as it is hard enough for them as it is. When we recently moved back to the UK our boys were literally in the last few months of primary and actually did about 5 weeks in the village primary first before moving up to the seconday school. Their education should be the primary concern.

cinderella

Here is my dilemma. Our plan is to move August 2015 to QLD. Eldest with be starting 3rd year of uni in Sheffield and his is placement year and can be completed anywhere in the world, so he is not an issue. 2nd son, with have just been given his A level results and is not sure what he wants to do at Uni, so may have a gap year, so also not an issue. No 3 my daughter will have just completed year nine and would be starting year 10 the start of GCSEs is september. She is my issue. Would she be starting a similar block of study /exams at the beginning of the following school year commencing 2016?
Any advice welcome, thank you.

Bermudashorts

Sounds like you should time your move so that she joins year 11 at the beginning, at the right time for her age group ideally. She doesn't need GCSEs in Australia.

Are you citizens? Or do you need a visa? If you need a visa and don't have it yet, ensure you get it whilst middle son is in full time education and not on a gap year.

cinderella

Thank you for your reply. I am a NZ citizen been in the UK a long time so my kids have dual UK/NZ citizenship.
So I need to get my head round the school years now. Would my daughter be starting your year 10 at the beginning of the school year2016? she is born Nov 2000.
Thanks again.

TimbersBack

if your kid is about to begin their GCSE's then let them complete them in the UK.

Coming here the entire curriculum is different.

KA2002

Thanks Chris for your feedback, i agree with what you have said and this was the reason for me asking the question as i don't want him to be uprooted from a great school and end up in a school where he is unable to flourish a lot to think about

KA2002

Thanks again for your great advice

Shipton

The problem is that there are so many factors which normally determine when and why your family would be moving to Australia. All I know is that sometimes if we wait to try and get all the ducks in a row, then you never make the move. If it doesn't make any difference to you when the family goes to Qld, then wait the extra two years. But if there is a reason for coming in 2015, then just do it. If your daughter is doing very well then no doubt she would be able to catch-up or adapt to a new curriculum if she starts in Year 10 or Year 11 - it depends on how much work she is prepared to do. My kids have been to many different schools and they all adapted well and two of them have been working back in London for the last 5 years so the world is a very small place. My daughter is a lawyer and subsequently passed the English Bar Exam as well so the changes obviously didn't do her any harm.

Kapri

One of the things I really stressed about before we came, was schooling.
My daughter went to an ofsted outstanding state school and was in an accelerated learning stream. I worried I wouldn't find similar here, and to a degree, that's true.
However, she is adapting to school here and is doing ok. She is working just as hard as she did in the UK.

I work with nurses, doctors, OT's and social workers, and as Bermuda Shorts has already said, there is no difference in standards between my Aussie and UK colleagues.

My primary age son enjoys school much more here as primary school isn't as test oriented as it is in the UK.
Don't stress

riccardo1888

I find that oz schools are behind in education. U.K. schools are miles ahead however a national curriculum is currently being worked on in Oz.

A plus side to Oz is they're is more physical education and being outdoors plus no pressure to wear or spirt high fashion designer shoes, bags etc.

That's my view I hope it helps.

chris955

I think your second point very much depends on location, in a city in either country I think you would find the pressure to conform to fashion etc to be the same. For instance we are in a rural area and there is certainly no such pressure.

riccardo1888

Yeah we are rural also. The uk puts unwanted pressure for fashion and definetly creates bullying.

In oz most formal uniforms can be cringeworthy so fashion is out the window anyway hehe