Emma_Par

I have a 4.5 year old son who is 5 in June and is currently in Reception which is 5 full days. I have another son who is 7 in Jan who is currently in year 2 and my daughter is 11, 12 in June who is in year 7.
Will they all be in the same years in Perth. We are looking at going private schooling if that has any difference.. if someone could share some light that would be brill ;O) Also if i know the schools I want to send them too can i apply while i am still in the uk if I have a moving date or would I have to wait til I am there?

what are the school hols like? for instance I know you have just started your summer hols where here we are just about to break up for 2 weeks for xmas and our school year starts in September...

quoll

Foreign country made up of a number of different states all with different cut off dates and year names, forget comparing it with UK education, it is quite different. This is a good thumbnail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Australia - scroll down to the bottom

Summer holidays usually end around Australia day so kids will start the year in the days after 26 January. School year goes from January/February to December

Government schools all have a catchment area and you will usually be asked to demonstrate residence within a catchment area before they will confirm enrolment. Private schools do their own thing and if they have spaces and if you have the money they will take it off you.

Your about to be 5 year old will be very young but technically could start full time school in 2012 - you may be advised to hold him in preschool for another year to give him a bit more maturity to keep up with his age cohort. Your 12 year old, also with a June birthday may be recommended to enrol in the group where she would be the oldest not the very youngest

4 terms a year in most states, usually a 10 week term followed by a 2 week holiday although they do need to fit in an extra week in one of the terms

Emma_Par

Thanks for the info

BadgeIsBack

the biggest difference it seems is that the Year starts in Jan/Feb rather than September.....

..and there is no national curriculum thingy. I think...

northernbird

In 2012 your children would be in Pre-Primary, Year 2 and Year 7 here in Perth. Private schooling dates are no different to state schooling. Your June children will be the youngest in their year groups as the cut off is 30th June.

For private schools you can apply from overseas but they do like to interview children so you may have to wait for a formal offer until you get here. Some State schools will want to know if you are in their boundary before you enrol.

Japonica

Yes to the above. When we were building and looking at schools in our area, we had to bring in a copy of the plans just so the state schools could see if we would be in the catchment area.

Private schools will generally request an interview (ours did). And most have a waiting list. The June birthday thing might also be problematic (more so for the younger child than the older one). I have a son who is eligible for Kindy next year with a late April birthday and the head asked in the interview if I had any concerns about him being in the youngest cohort of kids. I don't know what the Aussie attitude to red-shirting is but back in Canada, it's not looked upon favorably. I said no and we'd go ahead anyway.

From what I understand, there is no national curriculum, so that might be of concern to some. There's also a thousand threads on here about public vs. private schools that you can find and read.

The term set up might be different to the UK. It was different compared to Canada. We tended to look at the year in semesters, with a break at Christmas and Easter or Spring Break and then the school done for the summer by the end of June and about eight weeks off. Here it's a four term system with a ~ two week break at the end of each term and about 6-7 weeks off in the summer.

Emma_Par

Thanks that has helped and cleared up loads, thanks