moominfilly

Hello!

I'm married to an Australian and we have two kids. We are wanting to move to Melbourne, but we are having a serious problem trying to decide when to do it. It seems to boil down to what will be best for our oldest daughter.

I'm hoping anyone has experience of doing the same thing and hearing how it went (good or bad or both)! So we can come to a decision.

Basically our oldest daughter has just started school here in the UK (she will be 5 in December). We don't know whether to move back to Melbs after she finishes her first year of school here, so she would be just 6 when starting school in Melb. Or wait another year so she does 2 years of primary here and then she'd be 7 starting school in Melb.

She might have to go into school for a bit in Melb if we moved after the school year here as we'd arrive say in September or October. Not sure of the legal education system over there.

Just trying to figure out what age is least detrimental to her. Obv we have family over there and lots of my husbands friends have kids the same age.

Does anyone have experience of the same thing? How did they settle into school, were the kids welcoming? Will she make friends?! That's really the crux of the matter.

Thanks!

AJCS

If you moved now she would go right into Prep in February which is the start of the school year. If she does 1 year of school there and then you move she would still go into Prep as the year goes from Feb to Feb. At that age they make friends very easy and a new kid is always popular in the class haha! We have moved our daughter a couple of times, Kindy in Perth, started Prep in Melbourne, back to Perth for the rest of Prep and she has been absolutely fine.

Buzzy--Bee

Doesn't matter a jot at that age. The sooner the better. At our girls primary school in Melbourne there are frequently kids from overseas and interstate arriving mid-year.

quoll

It really doesn't matter, go when the time is right for all other things. Kids move school all the time, you can rock up to your neighbourhood school any day of the week and enrol them, you don't have to wait for the beginning of term or anything like that. They do like a day or two to get things organised but generally it's a walk in type job.

Will she make friends - who knows? Usually everyone wants to be friends with the new kid so what she makes of that will be up to her.

A kid turning 5 with a December birthday will start their first year of full time school (different names in different states) in Jan '17, year 1 in '18. There would be no intrinsic value in her completing a year or two in UK, just put her in with her age peers in Aus