squeezzii

we are going to perth next month and I dont know what to do about the school thing,(kids are 8 + 9) from reading on the site it concerns me that any AVAILABLE school will be a poor choice and only one with a waiting list is gonna be any good at all. Knowing about the schools where we live now, I fall into the bracket of people who dont neccesarily agree that private and expensive is best, though I do realise that sometimes it IS a huge advantage. The trick is to make the best informed choice of what is available, I wont know this till we get there. Is there any obligation of schools to accept immigrant children (that sounds wierd) like they do in the uk?-I guess not..... ANY offer of info would be great, though I have seen the website on education and Im not any more informed about the schools than I was before, have read many of the schools websites, I mean,none are gonna say; nice building, average teachers but full of nightmare kids, are they?
any sensible info greatfully received. thanks

binbird

This line of thought is weighing heavily on my mind at the moment too. Our girls (aged 7 and nearly 6) will finish the school year here and then we are due to arrive in Sydney on 13 September, by which time the youngest will be 4 and would have been due to start school here in the Autumn term.

I am inclined to think that no amount of research is as good as actually seeing the schools and meeting the principals in the flesh. So, I feel that we will be leaving it until we get out there and I am not actually too concerned if they do not start school until the school year starts in January. We might know for sure where we are going to settle by then too! I think the biggest issue will be finding a suitable rental property within the catchment area of the school that we select and these pieces of the jigsaw will only fit together once we are actually there.

You couldn't class this as info but it's just to show you where we are at with the whole schooling issue.

Good luck with your choices.

Binbird

worzel

It is a concern for us too. Having said that I went to a less than average school and came out with 10 O levels and 4 A levels so a lot of it must be down to the kids themselves.

Hilton`s

We too are thinking about schools and colleges. We have two boys aged 17
(already at college here) and one of almost 15 (year 10). Not really sure
what to do about schools and colleges, have looked on Ourbrisbane website
but it is difficult to know exactly where we are going to end up until we get
there. So I think we will just have to wait and see what happens and stop
worrying about it.

Tracey

ballyhoo

We're doing exactly the same as you. We are going over to Geelong, Victoria mid September.

Our son, aged 7, has been at school since just turning 4 ( a July baby), so I am happy for him to only start next January and our daughter is also due to start school this Sept, but will instead start in Jan as well.

I'm going to read up on various school reports on the internet, but I still feel that actually seeing the school and getting a feel for the teachers and pupils will be a major factor.

In the meantime I will do some work with my son, keeping up his reading and some writing, as well as maths tables or other basics. By no means is this going to take over our lives - the experience of moving and settling in a foreign country is great learning in itself.

Hope this helps in some way.

scrubbedexpat020

I spent a lot of time researching schools on the web, called those I liked the look of, and when we got here arranged an interview.

The schools here, private and state, advertise for kids, so getting in for a look round is easy. Very friendly.

We looked at a few areas and the quality of schools in the area was a big deciding factor.

Ian