international schools?
Dec 21st 2005, 10:23 pm
#1
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international schools?
Hello,
We're thinking about moving to Melbourne from France (to work in Clayton, Monash University). Can anyone tell us where we should look for housing? (We have 3 children.) I guess the skiing is out, what do people do in Monash (or roundabout)? Can anyone advise us about good schools? Are there any international schools in the area where the children could continue to be bilingual in French and English? The children are aged 8, 11 and 12 (i.e. one primary, 2 secondary school age?). Anything else we should know or ask about??
thanks very much !!
Halina
We're thinking about moving to Melbourne from France (to work in Clayton, Monash University). Can anyone tell us where we should look for housing? (We have 3 children.) I guess the skiing is out, what do people do in Monash (or roundabout)? Can anyone advise us about good schools? Are there any international schools in the area where the children could continue to be bilingual in French and English? The children are aged 8, 11 and 12 (i.e. one primary, 2 secondary school age?). Anything else we should know or ask about??
thanks very much !!
Halina
Dec 21st 2005, 10:59 pm
#2
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Location: Ilukapool. WA
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Re: international schools?
Originally Posted by halina38
I guess the skiing is out
http://www.visitvictoria.com/display...54F0F6F8A3EEA6
Dec 21st 2005, 11:03 pm
#3
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Re: international schools?
Originally Posted by renth
it's not packed out with horrible little French kids jumping the lift queues:
You certainly have an endearing quality about the way you put things!!
Dec 21st 2005, 11:46 pm
#4
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Location: Eldorado (near Wangaratta) 'country Victoria'
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Re: international schools?
Originally Posted by halina38
Hello,
We're thinking about moving to Melbourne from France (to work in Clayton, Monash University). Can anyone tell us where we should look for housing? (We have 3 children.) I guess the skiing is out, what do people do in Monash (or roundabout)? Can anyone advise us about good schools? Are there any international schools in the area where the children could continue to be bilingual in French and English? The children are aged 8, 11 and 12 (i.e. one primary, 2 secondary school age?). Anything else we should know or ask about??
thanks very much !!
Halina
We're thinking about moving to Melbourne from France (to work in Clayton, Monash University). Can anyone tell us where we should look for housing? (We have 3 children.) I guess the skiing is out, what do people do in Monash (or roundabout)? Can anyone advise us about good schools? Are there any international schools in the area where the children could continue to be bilingual in French and English? The children are aged 8, 11 and 12 (i.e. one primary, 2 secondary school age?). Anything else we should know or ask about??
thanks very much !!
Halina
Have fun and enjoy your Christmas.
Nicky
Oh and by the way we live about 3 hours from Melbourne and very close to the ski runs so it is possible to ski, just means a drive out of the city.
Dec 22nd 2005, 9:52 am
#5
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Re: international schools?
Originally Posted by renth
It might not be the same as the Alps but the bonus is it's not packed out with horrible little French kids jumping the lift queues:
http://www.visitvictoria.com/display...54F0F6F8A3EEA6
http://www.visitvictoria.com/display...54F0F6F8A3EEA6
Dec 22nd 2005, 10:03 am
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Re: international schools?
Originally Posted by NickyP
Hi there we came over from Belgium but my lot were only there for 3 years so their french isn't really a priority now that we are here, they are doing Italian at school here. I know that there is a French school in Canberra but you might want to check this link out http://www.alliancefrancaisemelb.asn.au/afm.html as they may be of help for info and French lessons etc if the kids move into an English language school.
Have fun and enjoy your Christmas.
Nicky
Oh and by the way we live about 3 hours from Melbourne and very close to the ski runs so it is possible to ski, just means a drive out of the city.
Have fun and enjoy your Christmas.
Nicky
Oh and by the way we live about 3 hours from Melbourne and very close to the ski runs so it is possible to ski, just means a drive out of the city.
Many thanks for the information. It's more than a little daunting to think about moving to the other side of the world - we've been in France for 13 years now! Browsing the web sites it looks like it would be quite a culture shock... do you know anyone who lives near Clayton who could advise me??
Happy Christmas to you too - we have snow in our garden...
Halina
Dec 22nd 2005, 10:34 am
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Re: international schools?
Hi Nicky
I've been browsing your posts and I see your children have had no problem fitting into Aussie education - that's encouraging from our point of view! How does the standard compare with IB do you think? Is there a huge variation between different schools?
I see you joined the forum in september - does that mean that you are new to Australia? A good friend says that Melbourne is all barbies and beer... how have you found it? Does the number of posts you've made to this forum mean that you are bored out of your skull - or just very helpful ?????
thanks and have a good holiday !
Halina
I've been browsing your posts and I see your children have had no problem fitting into Aussie education - that's encouraging from our point of view! How does the standard compare with IB do you think? Is there a huge variation between different schools?
I see you joined the forum in september - does that mean that you are new to Australia? A good friend says that Melbourne is all barbies and beer... how have you found it? Does the number of posts you've made to this forum mean that you are bored out of your skull - or just very helpful ?????
thanks and have a good holiday !
Halina
Last edited by halina38; Dec 22nd 2005 at 11:38 am. Reason: not obvious it's to Nicky
Dec 22nd 2005, 9:10 pm
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Location: Eldorado (near Wangaratta) 'country Victoria'
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Re: international schools?
Originally Posted by halina38
Hi Nicky
I've been browsing your posts and I see your children have had no problem fitting into Aussie education - that's encouraging from our point of view! How does the standard compare with IB do you think? Is there a huge variation between different schools?
I see you joined the forum in september - does that mean that you are new to Australia? A good friend says that Melbourne is all barbies and beer... how have you found it? Does the number of posts you've made to this forum mean that you are bored out of your skull - or just very helpful ?????
thanks and have a good holiday !
Halina
I've been browsing your posts and I see your children have had no problem fitting into Aussie education - that's encouraging from our point of view! How does the standard compare with IB do you think? Is there a huge variation between different schools?
I see you joined the forum in september - does that mean that you are new to Australia? A good friend says that Melbourne is all barbies and beer... how have you found it? Does the number of posts you've made to this forum mean that you are bored out of your skull - or just very helpful ?????
thanks and have a good holiday !
Halina
Our situation is different in that we were only in Belgium for 3 years and I was not happy there, therefore being here with the lack of language barriers is wonderful
. We have been into Melbourne to meet up with some Ex-Pats there once, they were from the Brit-Vics website which I is the site that I used to get information on the area before we came here. I post on here a lot because I enjoy the chat more thatn anything, I have made local friends here and am busy most days but remember just how daunting all of this was when I was starting out so keep up with this most days. I also keep an eye out incase anyone else is heading up our way. We will go to the meet in Melbourne in January probably it just depends on how busy we are, but they are a laugh and we have met a few people that we keep in touch with. We aren't in an Ex-Pat area here so it is nice to meet up with people from the UK occassionally and the kids enjoy the meets as there are usually loads of kids at the park.I would check out the Brit-Vics website and post your question about Clayton as there are bound to be people there that know about the area. Also they should be able to tell you more about the local schools, we are very lucky here and have sent ours to the local catholic school which just felt right when we visited. All of the schools here were very much the same academically it just came down to which one felt right for our kids. I do know that when you are in the city the schools seem to become more of an issue to people. Even for a smallish community our eldest is at school with children from Germany, Holland and France.
Have a wonderful Christmas and our kids are pining for snow at the moment
Must say that I am not missing it though. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat or ask anything else.All the best.
Nicky
Dec 26th 2005, 8:48 pm
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Re: international schools?
Originally Posted by NickyP
Hi there it is difficult for me to coment on Mebourne itself as we live about 3 hours NE in a town (they call it a city) close to the NSW border. My experience of the education system here has been excellent, the only down side is that our 3 year old has gone from full time school in Belgium to nothing here which has been a bit of a shock. The system in primary is very focussed on getting the general skills of English and maths and all other things fit in around that they also all do some Italian from prep up. Our 7 year old is getting some extra help to bring his English reading and writing up to the mark as he was confused by moving from French cursive and by the changes in phonics between the two. This is no big deal to the school who have organised some extra help for him and he is really doing well, the extra sport has come as a bit of a shock to his system as well. Our 16 year old finished the school year in June in Belgium and did really well in end of year exams and has done well in the year 10 exams here after only being here a couple of months so I would say that the levels are pretty similar.
Our situation is different in that we were only in Belgium for 3 years and I was not happy there, therefore being here with the lack of language barriers is wonderful . We have been into Melbourne to meet up with some Ex-Pats there once, they were from the Brit-Vics website which I is the site that I used to get information on the area before we came here. I post on here a lot because I enjoy the chat more thatn anything, I have made local friends here and am busy most days but remember just how daunting all of this was when I was starting out so keep up with this most days. I also keep an eye out incase anyone else is heading up our way. We will go to the meet in Melbourne in January probably it just depends on how busy we are, but they are a laugh and we have met a few people that we keep in touch with. We aren't in an Ex-Pat area here so it is nice to meet up with people from the UK occassionally and the kids enjoy the meets as there are usually loads of kids at the park.
I would check out the Brit-Vics website and post your question about Clayton as there are bound to be people there that know about the area. Also they should be able to tell you more about the local schools, we are very lucky here and have sent ours to the local catholic school which just felt right when we visited. All of the schools here were very much the same academically it just came down to which one felt right for our kids. I do know that when you are in the city the schools seem to become more of an issue to people. Even for a smallish community our eldest is at school with children from Germany, Holland and France.
Have a wonderful Christmas and our kids are pining for snow at the moment Must say that I am not missing it though. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat or ask anything else.
All the best.
Nicky
Our situation is different in that we were only in Belgium for 3 years and I was not happy there, therefore being here with the lack of language barriers is wonderful
. We have been into Melbourne to meet up with some Ex-Pats there once, they were from the Brit-Vics website which I is the site that I used to get information on the area before we came here. I post on here a lot because I enjoy the chat more thatn anything, I have made local friends here and am busy most days but remember just how daunting all of this was when I was starting out so keep up with this most days. I also keep an eye out incase anyone else is heading up our way. We will go to the meet in Melbourne in January probably it just depends on how busy we are, but they are a laugh and we have met a few people that we keep in touch with. We aren't in an Ex-Pat area here so it is nice to meet up with people from the UK occassionally and the kids enjoy the meets as there are usually loads of kids at the park.I would check out the Brit-Vics website and post your question about Clayton as there are bound to be people there that know about the area. Also they should be able to tell you more about the local schools, we are very lucky here and have sent ours to the local catholic school which just felt right when we visited. All of the schools here were very much the same academically it just came down to which one felt right for our kids. I do know that when you are in the city the schools seem to become more of an issue to people. Even for a smallish community our eldest is at school with children from Germany, Holland and France.
Have a wonderful Christmas and our kids are pining for snow at the moment
Must say that I am not missing it though. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat or ask anything else.All the best.
Nicky
Hope you had a great Christmas holiday. Thank you for all your help. I browsed the BritVics site and there is a lot of useful information there even without posting anything. I don't know if we will end up coming to Australia or not (we are happy here, so it really depends on what my husband decides to do career-wise) but you have answered our main questions: no international school, but a local French association that we could join; good schools and good environment. I suspect that our children are more French than English (they've lived all their lives in France - and out of our sight they are culturally and linguistically indistinguishable from their school friends) so if it really does look like we'll move I'll contact the Alliance Française as well as Brit-Vics.
best wishes
Halina
Dec 26th 2005, 10:22 pm
#10
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Location: Eldorado (near Wangaratta) 'country Victoria'
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Re: international schools?
Originally Posted by halina38
Dear Nicky,
Hope you had a great Christmas holiday. Thank you for all your help. I browsed the BritVics site and there is a lot of useful information there even without posting anything. I don't know if we will end up coming to Australia or not (we are happy here, so it really depends on what my husband decides to do career-wise) but you have answered our main questions: no international school, but a local French association that we could join; good schools and good environment. I suspect that our children are more French than English (they've lived all their lives in France - and out of our sight they are culturally and linguistically indistinguishable from their school friends) so if it really does look like we'll move I'll contact the Alliance Française as well as Brit-Vics.
best wishes
Halina
Hope you had a great Christmas holiday. Thank you for all your help. I browsed the BritVics site and there is a lot of useful information there even without posting anything. I don't know if we will end up coming to Australia or not (we are happy here, so it really depends on what my husband decides to do career-wise) but you have answered our main questions: no international school, but a local French association that we could join; good schools and good environment. I suspect that our children are more French than English (they've lived all their lives in France - and out of our sight they are culturally and linguistically indistinguishable from their school friends) so if it really does look like we'll move I'll contact the Alliance Française as well as Brit-Vics.
best wishes
Halina
We are having a great Christmas holiday exploring the area in the sun
we are off to look at a local lake today then Ian will take the kids to see Narnia.Happy New year and let us know if you do end up heading over this way.
Bye
Nicky
