delboy

Please can someone tell me ?

I am told that English kids 8+ can have a tough time in the state schools. eg. favourite game " get the pommie barstard "

I am also told that the English kids are well liked or just accepted.

My son goes to a uk state primary school with all the ups and downs of normal school life.
Its great no problems with no race or culture.
There are very few instances of bullying etc... and it is a happy environment. Despite large class sizes.
Black, White, Asian, Oriental, Italian, South African kids have no problems and they all mix well.

I get the impression that many families send their kids to private school in oz.

Is this just because it is more affordable for a much higher quality of teaching ?

Is the real reason Australian state schools are just not an option for English migrants??





:lecture:

gOD

Bullying of foreigners is a problem in my experience... It might have changed a bit in the past few years, but there is a significant chance that they will get picked on with the normal "why don't you go back to your own country" bullsh*t..

On the otherhand, they might not have any problems at all! It is difficult to know.

Florida_03

Any new kid would be a foreigner and kids are notoriously mean to new kids. I have not seen any nationality-based specific cases of bullying at the school my 9 and 6 year olds attend, and it is diverse in this sense. My 9 year olds best friend is from The Netherlands.

So yes they will cop a bit of "new kid" stick but it should settle down pretty quickly.

As for the "why don't you go back to your own..." we've been saying that to the Victorians for decades but the bastards keep coming.

Rosy

My own personal experience of "pommie bashing" with kids:

Girl of 8 - no problems at all.

Boy of 10 - first 2 terms - hellish nightmare...

Suppose it just depends on who they get in their class. Son had a group of troublemakers who were reknowned for their bullying, so I suppose he was just an easy target, being the new boy and rather quiet with it.

Could have happened in the UK too if we`d moved to a different area...

PeteY

Kids are often nasty little sods when at school (to each other i mean).

When my brother in law changed school he went through a term of being called wogboy. Noone knows why....he has black hair but thats it....

Given a month or two i think most kids would adapt and fit in ok.

Sandra

You did not say what area you are thinking of living.

I have two children in school here in Sydney, state schools, one primary and one secondary. They are both happy and doing well. Never having reported any problem about being poms. The school is multicultural and quite a high proportion of non Australian, ie new immigrants like me. Latest figures from the school state 40% non Aus born. The statistics at the suburb/school might be important when researching possible areas. I will also admit I moved to an expensive area so my children would be in the right catchment.

I did look at private but the prices here are two rich for me with two children and I was not seeing any better results from the majority of private vs state - from what I can tell snobbery can be one factor for some private schools - getting your child in the right school aids certain choices (friends, clubs etc) later on I am told.

Religion is also a major reason for choice of school, there are lots of Catholic schools around where I live and Jewish - all with good reputations.

I made choices in the UK about which schools my children went to, again moving to a specific area so my son would be in the catchment area for a certain high school and moving my daughter from one primary to another because of teaching standards for her needs. I believed that it might not be roses straight away when I came over and started looking for schools here but that I would do my best to ensure they are happy. I know it is a worry that the children will have to make another move if we do not make the right choice first time but as someone who has been to four schools growing up it is not all bad and you do manage.

I was hoping my son would be prepared to sit the grammer school entrance over here once we gained PR but I am going to leave it another year to let him settle in the current school. Lots of choices can be because of the childrens personalities rather than schools as well. Certainly having two as different as chalk and cheese I have had to do some major rethinks about schools being right for one and not the other.

Anyway best of luck and I am sure everything will be fine, if your children have your love and support you will do the best for them.

Regards

PS I would be interested in what your experience is based on gOD - you give very little information apart from opinion. Where did you go to school, where did your children go? Why do you say 'foreigners' is that all non Aus born or specific races or cultures? Thanks for any update.

renth

It probably wouldn't be a problem in Perth as there are so many Poms here.

In the North of Perth they'd more likely be bullied for being southerners by northen kids.

dotty

I cant honestly say I have seen any problems in Schools up here. There have been that many Pom kids arrive at the school where 2 mornings a week I help run a reading program. All of them seem to have been accepted with no problem at all. There have been 2 indian families arrive tho and the kids too seem to be fine, however I notice a total exclusion of the indian mothers. The aussie women look right down their noses at them. Most of the English mums now seem to know each other and hang out together having a good moan about shops/heat,lack of nightlife etc, right old gaggle of them, Pommie accents blaring out down the street. They are a right laugh but no they do seem to stick toghether.

My kids High school was a huge (2100) State school and you had everone, poor, sports stars kids, Aboriginals (just a couple), French, Disabled, it was such a huge mix, being English would barely have been noticed so no problems.

dotty

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sandra
You did not say what area you are thinking of living.


I did look at private but the prices here are two rich for me with two children and I was not seeing any better results from the majority of private vs state - from what I can tell snobbery can be one factor for some private schools - getting your child in the right school aids certain choices (friends, clubs etc) later on I am told.>>>>>>>>>>

I agree with you Sandra about the snobbery. Thats why most are attending private here. Suburban life breeds snobbery. Private schools also look cheap from the UK, but $13,000 for 3 kids plus all the extras, can look a lot on an ozzie wage. We had the money but I could not hack all the onupmanship bulls***.

Jeannie1

Been in Melbourne three months now and neither of my kids has reported any incidence of being teased or bullied at school. One in primary and one in high school.
In fact, they positively thrive on the fact that they are different and have broad Scottish accents - my oldest milks it to the max!!
Jeannie

heading downunder 2002

Our friends kids both had a hard time at school, especially the yougest one whose teacher took great delight in putting the Uk down all the time and really pointing out to everyone that the little girl was from the Uk, her parents pointed this out to her and it stopped and the kids did get better with her. Sad when you think the kids have a hard enough time fitting into a different culture without the teacher adding fuel to the fire.

Our other friends little girl has had no problems at school and loves it. I think it is like it is in the Uk you get good schools and bad ones.

gOD

I went to primary in UK (Lanc) and Aus (Sydney) (then UK again (lanc)), secondary and intermediate in NZ Auckland). My children haven't gone to school yet

I have to say NZ was worst, Aus wasn't as bad (age difference I suppose). It also depends on you accent and I found that that makes more of a difference than skin colour.. Just my opinions based one experience I am sure it doesn't happen to everyone!

Rudy

Hiya Dotty and Sandra (or anyone else who might have info for that matter)

What is the best way to get information about the schools? Is it best to make appointments and speak to the head or is there a league table like there is in the UK, which shows how well the school is doing?

This is my biggest concern about our impending move. My kids are in a very good school here in the UK, and I really want to get it right for them when we move. We won't be able to afford to go private and I think that private is not always better anyway. We want to rent/buy in the right area for the right school.

My two are 12 and 14, the youngest is finishing primary now and will be starting secondary here in the UK in September.

Any advice would be most appreciated, thanks
Hazel.

susmac

Hi,
My two age 12 and 7 go to St Edwards Catholic School in Daisy Hill which is 5 minutes walk from our house . Neither have had any problem with bullying and have settled in very well. I pay around $2000 a year total for both their fees and am very happy with the school. They had previously attended an American International School in Jeddah where there was never more than 12 in a class but they seem to be doing fine here.
Cheers
Susan

Sandra

You can check out the schools from websites - it does seem a pity in some ways but there are no league tables published, can be beneficial in others because the school does not get a bad name for the wrong reasons, as in all children cannot be academic and have other talents to offer.

I went mad on the internet when I decided on an area and asked as much as possible about the local schools, estate agents, internet postings. Private schools are much easier for getting information, and if you want an religious affiliated school especially. I have found out the Catholic privates have more reasonable fees. The state you are interested in should have local schools information. School ages for children can be important the year they are in the UK may not equate to the cut off dates for school here. I had one child who stayed in his year - albeit he is now the youngest, and the other moved down - in both cases it has worked out well. We had heard good things about the school we choose for my son, but we were prepared to swop later if this was not the personal experience he had. We actually got my son into school a week after we arrived and we have been lucky in this respect as he is happy - but in hindsight I think I would advise to give it more time once you arrive and visit more schools and take care not to panic. I started work a few days after arriving so thought school was important, but if you take it UK schools run from Sept - July, Aus is Jan to December so if they start after a couple of months off in the same year - they have not missed too much. Obviously this bit of advice is a bit crap if both parents are starting work but if you have the opportunity then it might be an idea. The schools we talked to where all welcoming in terms of parent and child visiting. With our 9 and 12 years olds (at the time) they did appreciate being party to the choices they might have and got excited by being part of this process.

Some of the better state schools might not take you straight away if you are out of area and you might have to wait for a place? In terms of catchment there can be similiar rules to the UK - you can check this out with the schools.

In my personal opinion I do not think private necessarily means better. In my area in the UK I checked extensively with league tables and was very pleased to get my son in a local high (as I said I did move to make this possible). Fees for the schools I have checked out here ran from 10K to 17K by the time they finished year 12. Some Catholic Schools fees are a lot more reasonable than this I might add but not my personal choice.

I also have a question to ask of the people here in Aus. I have heard a lot about school and education standards and will admit when I first came here I thought the schools were behind - after a year here I have revised my first impression. My son was a 4 to 4+ Sat results at the end of year 6 primary (and graded high IQ) he is in a streamed AUS class here and is sitting about mid level of that class. Surely if the education standard was so low he would be higher? Actually I do not believe so I work with him on maths and I am very pleased with the work standard.

Any UK teachers out there willing to state the Aus education system is not a decent standard?

I would stress for parents of children who have high achievers then streaming is important to look for in a school and there are primary schools here in Sydney which have opportunity classes in primary - possibly check this out as well.

On the other end of the scale - you cannot beat a decent education which means to me having my daughter happy to go to school and learn as much as possible. She will have to work hard all her life and it will not come easy - but having a school she loves to go to is very very important to me.

I will shut up now - son wants the computer!

Have fun!
Cheers