paulandcelia

Hi, my son is due to start a new middle school in the UK in September, I know that the schools in Australia start their school year in February but to avoid him joining a new school here for only 1 term we were thinking of coming over so he can start school in Australia in September - just wondered if anybody had done that and how your children did joining a school in the middle of a school year or whether it would be better to start in the February, any replies would be great, thanks

al150n

We moved over here at the beginning of September & our daughter started school 2 weeks after we arrived. She's settled in fine & has a lovely group of friends already. Her teacher is pushing to keep her & her new best mate together when they move in to year 1 in February. To be honest she couldn't wait to get back to school as she had about 9 weeks off because of the school summer holidays in the UK.

Alison x

paulandcelia

Thanks for the reply, that helps a lot, its good that she has settled in so well, think it might be a good time to start then it saves him having the upheaval of a new school twice in a few months, thanks again, celia

quoll

It really doesnt matter. Kids come and go all the time and generally if they arrive in the middle of a term they are the centre of attention for a while and everyone wants to be their mates. Only exception to that is if they are 16 in which case you definitely need to have them there for the beginning of year 11.

Japonica

We moved at the end of August last year and had our daughter in school for Term 4 (it took us a couple of weeks to get settled and find a place to live and then they also had Term 3 break in September). She settled in just fine and then she knew many of the kids when she started school again in February.

paulandcelia

Thanks for the replies, that helps a lot, feel much happier that they will probably be fine starting mid year, wasnt sure if they would be better starting at the beginning of the year but your right at least they have made some new friends before the new school year begins, thanks again

Celia

eddie007

0840 is a good time... as being late is frowned upon ans can lead to disciplinary action/ letters of concern being sent home...

we arrived at the end of August but the kids didn't start school until October.. Contacted their catchment school and it was a couple of weeks til the holiday and the head suggested starting in the new term rather than having a couple of weeks there and a couple of weeks off would be good for them as My husband was not working ... they had just moved to the other side of the world and it would give them time to explore/settle/ spend time together as a family before getting their noses back to the academic grindstone.... it worked extremely well for us...

paulandcelia

ha ha yes 8.40 would be a good idea - that did make me chuckle, thanks for replying, that sounds like a good idea to give them a couple of weeks holiday and then start when everyone else goes back, celia