quoll

Probably not as important in ACT as other places really - the kids leave their HS at the end of year 10 and go all over the place to college so there is no guarantee of kids making friendships. You can actually do your choices once you have been allocated a place.

I should have mentioned though, Paul - a permanent address is a good place to start when applying for a college. Do you have a "friend" whose address you can use in the first instance? That could be the only fly in your ointment about getting the college of your choice. Perhaps you could try approaching the college you fancy really early on and if you cant swing a "permanent" address then be up front and see how they respond. http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_edu...ege_placements Looks like applications close mid June - sorry I was out by a couple of months there.

However, if all else fails and you dont apply and thus dont get a place, if you get a permanent address in the priority enrolment area of the college you fancy then they will most likely enrol you anyway.

If you fancy one of the private schools for years 11 and 12 they wont mind where you are living as long as you can pay the fees.

Sally Simpson

Fair enough.
Always knew that QLD was the better state!

paulry

A good point but besides our validation trip in March/April, I don't think we can get over there any time before December. I've recently started working on achieving .Net certification. Its expected to require a total of 750 hours study time - more than two hours a day . I'm not sure if I could manage it any faster , but I'll try .

paulry

Thanks Quoll . We have a couple of friends in Canberra but they're relatively new ones so we'd feel uncomfortable imposing on them by asking to use their address. ...It could ruin the green shoots of the new friendships

quoll

It would be a good idea to suss out the colleges when you come to validate and just ask them informally what is the best way of getting what you want. If you can give me a clue about what his interests may be and which direction you may want to move, I'll see if I can tee up some contacts for you.

scrubbedexpat020

Here's my comment and not advice.

We had a similar situation but different state and sex!

Daughter elected to go into year 9 although due to her GCSE predictions/report she was told she could go from year 10 (UK) to year 10 (Aus). She elected to be with kids of her own age - as we do an extra year in the UK then age-wise year 9 Aus equates to year 10 UK.

All I'll say is that she went from studying hours for 11 GCSEs to zilch. As you can imagine she thought it was fantastic.

Initially, I was not impressed but in Aus there are no horrible public exams at 16 only 18. My view - the school education here is more EQ than IQ and I think better for turning out well-rounded individuals. I didn't say that in the first year.

Best thing that happened to her. It gave her time to settle in and make friends. She will entering 2nd year Commerce at Melbourne shortly.

Would I do it differently? Not for kids of older than 13/14. Hormones are rampant, spots are spurting and they need stability so a year "off" to settle-in is in order. My son who is 4 years younger also elected to stay with kids of his own age. He found it toooooo... easy and I think he could have coped with kids a year older. He isn't finding it easy now, though. Melbourne High is keeping him on his toes.

My only advice - don't leave your son out of your arguments/discussions.

Ian

paulry

Thanks Quoll. He's very scientifically and mathematically minded and does especially well in those subjects. Recently he's been expressing an interest in becoming a vet.

Of course we also need to bear in mind our 12 year old whose currently in year 7. But I think there's no critical stage coming up for him for quite a while. He has the same academic leaning as his brother.

Both love their sports; especially rugby, football and tennis.

We are easy really about where we would like to move but if anything are gravitating towards a preference for the north but only because it's been mentioned as a nicer part of Canberra . If we can help it we don't want to be too far from the city centre (less than 5 miles).

Thanks for your comments and advice Ian. I agree that we need to include him in our discussions. I wish if he would get more involved. He's a highly motivated person yet seems happy for my OH and I to thrash out the best path for him.

paulry

I just want to express my gratitude for everyone's help on this thread. My wife and I now feel more able to arrive at an informed decison for our boys' future education. Thank you all very much

scrubbedexpat020

A word re the travel ability of UK quals.

I know state gov'ts and unis say we know about UK quals and will equate them to Aus quals BUT it ain't that easy in my experience.

I recently applied for a PhD scholarship and it became apparent that the uni knew little about the difference between UK Hons and Aus Hons, and Master's UK and Aus.

UK Hons is 3 years and we submit a dissertation of 15000 words worth 25% before our finals.
Aus degree is 3 years. To get Hons you do an extra year which entails submitting a 15000 word dissertation in partial consideration. Hons is usually done by those that are going on to do research.

Marking is different. 1st class in UK is >70%, in Aus it's >80%. You say I got 72 in UK and they may well think it is 2ii.

Master's are different in that UK has a 15000 word dissertation that equates to 30% of total marks. In Aus it's possible to get a Master's without a research component.

To get a UK BEng MBA you need to submit 2 dissertations. In Aus you can get BEng MBA without any dissertations.

Marks are same for Master's in that >70 is distinction.

These exist
http://www.aber.ac.uk/pga/Comparability.html for degrees

http://www.britishcouncil.org/au-edu...uate-about.htm for 'A' levels.

So 3 A grade 'A' levels equates to an ENTER of 98.7. That says you are in the top 1.3% of that year.

But it helps to get Aus quals if you are staying as I think getting Aus equivalence of UK quals is not straightforward.

If you are using UK degrees get your referee to note it was x years and included a research component of y words worth z% and that you are in the top T% of your class. If you had papers published the more the better as long as they are in recognised journals.

If you are transferring GCSEs/'A' levels get the head to write a reference noting how your grades equates to top T%.

Ian

paulry

That's interesting. Thanks for the tips.

I noticed the lack of a research component a couple of months ago when I was considering doing the online IT Masters degree with Charles Sturt University. I hated doing the dissertation for my honours degree so was pleased to learn that the Australian masters didn't require one. In the end I've opted to do a Microsoft Professional Certification programme because it'll be more valuable when it comes to hunting for a job over there. ...And it's a quicker route

Good luck with your PhD

RenShen

Just something to bear in mind from a kids perspective, who might not see the whole picture. If he does his exams in the UK, he will have the mindset of his peers (quite rightly) that the school chapter of his life is over. Massive adjustment then to arrive here and still be at school with the "kids".

paulry

That's a very valid point, thanks. I've recently realised that if he does his GCSEs and takes a break until the end of that year while we move and settle in, age-wise he'll be one year behind his Australian peers. And yesterday having chatted with him at some length he's not willing to be a "one year behind" straight-A student. My fear is that it would break his currently high motivation. So the move is on for late 2010 - but not without some opposition

Janna and Nick

All you can do Paul is prepare as best you can, find out as much as you can and then put plans in place to achieve the goals. Best of luck to you! I hope it all works out. Don't stress too much about it. What will be will be as they say.

paulry

Thanks Janna . When are you taking the plunge? It's soon isn't it?

Janna and Nick

Yeah, flights are booked for 20th May. So nearly 4 months exactly. Temp accommodation sorted, now for the 360 other things on my list!