crantock

Hi, we're in the (very earliest) early stages of looking into moving to Australia, and I'm after some basics re the Australian education system, please. Thinking at the moment of Melbourne, if that makes a difference?

We have 3 children, aged 11 (Dec birthday), 9 (June birthday) and 2 (May birthday) and I'm wondering what years they'd go into if we were to arrive in Jan '18.

In particular, the middle child, who was born on 30th June (which I understand is the cut-off for the school year?) - would she be going to senior school in Jan '18? And would it be possible to postpone this so she'd start senior school in Jan '19, or does such a postponement not happen? (she's not due to start senior school until Sept '18 in the UK and is dyslexic so is a little behind anyway - around 12-15 months at last assessment)

And when would the baby be due to start school? Google suggested that he'd be going to Kindergarden in '18, pre-school (is this equal to reception?) in '19 and year 1 (second year at primary?) in '20?

I'm sure there will be lots more questions, but that's my first...

Thanks!

geoff52

Visa (first) Job (first/second). That's the immigration procedure.

crantock

Thanks, I understand that, we would be eligible for a visa and my husband should be able to find work quite quickly - I'd continue to run my own business (and would enter a business - as a consultant - which is already established to obtain clients initially) so I'm not too worried about that.

I'm more concerned about getting a timeline in place to start the process, and schooling - and causing the least amount of disruption to the children - is our #1 priority, especially for the middle child.

Kiwikaye

Ok, purely on the question asked, if you were to arrive in Melbourne in January 18, your eldest would likely to in to year 7, which is the first year of high school (having turned 12 in December this year), your middle child would go into grade 5, and the youngest would start school in February 2020. The school cut off in Victoria is the end of April, so your youngest just misses out. There aree people who send their kids to school early' and those that hold the, back, so you do get a bit of a mixture of ages, but that would be my recommendation.

It's probably not bad timing if you can make it work, with visas, etc. We changed suburbs with our kids between the end of primary school and the beginning of high school for my daughter, so she started HS in a new area not knowing anyone, but at least because she was threre on the first day along with everyone else she didn't stand out quite so much. A year on she has settled really well and has a lovely group of friends. Of curse, this will very much depend on the child.

Your biggest issue with arriving in January will be enrolment, which generally takes place in the second half of the year before. If you can find a house in the zone for a particular State school, they have to take you, but timing will be tight, and the better schools have strict zones and won't enrol until you have either a rental contract or have purchased a house in the area. We bought our house in August, to settle in November, but we still couldn't enrol until the November when we had actually purchased.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask any other questions. Do you have any idea whereabouts in Melbourne you'll settle?

Kiwikaye

Just to add that you are correct with your kindergarten info too. If yr youngest turns 3 in May this year, then it will be 3 year old kinder next year, 4 year old the year after, and then school. If you have your child in childcare then many parents don't bother with 3 year old kinder as well, as it is mainly socialisation, which the child is getting anyway. We did this, also 3 year old is not government sponsored, so can be comparatively expensive. 4 year old is slightly longer hours and a bit more structured,and it is subsidised.

carcajou

It varies slightly from state to state, but your eldest would be starting Year 7. High school here generally runs from Year 7 to Year 12.

Absolutely you could postpone, but I wouldn't recommend it.

As well I second what the other poster said about visa first, details second - lots of people think they are "eligible" only to find out later that they are not.

crantock

Thanks, that's really helpful. We're not so worried about the eldest, he'll fit in and make friends easily. Our main concern is the middle child, who is far more shy. If she isn't due into secondary until a bit later then that gives us more time, to sort out visas and work etc 😏

We are currently looking at the suburbs in the West, currently focussing on Altona which seems to be in budget, but we're not averse to being further out. A commute of up to an hour would be ok.

My next step is going to be working our the finances...I've heard that food shopping costs way more, and with 2 teens, that could be interesting...

spouse of scouse

I think it's very understandable that you're asking questions now about something as important your children's education, it's certainly not something that I'd leave until after I had my visa in hand either!

You've had some great advice from Kiwikaye. Fingers crossed that all goes well for you and your family.