Up To Late

Many moons ago my father was sent for a few months to work in Australia - he was working for Rolls Royce and they were testing aeroplane engines in the outback. My Mother and I accompanied him and spent some of the time with him and some of the time in Sydney staying with family. Now as I was supposed to be at school, I was registered with the school of the air. I have to admit that I didn't do much work and I don't remember much about it!

I am wondering if this method of teaching still exists in Oz and if so can be used in metropolitan areas. We may be moving around for a while until we decide where to buy a house and wondered if we could use this method to educate our daughter until we registered her in a permanent school. (She is 7). The alternative we have discussed is home educating her. Is Home Education legal in Oz?

Thanks for any suggestions.

N

JAJ

School of the Air : http://www.assoa.nt.edu.au/

Homeschooling is legal in Australia. http://www.hea.asn.au/

Up To Late

Thanks so much! That gives us some options to consider!

N

The Bloke

I believe the School of the Air is designed for "isolated" children ie central Australia, not children living in metropolitian areas. BTW, how long do you plan to move around for, taking into account the possibility that she may eventually be graded behind other children of her age-group when she is finally enrolled permanently?

PS... have you any employment sorted (or just trying when you get here) or areas in which you may like to settle?

Gems

Hello, we have school of the air in our town. We are classed as rural area.

However Its not just for isolated areas. You can also use it if your child has a medical condition or other reason for not attending school.
If you are travelling around OZ for a while, you can qualify.
Also some kids do a version of this, if the local high school does not offer them the subject they want at Year 11 and 12.

I have been speaking with them recently, and the director of education. So my info is very recent. I considered it for one of my children, and it all seams good. Run by qualified teachers and they seam helpful.

Your best is getting in touch with them and seeing what your options are. It may be possible.

GEMS

Gems

PS, home education is possible in Australia. Google home education, there is a website with info and a forum. You could speak with some parents who do it already to get some ideas.

GEMS

Up To Late

Hi Gems,

Thanks for your replies. We will be restricted to SA on our visa, so School of the air is out for us. We think we will be moving about about for 3-6 months. However we are planning to come out in June when our daughter is at the end of yr 3. If we enrol her in a school in the following Jan to start yr 4 she technically won't have missed any school! We just didn't want to keep her out of school illegally. She is a very bright child with a reading age of 12 even though she is only 7. I will consider HE as full time alternative as it is a legal option. To be honest I think she would do well in or out of school. The only advantage school offers is new friends in a new country. As I mentioned, I missed a big chunk of school and when I went back I didn't have any problems. So at the moment we are not worried about her being in the year behind her age group.

Thanks again

Nicola

Monty023

Hi Nicola,

We moved to SA at the end of June and our daughter has been "off school" since then. We have the good fortune of her UK school doing remote learning with her until we had her settled. She is starting High School here in about 2 weeks time. The main problem we have had is the "class years" are slightly different and I didn't have the heart to send her back into primary school (year 7) after she had started secondry school (year 7) in the UK well before we left... we also met up with an Aussie teacher who said that she would be bored if put back into primary, as the Aussies are about a year behind the UK, or so I've been told, but if anyone knows different......

emelems

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov....s/schoolofair/

We are going to be touring for a while and didnt even realise this existed!

Thank you so much!! (can't say my kids will thank you tho )

Will be emailing them tomorrow to find out what is what!

Em x

Up To Late

Thanks to everyone who responded to my query!

We haven't made firm plans yet - or got the visa LOL, but this info has helped us a lot!

Ems hope it helps you too!