what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Gosh, hello. I have the wobbles but if we find ourselves in oz - gold coast perhaps, what school year would a 12 yr old be in ?? Aug b-day 1998.

Any honest opinions about schools and life on the gold coast for a very indecisive and wobbly person much appreciated.

Why would we be going ?? Because we can,a bit of an adventure and I really can't see us living in the u.k when we are older.Can't stand the cold. Are these reasons good enough?
We have a good life here and are as settled as we would ever be. I love the long summer nights - well only the warm ones.


Do we want to be doing this??

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

yes......I mean no......I don't know!

It's maths really. To go = Heart + Head, divide by two and if the answer is greater than 50% then go!!

We have been thinking exactly the same. Happy and settled, decent area, safe job etc..........but now we have to go. Accepted an offer on our house yesterday and 119 visa granted this morning. Oh forfootsnake what are we doing! :eek:

But they keep telling me that the grass is quite green there, whatever that means. So I am sure it will be fine. :p

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Go - try it. you aren't running away from anything (well maybe the old weather) and if you're really not going to loose anything then do it.

and congratulations jezandem.... we received our ACS decision this weekend... next stop the visa!

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Our 12 year old went into Y7 for the last term when we came out- she had already done it in the UK, but the year here runs from January. (She was Jan birthday) It gave her a chance to make friends and find her feet whilst not having to stress over schoolwork (she was considerably ahead in language skills)- she could have been pushed up into year 8 academically, but the girls would have been far older and have different interests, so we didn't push.

I am presuming your child is in Y7 in the UK, but is one of the youngest??? When it comes to the HSC (A- levels) having that extra maturity can make a big difference.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

A child who turned 12 last August will be in year 7 this year (dont worry about what year he would be in in UK, this is a foreign system and just put them with age peers). You said the GC but said NSW in your subject line - in NSW year 7 is first year HS and in Qld it is last year primary school.

Should you do it? No idea but if you do come, do it with belt and braces - take a career break, rent out your house, put a time frame on your decision and make a decision to go one way or the other before your child needs to be making decisions about GCSEs because once that merry go round has begun you cant get back on it.

Forget the long summer nights - you wont get them in the Gold Coast. You dont like the cold but will you like the heat? A lot of people find that even more debilitating and it isnt like going on holiday where you can lounge around and sit on the beach, you will have to be doing your day job, all the chores etc in the heat. It isnt so much the weather that you need to be considering - what do you expect your old age to look like, what sort of activities do you fancy pursuing? Will you have been able to save enough money to be able to live the life you fancy in your old age?

What do you think will be better in a foreign country on the other side of the world, than the life you have now? Can you make your current lifestyle better where you are? How independent and self sufficient are you? Will you be able to make a go of it without a well developed social network?

Good luck with your decision, it is one that only you can make.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

You mention NSW but then mention Gold Coast which is QLD so bit confused. :D It doesn't get 'hot' here, rarely hits 35 and humidity is far less than what Brissie get. (Guess it depends on what 'hot' means to you). Whilst we don't have long light summer nights, I've never met anyone who doesn't continue their lives normally in the summer, the only difference is that it's dark but we do have electricity which allows things to continue late into the night.

A 12 year old would go into year 7. At the moment year 7 in the vast majority of QLD schools is the last year of primary but in 2013 (I think) it will be first year High School.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

You are so posh. Stop showing off.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Sorry, I'm just so proud.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Glad to hear there is electric in oz.Did have visions of a homemade generator powered by a bike.

Sorry for the confusion nsw/goldcoast - still a bit undecided but leaning towards goldcoast - but will boil down to jobs I suppose as to where we end up.

So as he turns 13 in Aug,he will be starting yr 8 in Jan in oz? the start of high school ? when is the cut off ? will he still be one of the youngest?(he is yr 8 here now but one of the youngest as cut off is sept)

How do the schools differ? do they really do more sports? What hours do they do,are there school busses ? how much are music lessons - do they do much music?? So many questions...

Yes we will be renting out our house here. We are very independent folks and have no problems going where we know no-one.

Our ideal plan would be to give it as near to a year as possible as that is when in U.K his gcse stuff would start - so as long as he would be settled - mum and dad too - and we were all living as we would like to be then decision made - we stay. And I suppose if after another year we were to go back he would just have to drop down a school year in the u.k and start his gcse stuff with 'the year below him'. Not sure if this can be done or how he would feel about it but don't suppose he would have much choice in the matter.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

You will have to check out the websites of the schools in the area you are interested in. There is a very good school bus service on the GC - imo anyway. The routes are here. Each school has different strengths in different subjects but obviously all cover the majority of subjects. They also do different hours. Some schools do early start, early finish. Others do early start only for seniors and others do 'normal' hours.

Your son won't be one of the youngest. He'll be a 'middle'. If he were born in December he'd be one of the youngest. Cut off is end of December.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Son in qld is 1996 so in grade 10 now, grade 11 in january.

So your son born 1998 he would be in grade 9 in january.

This is because in 2008 the school starting age changed, older kids like ours are on the old age system.

However you could easily put him in grade 8 if you preferred, schools are very flexible on age, many people keep them down or put them up. At the moment, sons 14 and 5 months in grade 10 but is in with kids who are heading for 16 shortly because they have repeated a year or come from interstate. If we moved to melb he would be in grade 9 now.

Confused:lol: dont be, look at the school, really be honest about your son, where would he fit in, try him in one grade and move him if not happy, it really can be done.

School hours we have 7am to 1pm, last year was 10 - 4, primary was 9 - 3, again all varies.

Music lessons, private school we had them in was up to $60 for half hour, sometimes only $35, one state was a $20 for the entire term.

Sport, depends, son in grade 10 does half an hour a week, other grade 10 kdis are doing it for 3 subjects and kids in teams even miss english, math and exams for it - mental IMO, but for some its that important, not me I might add!!

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Didn't know that! :D We came over in the November. In the January my eldest should have gone into Grade 9 but we and the school decided that after such a big move, starting Grade 8 with everyone else new would be the best bet for her. She finished Grade 12 last year having had her 18th birthday but they really don't worry too much about ages and year groups here. There's a few kids at our school who are in the 'wrong' year for their age but it's down to where they moved from etc. Don't worry about it, the schools are normally quite relaxed to fit the child.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Yep I have one in grade 12 who we kept back a grade, ( december kid so he would have been very young ) he moaned at the time, but now loves being older - he was there on day one of grade 12 with his drivers licence and a brand new Triton Ute ( mine:rolleyes: he sorta stole it :lol: ) being older was suddenly wasnt so bad.

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

:D A friend of First Born's finished Grade 12 last year but didn't graduate, she's doing Grade 12 again this year. She's a top swimmer so did part time ed and will finish off this year. A bit older and with green Ps, she's enjoying herself and gets two formals :lol:

Re: what school year nsw 12 yr old and our reasons for going.
 

Oh you lot are so wonderful :D Thank you for all the replies. I am so glad to hear it all sounds relaxed . This is hubbies one big worry - the eldest with school. And he is such a little dot - so good to know he may have a choice as to which year he may want to go into.
We were just saying last night that its really scarey to look at him and think he only has 3 years left at school - if we were staying here,uk.
My biggest worry is money - lol - which is so odd as it is one thing I have never worried about. We have always got by but still for me with this move it always keeps boiling down to money in my mind.