Making friends..
 

Hi, I am new to B.E. Hubby, me and the boys are hoping to be in Perth later this year. I am wondering how easy it is to meet and make new friends as we are very social people and with the boys being teenagers, I am worried it will be difficult to meet people as I will not be doing the school run. Thanks
Gaynor :)

Re: Making friends..
 

Hi Gaynor, when you say that you won't be doing the school run, do you mean that both of your boys have finished school?

A lot of people do sport here, that's another way to meet people. Will you be working here?

Re: Making friends..
 

Ours made friends easily, and I dont do the school run, they all walk.... 17 year old when we left struggled a bit at first to make the "right" kind of friends and had some interesting experiences along the way... But the younger kids we all fine coz they went to school and made good friends quickly...

Re: Making friends..
 

Checkout the meetups forum for meets in your local area.

Re: Making friends..
 

Be prepared to make an effort... For you and the boys... We went to the opening of envelopes to help establish a circle of friends... Some have gone by the wayside... But we have some REALLY good friends here now

Re: Making friends..
 

Hi Gaynor and welcome to B.E. :)

There is much volunteer stuff in Oz generally I think and many local clubs and so on. They are a good place to start and it indicates that you are taking an interest in your new home. That goes down well with locals I think.

Re: Making friends..
 

The boys are 12 and 14 now and will be prob 13 n 15 by the time we get over, so they will be able to get themselves to school. I hope to work part time. Its me I was worried about making friends. I know I will have to make the effort, its knowing where and how to start. I suppose BE is as good as place as any :D
How easy is it to find part time work? I have been a house mum for a long time will that go against me? I am prepared to do almost anything ha ha ;)

Re: Making friends..
 

Thanks for the welcome. Hubby has been on BE a while but its all new to me. Cant wait to get out there :)

Re: Making friends..
 

Not difficult in a hippy commune:D

Re: Making friends..
 

Even if your boys make their own way to school, you can still build a network at school by offering to help out at the uniform shop, canteen, etc, with the odd roster here or there. Make sure that you have your details down on any class contact list. If your youngest turns 13 after 1 July this year, he will be in Year 7, the last year of primary school in state schools, a busy year for social events and fundraising, so we found that volunteers were needed for lots of different things.

It doesn't seem very easy to find part-time jobs - what sort of work do you normally do?

Re: Making friends..
 

from friends we have out in oz i was under the impression ther was plenty of work,i can do stock taking or waiting on,our youngest is 13 in August so it seems he will then go to primary first in oz this will be a bit of a blow 2 him as he is in his 2nd year of high school here,but at least it sounds like it will be easier 4 me 2 make friends with all the activities going on in primary school.

Re: Making friends..
 

Who let you loose on BE lol xxx :D

Re: Making friends..
 

In NSW year 7 is the first year of secondary school- is Perth different then????

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Up till a few years ago year 7 was done at primary at the catholic schools.Now a lot of them are taking year 7 at high schiil.My youngest starts high school tomorrow.

Re: Making friends..
 

Yes, the Wait Awhile state makes the kids start high school later. Last year kids started turning 13 from 1 July and they were still in primary:blink:. State high schools haven't yet told us when Year 7s will move over to high school. A lot of teachers are against it here, for some stupid reason. I thought that all private schools now take kids from Year 7 for high school, or a "transition" year, so if your children are in a Catholic primary school, there is no longer a Year 7.

Re: Making friends..
 

School years seem to vary so much here.
Just looking at the first comment above; "13 in August going to primary" then thinking about my daughter, currently 14, she left primary 3 years ago, has just completed 3 years of middle school, and has now moved up to the senior school.
And she is in the middle of the age range for her year.

Re: Making friends..
 

Volunteer work...Badge's top tip:

It doesn't have to be drudgery - or even helpful. You know like Meals on Wheels...

Joining a mob like your local fire brigade is a nice little way of being seen to help the community when really it's all about you...and a nice little line in trucks an pumps an hoses an stuff like that. The partner might even like the uniform. Just make sure when asked you get the community line in first - even though it's bollocks in my opinion.

:thumbup:

Re: Making friends..
 

So how is the work sitution then? That is where I think it will be easier to meet people and make friends.
Like i said earlier, friends of ours in Perth tell us there is lots of jobs - part-time and full time.

Re: Making friends..
 

There are lots of work opportunities in Perth - if you do a search on www.seek.com.au for part-time jobs in Perth, it shows 804 such jobs advertised in the last 30 days. You can then apply filters to narrow it down, as 804 includes everything from clean to truck driver to physiotherapist, to look for the more specific types of job or in different regions in Perth.

I find it hard to get a part-time job because I also study, so have lectures to work around, plus various appointments to get the kids to, and I have a younger child. There's also the hassle and cost of before-/after-school care and vacation care. I have also been a stay-at-home mum, so it can be hard breaking back into the workforce, especially now that I have been at uni and am now a "mature" graduate.

What sort of work did you do before you had your family? Do you want to do the same type of work, or do some training before or after you get here? If there's something you fancy trying but have not got around to, completely changing your life by migrating is a good opportunity to do something different in your work life too.

Don't rush into anything, as you will be busy enough finding somewhere to live, sorting out schools (plus uniforms and books) and setting up home. That can take a lot of time:). Also, some things are just done differently here and it can take time to adjust. Just to give you an example, read about Alison's recent job experience http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...&highlight=job. Not everyone is like that, so don't worry, but it's an example of how you can get caught out in a different place.