fisher lass

We have been a bit confused about this.

She was 12 in April 2010 and will be starting school in WA in Feb 2011 for the start of the new term/year.

Just now she is finishing primary 7 and going into high school in August. Will it be the same in Feb for her or will she go into the equivalent of primary 7.

Thanks

quoll

In Feb 2011 she will be one of the younger ones in HS in year 8 (first year HS) as she will be turning 13 before the cut off. If you wanted to keep her back a year then you might be able to do that, cut off for WA is 30 June.

northernbird

She is the same school year as my daughter. Currently in year 7 and will enter year 8 in 2011. How come she is only in P7, if we had still been in the UK my daughter would have started high school last September.

fisher lass

We are in Scotland and the system is different to England.

She is more than ready and looking forward to starting High school in August but we thought it might be best if she had another year at primary when we move so that she could make friends easier (?) and get used to the system.

What do you think?

northernbird

Oh OK. I didn't know that. Personally I wouldn't. She will be fine and putting her in a year with kids a year younger will not do her favours in the long term. Make sure you think carefully about where you will settle, there are some pretty crap high schools in Perth.

quoll

Kids arriving from UK are generally academically ahead of their age peers so I wouldnt be keeping her in Primary for another year unless she is socially immature, in which case you might consider it.

HelenTD

Definitely wouldn't recommend putting her down a year. There would be no academic advantage and probably no social advantage either. Whereabouts in Perth are you thinking of living?

oz bound

She is only 2 months younger than our daughter and she is going into year 8 in Jan 2011. We came from Scotland too. I look on it as them having to repeat the last 6 months which does them no harm with the move and everything.

Goodluck

Ellie x

fisher lass

We are looking to settle around Rockingham.

The school we have looked at is Safety Bay HS. We are not looking at private schools as they all seem to be religious and we are not so it seems pointless.

Any opinions on the school?

Thanks

HelenTD

Hopefully someone will be along who is familiar with Safety Bay SHS. I just looked it up on the schools website: [url]http://www.myschool.edu.au/Main.aspx?PageId=0&SDRSchoolId=WA G0000004128&DEEWRId=12413&CalendarYear=2009 and its NAPLAN results, attendance rates and Year 12 results don't look too good. (Sorry, can't get link to work properly.)
This MySchools website is not necessarily the best way to pick a school, you really need to speak to someone who's there, or who lives in Rockingham. However, I don't think I would want to enrol my kids there and I would be definitely looking at a private school, you might want to budget for that. I don't think that religion plays too much a part in daily life and it might be the lesser of two evils, so to speak. I think there's been previous discussion on here about schools in the Rockingham area, so perhaps try a search and you will be able to track down those BE members.

kar-kier

I'd second the comment about looking into private education!

We are also from Scotland, and live just down from Rockingham, in Mandurah. Our eldest is 12 next week, and will be starting year 8 next feb! We are not in the least bit religious, but after my son having spent a year in a state school (and probably the best in the area), we decided to put him into a private school - best move we made!

Any questions, just PM me! I have a couple of friends in Rockingham who have kids the same age!

Kareena

ABCDiamond

WA Education specifies:
They must turn 12 years of age by 30 June of the year they start Year 7

Therefore a child turning 12 in April 2010 would have started year 7 in Jan 2010, therefore year 8 in January 2011.

She will be towards the youngest of the age range in her class, with about 20% being younger.

It is interesting how this varies in different states. My daughter was the youngest in her class in NSW, but is in the middle age range here in QLD. She would probably also be the youngest in WA.