cadman

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to sort out schools for our kids for when we arrive in Cairns next April and have a couple of Q's.

Our kids are ages 8,10 and 12 and are in Grades 4,6 and 7.

So, the Q is, our eldest has just started high school here this September. When we go there, are Year 7's still in Primary and go up to High School in Year 8?

This would make it all a bit less complicated as I would only have to find them the 1 school for now.

Thanks,

Andy

Sandra

So what do the school/government web sites say the ages are for the area are?

Start with those and then knowing your children go to interviews at the relevant schools once you arrive and take it from there.

I have kids who I came over with at school years in the UK of year 5 and year 7...based on ages etc over here they should have been years 4 and 6. We ended up choosing years 4 and 7. One back and one forward?!

But it is the child that matters when fitting into school. You can get them into older years no worries you can also let them settle back into peer groups and skill groups.

Long term ..... be happy with your choice and take a while about it.

moneypenny20

Yup. In most schools in QLD High School starts year 8. They are planning, at some point in the next few years, to bring it in line with most other states and have year 7 as the start of High School but not yet.

There are also one or two schools scattered about who already do this but they seem to be closely linked to a specific primary and so it doesn't really count, if that makes sense

cadman

Thanks. That's all I needed to know.

I don't go in for all this moving kids up and down years so if my eldest is 12 then he'll be in Year 7 and therefore still in primary for 1 year if we go state.

The private schools we are considering go right thro' from pre-school to Year 12 but the state one doesn't so if we go state we'll have to consider where they will all go to High School.

Andy

moneypenny20

There are some state schools that have a particular name which I can't remember but basically they are three schools with three heads and one mega head so they run from reception all the way through - lower, middle and upper. The middle consists of years 7,8 and 9 I believe.

My eldest had just started year 8 in the UK, we moved in November and she started year 8 here. In theory she should have gone into year 9 but is only a couple of months older than most of the other kids and it really helped that everyone else was brand new as well.

cadman

I'm getting confused again ! If she was in Y8 here, why would she go into Y9 there ?

Our eldest is in Y7, turned 12 in Sept. so is one of the oldest in his year (but doesn't look it or act it !). I'm assuming when we go in April he'll be in effect doing most of Y7 again as they start in Jan. ?

Is this not correct? is Y8 here Y8 there or are they 1 different ?

Andy

moneypenny20

Sorry Yes he will go into year 7. My daughter is a September baby as well but because she had done one year of Secondary in the UK, they wanted to put her in year 9 but we decided it wasn't a good idea. She has just turned 14, and very few of her year will be 14 until after Christmas.