MANDS14

Hi all

We are arriving in Perth on 1st Dec and we will have 2 weeks to find somewhere permanent to live and a good school with available places so that our 5 and 6 year olds can start school in Feb 2009.

As we're not really sure which area we are going to settle in until we have done a reccie round, I am panicking a bit about being able to do it all in 2 weeks. I would dearly love for the children to start school at the start of term with everyone else to help them settle in and I really would prefer not to start them somewhere and then have to move them again.

Has anyone done this in such a short time or is anyone else in the same boat? Do you think we are being too ambitious and should just accept they may start the term late? And does anyone know if you can sort out enrolments during the summer break?

And I can't get my head around sorting out all the kids christmas presents in the midst of all this!

Any advice please?

donna

A lot of the schools will enrol you the first day of term,so dont worry.
donna

SillyOldBag

My 6 year old daughter missed the first term of Year 1 this year and the first week of term 2. She has caught up really well and because she was something of a novelty she was made to feel really welcome.

In your shoes I would be inclined to try to look at schools but keep doing your homework over the Christmas period, talking to locals and save registering your children until early next year to make sure that you find the best school to suit you and them. Our school actually finishes on the 5th, but that's a catholic school which apparently often finish a week earlier, maybe that's a QLD thing.

Good luck with it all anyway - it's an exciting time but you can't help but worry about making sure you do the right thing by your younguns!

munch

Hi
If it makes you feel any better, we are doing the exact same thing, leave on 01st and have 3 children to enrol before the start of term. Just one of the many worries at the moment.
We have a holiday let sorted for 6 weeks in Clarkson but it is not the area we want to live was hoping we could secure a long term rental early January and then try to enrol them in a local primary, may have to be on the first day of term if they don't have an admin office open in January.
We have resulted to taking a suitcase full of christmas presents with us, just so we know they have things to open they really wanted because we have just found out our container is still sat in Liverpool waiting to sail, should have gone 4 weeks ago!!!!! Not happy, will be February before we see it - so no playstation or bikes for the kids for another 2/3 months.
Good luck with it all, where about's in Perth are you heading?
Debbie

Safin

We arrived with 3 weeks of term left this time last year. I enrolled the kids the day I saw the school ( looked at all possibles that first day!!) bought one uniform shirt each and sent them next day. I wasn't concerned about the work but wanted them to have some kids to play with (5&7 at the time) before the long holidays. And if we hated the school I could've looked elsewhere in the new year. It worked for us.

Bonus was that I got time to look at rentals etc without them moping around me for looking at ANOTHER house.

northernbird

Last day of school in Perth state schools is 18th December. I think if you are organised and focused then there is nothing to stop you getting something sorted in that time although you will literally have to hit the floor running. Make a bit of a plan before you get here and narrow down the areas you are interested in. The problem you may have is that if your youngest is in Pre Primary then places in catchment are not guaranteed as it isn't compulsory schooling and you may not get a place in the school of your choice. It is possible, I have known people do it in less time. Don't worry if you can't manage it as most schools have admin back a few days before term starts so you can do it then when you have sorted yourself out.

Gems

Yes, I got a place for my son in Year 11. I was told by the locals it was impossible as popular school with good exam results.
However we got him a place a couple of days before Christmas.
People still ask me how we did it, but we did.

Gems

geelong

It can be done. We looked at the annual reports on the web sites of the local schools before we left the Uk and narrowed it down before we got out here which helped and it focused our house search too. On the annual reports look at the school maths and english and how they compare the results both year by year and with state scores. Also look at the scores for how happy the staff are and how connected the children feel to the school. Ultimately you need to feel the atmosphere of the school and look around them. Good luck with everything

ABCDiamond

You may have a bit more time than you think...

I am not sure about WA, but our school in QLD opens the office on Jan 5th, even though the children do not return to school until January 27th.

Also, the term finishes on December 5th, but the office stays open for another week, until Dec 12th.

Rosscarbery

Remember, the system is different here; your catchment school HAS to take your kids, other schools will take them if they have spaces. In your situation I would be inclined to focus on finding a school you like first - if they will only take you if you are within catchment area you can then get a map of it and try and find a rental within it. If they'll take you anyway you have no problems. On our reccie we were promised school places for our youngest two on the basis of "we're hoping to live around here" (though we didn't take them in the end). This was a very popular, successful school with a tiny official catchment area too.

My top tip though would be not to panic and rush into a decision. At that age another few weeks off school won't kill them (though of course it could drive you to drink ). We knew a few weeks in that the high school we had chosen for our eldest was a disaster. We ended up pulling him out after seven weeks; he wasn't thrilled about moving schools AGAIN and I ended up buying two full sets of high school uniform (not cheap) within a couple of months.

MANDS14

Thanks for all the replies everyone. It's made me feel a lot better and stopped me panicking so much.

Now just xmas to worry about! Anyone know where the nearest toys r us is?........

MANDS14

Hi Munch,

We are probably going to go somewhere NOR but have a rental initially in North Fremantle and then probably Joondalup. Who are you flying with on Saturday? We are flying from Heathrow around 10pm ish.

MANDS

ABCDiamond

Toys R Us
60 Russell St, Morley
1419 Albany Hwy, Cannington
151 Winton Rd, Joondalup

MANDS14

Wow great news, thanks ABCDiamond.

MANDS