NZ School info

Old Oct 2nd 2002, 9:39 am
  #1  
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Default NZ School info

We will be arriving in NZ on 7/11/02. We have 2 kids ages 6 & 4.
My 4 yr old has just started school in the UK (she will be 5 early March)
Can someone tell me when the schools break up for summer hols in NZ. I suspect that not long after we arrive and get our heads together and start looking at schools they will be breaking up for summer! So when do they go back to school after the summer hols? Also will my 4 yr old be able to start full time school there even though she is not quite 5 (she really loves school and will be really miffed if she can't)
By the way we are going to Christchurch in case it makes a difference.

Thanx in advance
Paula
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Old Oct 2nd 2002, 9:48 am
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Default Re: NZ School info

Australia start back around 4th Feb 2003. We were aiming to be there by then, but I think it's pushing it now.
Check out a few NZ school websites. They normally publish a calendar of events, or the Education Authority.
In Aus, they also don't accept kids in school till after 5. But the kindies are good.


Ps My sister lived in Bewdley for a while, nice part of England.
Good Luck
Mash...

Originally posted by Watt Dabney:
We will be arriving in NZ on 7/11/02. We have 2 kids ages 6 & 4.
My 4 yr old has just started school in the UK (she will be 5 early March)
Can someone tell me when the schools break up for summer hols in NZ. I suspect that not long after we arrive and get our heads together and start looking at schools they will be breaking up for summer! So when do they go back to school after the summer hols? Also will my 4 yr old be able to start full time school there even though she is not quite 5 (she really loves school and will be really miffed if she can't)
By the way we are going to Christchurch in case it makes a difference.

Thanx in advance
Paula
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Old Oct 2nd 2002, 1:50 pm
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Default Re: NZ School info

Paula,

Have a look at the ministry for Education's website. In the FAQ's the school term dates for 2002 & 2003 are detailed.

This link should take you straight there.

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/web/docume...ge.cfm?id=3767

Kind regards,

Cinderella
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Old Oct 2nd 2002, 1:54 pm
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Default Re: NZ School info

Paula,

It also tells you about enrollment procedures. Children start school after their 5th birthday. They go to Pre-school / Kindergarten before then.

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/web/docume...ge.cfm?id=6475

Hope this helps,

Cinderella
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Old Oct 2nd 2002, 3:20 pm
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Default Re: NZ School info

Cinderella,

Thanks for this information, it looks like my daughter won't be able to attend school until she has turned 5, unless anyone out there has had any 1st hand experience otherwise? Also i'm trying to work out what year group my son will be in? he will be 7 at the end of November he is in year 2 here.

Thanx in advance

Paula
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Old Oct 7th 2002, 6:28 pm
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Default Re: NZ School info

Originally posted by Watt Dabney:
Cinderella,

Thanks for this information, it looks like my daughter won't be able to attend school until she has turned 5, unless anyone out there has had any 1st hand experience otherwise? Also i'm trying to work out what year group my son will be in? he will be 7 at the end of November he is in year 2 here.

Thanx in advance

Paula

Hi folks, me again,

Just popping this thread back to the top because I would really appreciate it if someone wih some 1st hand knowledge of NZ schools could have a go at answering these questions for me. Trying to explain to our kids what to expect and all that.

Thanks

Paula
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Old Oct 7th 2002, 9:21 pm
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Default Re: NZ School info

Originally posted by Watt Dabney:



Hi folks, me again,

Just popping this thread back to the top because I would really appreciate it if someone wih some 1st hand knowledge of NZ schools could have a go at answering these questions for me. Trying to explain to our kids what to expect and all that.

Thanks

Paula
This is how it basically works in Ch'ch.

Your 4 year old will go to Kindy until she is 5. The day after her 5th birthday she'll start at primary school in year one. Your 7 year old will start in either year 2 or a mixed year 2/3 depending on size of roll in the school that you select.

The 6 week summer holiday break goes from 20 something of Dec to last week of Jan. There are then 3 more term holidays of approx 2 weeks each. There are no half terms.

The schooling is quite relaxed until year 3. Up until then the kids learn social and life skills. For instance my son was shown how to prepare a freshly caught fish amongst other things at Kindy that you would never get taught in the UK.

There are no exams or tests to stress them out until they are much older, like 15!

My son is 7 and they are currently concentrating on reading, maths and sport, with some art based stuff thrown in. My daughter is 5 and its all reading and art. All the schools seem to have huge playing fields and swimming pools and they swim every day during the summer terms.

The kids really seem to enjoy school over here which is obviously good.

John.
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Old Oct 7th 2002, 10:26 pm
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Default Re: NZ School info

Originally posted by JWW:


This is how it basically works in Ch'ch.

Your 4 year old will go to Kindy until she is 5. The day after her 5th birthday she'll start at primary school in year one. Your 7 year old will start in either year 2 or a mixed year 2/3 depending on size of roll in the school that you select.

The 6 week summer holiday break goes from 20 something of Dec to last week of Jan. There are then 3 more term holidays of approx 2 weeks each. There are no half terms.

The schooling is quite relaxed until year 3. Up until then the kids learn social and life skills. For instance my son was shown how to prepare a freshly caught fish amongst other things at Kindy that you would never get taught in the UK.

There are no exams or tests to stress them out until they are much older, like 15!

My son is 7 and they are currently concentrating on reading, maths and sport, with some art based stuff thrown in. My daughter is 5 and its all reading and art. All the schools seem to have huge playing fields and swimming pools and they swim every day during the summer terms.

The kids really seem to enjoy school over here which is obviously good.

John.

John,

What can I say WOW !!!

Youv'e just described the school wev'e been dreaming of for our children!
Although our daughter will be cheesed off that she won't be able to go to full time school till she's 5. She started here in Sept and she is already competent in reading, writing & basic maths and therefore will miss the full time school inviroment. Our son is looking forward to more of an introduction to sport as the school he is at now has a non-competitive policy to P.E. so genuine sport is not part of the curriculum. As for swimming, it's once a week in the summer term only for 1/2 an hour yr2 and above only, but this is often cancelled for various reasons. So he will be delighted to hear that he will be able to go swimming every day. So are we as at the moment we are supplementing the megre school swimming with private lessons for both of our children at a cost of £32 each for 10 1/2hr lessons.

As for learning how to prepare a fish, how fantastic what an introduction to basic life/social skills, they will be able to teach me when they get home from school . The huge playing fields sound great too. At our kids school they sold the playing fields to build houses on!!


Can't wait to get there
4 weeks and counting


Paula
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Old Oct 8th 2002, 10:59 am
  #9  
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Default Re: NZ School info

Our kids have 1 hour swimming at school per day in terms 4 and 1 (e.g. Nove
to March). There are also local public hols and things like easter (which is
the end of term 1). Things like Labour weekend (late October) usually
involve a couple of days. I have a list at work of special days - they vary
for different places. We use the local swim school - 16 week term, 1 hour
lesson for two kids - less than NZ$100 for both.

Sport - YAHOO!!! Our six year old has just completed his second soccer
season, played (played 16, won 14, crew 1, lost 1) and our daughter (aged 9)
netball (played 16, won 14, lost 2, finished second in region). Alice is not
starting her second season of mini water polo - finished 6th out of 12 last
year at their first go. They also do tri-athlon (at 5 we were amazed to see
our boy do his kick board length of the 20m pool, twice round the tennis
court on his bike and once round the rugby pitch) and cross country within
their school (with the best representing their school in the regionals).
Also we did a term of pre school tennis coaching ($40 each for 40 min
lesson) but it clashed with swimming lessons (same evening) and they were
more interested at collecting the balls and got too tired.

It will be useful if you take things like their work, report cards, etc.
Both of ours ended up in slightly higher grades (given they had started
school earlier than Kiwi kids). Alice had a slight difficulty here as they
are more fussy re. handwriting. She had been doing joined up with no slope.
Here they encourage sloping handwriting, unjoined, so she basically had to
relearn and they even fussed over how she held a pen! Still she managed to
get into the top 3 % in the Aussie english exams at 8 (even though she sat
the 10 years and under paper).

Higher schools use a thing called NCEA, which is an ongoing assessment
method like high schools in the UK are moving too. It is somewhat unpopular
with teachers (more work they say) and pupils (ditto!) Biggest thing for me
is that I don't really understand things other than 'O's and 'A's!!
"Watt Dabney" wrote in message
news:436288.1034029597@britishexpats-
.com
...
    > Originally posted by JWW:
    > >
    > >
    > > This is how it basically works in Ch'ch.
    > >
    > > Your 4 year old will go to Kindy until she is 5. The day after her 5th
    > > birthday she'll start at primary school in year one. Your 7 year old
    > > will start in either year 2 or a mixed year 2/3 depending on size of
    > > roll in the school that you select.
    > >
    > > The 6 week summer holiday break goes from 20 something of Dec to last
    > > week of Jan. There are then 3 more term holidays of approx 2 weeks
    > > each. There are no half terms.
    > >
    > > The schooling is quite relaxed until year 3. Up until then the kids
    > > learn social and life skills. For instance my son was shown how to
    > > prepare a freshly caught fish amongst other things at Kindy that you
    > > would never get taught in the UK.
    > >
    > > There are no exams or tests to stress them out until they are much
    > > older, like 15!
    > >
    > > My son is 7 and they are currently concentrating on reading, maths and
    > > sport, with some art based stuff thrown in. My daughter is 5 and its
    > > all reading and art. All the schools seem to have huge playing fields
    > > and swimming pools and they swim every day during the summer terms.
    > >
    > > The kids really seem to enjoy school over here which is
    > > obviously good.
    > >
    > > John.
    > John,
    > What can I say WOW !!!
    > Youv'e just described the school wev'e been dreaming of for our
    > children!
    > Although our daughter will be cheesed off that she won't be able to go
    > to full time school till she's 5. She started here in Sept and she is
    > already competent in reading, writing & basic maths and therefore will
    > miss the full time school inviroment. Our son is looking forward to more
    > of an introduction to sport as the school he is at now has a
    > non-competitive policy to P.E. so genuine sport is not part of the
    > curriculum. As for swimming, it's once a week in the summer term only
    > for 1/2 an hour yr2 and above only, but this is often cancelled for
    > various reasons. So he will be delighted to hear that he will be able to
    > go swimming every day. So are we as at the moment we are supplementing
    > the megre school swimming with private lessons for both of our children
    > at a cost of £32 each for 10 1/2hr lessons.
    > As for learning how to prepare a fish, how fantastic what an
    > introduction to basic life/social skills, they will be able to teach me
    > when they get home from school . The huge playing fields sound
    > great too. At our kids school they sold the playing fields to build
    > houses on!!
    > Can't wait to get there
    > 4 weeks and counting
    > Paula
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com
 
Old Oct 8th 2002, 12:27 pm
  #10  
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Default Re: NZ School info

[QUOTE][SIZE=1]Originally posted by Ian Guy:
Our kids have 1 hour swimming at school per day in terms 4 and 1 (e.g. Nove
to March). There are also local public hols and things like easter (which is
the end of term 1). Things like Labour weekend (late October) usually
involve a couple of days. I have a list at work of special days - they vary
for different places. We use the local swim school - 16 week term, 1 hour
lesson for two kids - less than NZ$100 for both.

Sport - YAHOO!!! Our six year old has just completed his second soccer
season, played (played 16, won 14, crew 1, lost 1) and our daughter (aged 9)
netball (played 16, won 14, lost 2, finished second in region). Alice is not
starting her second season of mini water polo - finished 6th out of 12 last
year at their first go. They also do tri-athlon (at 5 we were amazed to see
our boy do his kick board length of the 20m pool, twice round the tennis
court on his bike and once round the rugby pitch) and cross country within
their school (with the best representing their school in the regionals).
Also we did a term of pre school tennis coaching ($40 each for 40 min
lesson) but it clashed with swimming lessons (same evening) and they were
more interested at collecting the balls and got too tired.

It will be useful if you take things like their work, report cards, etc.
Both of ours ended up in slightly higher grades (given they had started
school earlier than Kiwi kids). Alice had a slight difficulty here as they
are more fussy re. handwriting. She had been doing joined up with no slope.
Here they encourage sloping handwriting, unjoined, so she basically had to
relearn and they even fussed over how she held a pen! Still she managed to
get into the top 3 % in the Aussie english exams at 8 (even though she sat
the 10 years and under paper).

Higher schools use a thing called NCEA, which is an ongoing assessment
method like high schools in the UK are moving too. It is somewhat unpopular
with teachers (more work they say) and pupils (ditto!) Biggest thing for me
is that I don't really understand things other than 'O's and 'A's!!



Ian,
I find posts like this genuinely heart-warming.
My 6 year old son is busting a gut to take part in competitive sports (I can picture him now bombing round the tennis court on his bike).
As for the swimming lessons, have just worked out that we pay 7X more for our kids.
Also, the attention to detail over the handwriting techniques is a huge contrast to a recent experience when our son, who we were told "leads his class in every subject" was expected to repeat a complete year's work to enable the head to massage class sizes. The fact he would be doing identical work went unnoticed until we complained and managed to negotiate a p*** poor compromise.

I have no doubts at all about wether we are making a good move but posts like yours reinforce this further. Thanks.

4 weeks to go.

Ian & Paula
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Old Oct 9th 2002, 10:38 am
  #11  
Ian Guy
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Default Re: NZ School info

Ian & Paula - feel free to mail me if you need any other info. Only happy to
help.

"Watt Dabney" wrote in message
news:436898.1034080057@britishexpats-
.com
...
    > Originally posted by Ian Guy:
    > > Our kids have 1 hour swimming at school per day in terms 4 and 1 (e.g.
    > > Nove
    > > to March). There are also local public hols and things like easter
    > > (which is
    > > the end of term 1). Things like Labour weekend (late October) usually
    > > involve a couple of days. I have a list at work of special days - they
    > > vary
    > > for different places. We use the local swim school - 16 week term, 1
    > > hour
    > > lesson for two kids - less than NZ$100 for both.
    > >
    > > Sport - YAHOO!!! Our six year old has just completed his second soccer
    > > season, played (played 16, won 14, crew 1, lost 1) and our daughter
    > > (aged 9)
    > > netball (played 16, won 14, lost 2, finished second in region). Alice
    > > is not
    > > starting her second season of mini water polo - finished 6th out of 12
    > > last
    > > year at their first go. They also do tri-athlon (at 5 we were amazed
    > > to see
    > > our boy do his kick board length of the 20m pool, twice round the
    > > tennis
    > > court on his bike and once round the rugby pitch) and cross country
    > > within
    > > their school (with the best representing their school in the
    > > regionals).
    > > Also we did a term of pre school tennis coaching ($40 each for 40 min
    > > lesson) but it clashed with swimming lessons (same evening) and they
    > > were
    > > more interested at collecting the balls and got too tired.
    > >
    > > It will be useful if you take things like their work, report cards,
    > > etc.
    > > Both of ours ended up in slightly higher grades (given they had
    > > started
    > > school earlier than Kiwi kids). Alice had a slight difficulty here as
    > > they
    > > are more fussy re. handwriting. She had been doing joined up with no
    > > slope.
    > > Here they encourage sloping handwriting, unjoined, so she basically
    > > had to
    > > relearn and they even fussed over how she held a pen! Still she
    > > managed to
    > > get into the top 3 % in the Aussie english exams at 8 (even though she
    > > sat
    > > the 10 years and under paper).
    > >
    > > Higher schools use a thing called NCEA, which is an ongoing assessment
    > > method like high schools in the UK are moving too. It is somewhat
    > > unpopular
    > > with teachers (more work they say) and pupils (ditto!) Biggest thing
    > > for me
    > > is that I don't really understand things other than 'O's and 'A's!!
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > Ian,
    > > I find posts like this genuinely heart-warming.
    > > My 6 year old son is busting a gut to take part in competitive sports
    > > (I can picture him now bombing round the tennis court on his bike).
    > > As for the swimming lessons, have just worked out that we pay 7X more
    > > for our kids.
    > > Also, the attention to detail over the handwriting techniques is a
    > > huge contrast to a recent experience when our son, who we were told
    > > "leads his class in every subject" was expected to repeat a complete
    > > year's work to enable the head to massage class sizes. The fact he
    > > would be doing identical work went unnoticed until we complained and
    > > managed to negotiate a p*** poor compromise.
    > >
    > > I have no doubts at all about wether we are making a good move but
    > > posts like yours reinforce this further. Thanks.
    > >
    > > 4 weeks to go.
    > >
    > > Ian & Paula
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com
 
Old Oct 9th 2002, 8:06 pm
  #12  
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Posts: 127
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Default Re: NZ School info

Where are you moving to?

We are north of Wellington and although the schools are good they still suffer from the same PC rubbish as UK schools (maybe to a smaller extent). Also if you had a Christian upbringing then the 'secular' nature of NZ schools may irritate you.

Competitive sport - don't see much in primary schools but there are loads of clubs. My boys play rugby (what else!!) and athletics in the summer. I coach the rugby team and that's much better than leaving it to the school. Secondary schools are different and competitve sports are widespread but you still get the 'there are no losers in this game' brigade. I make a point of demonstrating competitve behaviour to my kids so that they don't grow up with the striving for mediocrity mindset that is widespread, even over here...
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