mickagnew

Hi all

Just wonderd how many of you if any have gone with a child who is about to (sept) begin the last 2 years of secondary school and GCSEs, he is quite bright and should do well therefore just concerned if things dont work out and we are back in a year and its all messed up for him, anyone

Cheers

Mick

PaulandNic

Hi Mick,

Our daughter was set to do very well in her GCSE's yet a year after arriving here she left school in grade 11 without a qualification to her name! ...

Saying that tho, she's got her head screwed on and is currently working in real estate as a receptionist and will be getting her licence to sell once she's 18 (5 months) ... she'll be right! ...

The boy was also set to do well and he too is leaving school soon once he gets a job, again without a qualification! This will be a gap filler till we get our PR and then it's looking like we'll both do an apprenticeship.

I can only talk of MY experiences here, but qualifications on the Gold Coast don't hold much. If you can do the job, you keep the job ... simple as that!

mickagnew

Hi Paul

Hows things now, with job etc, have been keeping an eye on your threads and have to say that you have certainly been through the mill, but you will come out of the other side smiling.

We have just sold our house now and it should be finalised in the next 8 weeks all being well and fingers Xd, I guess I am just starting to get that `is the right thing to do for everyone` feeling that everyone must get.

Sounds like your kids are doing well so I will take some assurance there.

Hope all is good with everyone.

Mick

PaulandNic

Yeah there's certainly been the high's and the low's this end, but a chunk of it is not knowing our destiny not being PR ... won't be a prob for you obv ...

To be honest I was gutted when my daughter left school without, but as I say I know she'll do well so have left it to her, she'll be ok ...

We all have these doubts mate, but once you're here, everything will fall into place, you'll be right mate! ...

WelshSarah

Very positive quote..

We arrived 12 weeks ago, my eldest should be sitting GCSES in a few weeks and the youngest has left his 1st year of GCSES behind.....

They were fortunate to get into the Queensland Academies ( why we came...) but I think, life is too short, if you get an opportunity, take it!!

Gems

We brought our son who had done the first year of GCSE's. He too was doing really well and inline for A grades. His last report was exellent and I did wonder if we were doing the right thing.
But I looked at Universities here and they were only interested in Alevels or Year12 austrailian exams.

However we felt that moving and exams would be too much stress for him.

Also our plans were always to stay her permanent.

He did a couple of months of Year 10 here. He found the work fairly easy. However he made friends and socially it did him good.
We were worried most for him about the move (got younger kids) and how he would settle. But without any pressure he settled very quickly.

He started Y11 here in January and work is more his level and lots of homework and tests. However he has has a couple of months to settle and so is fine.

Its working well for him, and Im not sure how well he would have coped with exams and moving so far away. He loves Australia and hopes to go to Uni.

Hubby is a teacher so we didnt make the decision lightly.

Gems.

tillysmum

Hi Mick
We moved here in Nov 07 with 15yr old (yr10) daughter. I started a thread on the moving back to uk forum last week you might find some food for thought on there. We were all really keen to come here but I am really homesick and HATE my job which doesnt help. We are not leaving (yet) but was just putting out some feelers on MBTUK.

Good luck you may love it here lots do but some of us struggle which does impact on the family. xxxxxxxx

Racht70

So glad someone started this thread.

My daughter whos 15 is now in year 10 (4th year to the oldies)
My ideal time to move to oz will be around Jan 2010 (various reasons why) at this time my daughter would be 17 and would of been at college for a few months in the uk (sept- jan) If the immigration plan comes about then we wont send her and wait till we here to oz in jan.

Ok the problem i have is what year will she go into when she gets to oz. Shes very academic and sporty ..
in her option she choose additional Science (bio, chem and phys ) and Btech sports. She will leave school altoghter with 12-13 gcses' mostly A's apart from the odd B's which will be in french and maths im sure as she hates these subjects (loved french initially!).
Will she have to sat oz year 11 and 12 to get into the uni there? or could she just sit year 12...thanks

shiels

Hi Mick....

We moved here 10 months ago with an 14 yr old lad and an 11 yr old daughter.

He still insists he hates school but I think for him he has better oppotunities here in the fact that he can leave school at the end of this year if he has an apprenticeship something that wasn't available to him in the UK. Not all kids are studious, in fact he's a bright kid just prefers the practical side of life that's all

She on the other hand enjoys school much more than she did in the UK as she does'nt find the peer pressure as intense as she did in the UK

Good Luck!! C x

quoll

The problem is that years 11 and 12 are a full course which is assessed both by continuous assessment and/or formally at the end of year 12 leading to a university entrance score so ideally she would want to do both years. However, in Qld I think there seems to be a shorter term course at TAFE which leads to a year 12 cert - whether that is enough for university entrance is another matter. Dont know about other states although there are often mature entry provisions for older people (over 23???) At 17 she would be older than other students starting year 11. The states have different ways of assessing their year 12 students too.

sme

Hi Mick,
Long time no speak !
Cara is doing well at school - the focus of the work and how the apply it is different but if he's bright he'll have no problems. Cara has just started year 11 and seems to have finally grown up and taking things more seriously. They don't have an interim type exam similar to GCSE's it's more like a higher leaving cert with points attached to it. Uni courses then have minimum required points for entry.
Hope this is of help. Get in touch if you need some more info.
Gillian

Racht70

Thanks Quoll you're a star.

Nu-Shooz

Hello
We took our daughter out of school at 14 and came to Perth. She missed 18 months of schooling in UK and now she is back in UK catching up. Think she is doing well now, so good on her.
She hated Perth and the education here is rubbish, so we took her back to UK to finish off her schooling. Best thing we did.

PaulandNic

Have to agree!

mickagnew

Hi Gillian

Hows things, keep your fingers crossed for us, got the buyers solicitor coming tomorrow to do the valuation, 8 weeks and should be done!!!!

Mick

If it all goes through it will be a miracle as the market here has not been this bad since early 90s so they say, reduced our house in total by 10%.