Hi all

From talks with our migration agents to getting to Adelaide, we are on the other side of a 3 year journey, now living here for about a month. We were as ready as we were ever going to be and are positive and generally realistic people. We had visited Melbourne for a recce trip but decided to try Adelaide as we thought, after research it would be more affordable and the weather appealed more also (among other things). This was a tough decision as I have family in Melbourne.

We have put our two girls 5 and 10 into a local primary school. It doesn't seem a bad school at all just having been here a month. My concern is that my 10 year old is doing stuff now that she did 2 years ago at home. We are really happy with the youngests reception class however.

I have integrated and asked and asked parents for their opinions on this level of education difference so I can get my head around the differences here from home in the UK. I am not one to panic. However, I would like to offer the question to you guys if you didn't mind?

If this was your experience, how did you deal with it? If we accept that she will level off in latter school years that feels to me like we just wait for her to come 'down' to the Oz national standards. She is a bright kid and I don't want her to either forget what she has learnt or be bored at school (which she is a bit). I have considered asking her principal to put her into year 6 as this will probably be where she is academically (this was my daughters idea). Has anyone done that?

Obviously I realise why there are the differences as kids start school later here and I also admit, I had not considered this in all our research but just would welcome your experiences and suggestions.

I spend most days walking home from dropping my kids off in turmoil about this because I feel so guilty. I am sure some of you can relate to this and it sure would be good to hear your thoughts.

Thanks - Jenny

Looks like you've got two choices...

You're going to have to either "get over it" and support the kids with what they do .... Remember.. You are NOT at home now.... And comparing them isnt helpful, unless you are going back...

Or shell out for private....



You arent going to change the australian public school system by mythering about it

Jeez why is it that no matter how 'open' and 'upfor' the Australian way of life and to be accepting of the differences I try to be on this site I am afraid to post. I am not 'mythering' as I think I said, I am not in panic mode at all. However, thanks ever so for the 'get over it' advice. I was trying to encourage some less shallow responses.

I don't need or even expect private schools to be better, I just want to know what other people did with their kids in state schools when their kids were at different levels academically. Do you even have kids or an ounce of empathy or is it only people like you who are allowed to emigrate and post on these forums??

Sorry I bothered

**** me... You're a bit sensitive today arent you?

We came from an International British school and the head here agreed (after testing) to put my 11 year old into the year above. According to age she should have gone into term 4 of year 5 whereas she had completed year 6 in the other school.

Mine are in a private school. I'm not sure the head of a state school would be so willing if your daughter's age doesn't fit, but you really don't want her to be bored for the next two years. Like Eddie says, you may have to consider going private.

Are you here forever? I know there are some concerns with them getting older and not being able to drive etc if they're younger than their peers when they get into senior school.

Have you spoken to the school? Maybe try that as your first port of call. We had similar issue when we came with our daughter and the school tested her academic ability before settling on appropriate year level. Good luck x

Thanks, I will speak to the principal and see what she has to say.

I can imagine that might cause all sorts of issues when she was older like wanting to do things her older friends were doing....its a good point, thanks.

It's something all parents with primary aged kids have to put up with. My son went back 2 years academically.

Going private isn't going to make much difference for primary school kids, maybe a bit.

Here primary school is really just glorified daycare it's high school when the real learning starts.

If you are considering private high school get the kids names on the list now, don't delay. You might stll be OK but leave it much longer and you won't be.

Thanks, I have heard this about High School. We haven't at the moment even started looking since not being here long. We don't even know if we will stay in this area, our landlord just decided to sell the rental and we have only been here a month of our 12 mth term so that will maybe make the decision for us in terms of moving. The area we are in, Christies Beach isn't somewhere we will stay but some of the areas around are ok. Perhaps we can get her name down even if we dont know if we are staying?

The backwards step in learning was a bit of a worry to me too....but after a while I realised that being bombarded with the 'three R's' wasn't the be all and end all............my childs peers were confident and well rounded.......they were polite, unashamed of their Parents (even the teenagers!) They spoke Japanese, and could make origami animals.............Kids were still kids with roughed up hair and grubby uniforms.

I rather liked it


My oldest was 6 when we came........flying academically in the U.K. She was on reading level 24 when her classmates in Adelaide were on level 2 or 3. Her Brother was 5, he had completed a year of reception in the U.K....and hated it,where as he loved the less rigid curriculum of Australia. Move forward 8 years, my Daughter is still excelling academically in the 'XLR8' progamme at High School and my Son is about to join her. Both are polite and socially well rounded............and these qualities still impress me of teenagers here.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but they'll be alright........4 weeks is early EARLY days

Best Wishes, Jan x

You should talk to the school principal about having your 10 year old in year 6and see if that's an option. My 9 year old is currently in year 5, she is the youngest in the class as Aussie mums seem to prefer to hold their kids back a year. She is doing well, in fact compared to a lot of the 10 year olds in her class she is doing VERY well.

I had one of my sons put up a year, as school was so easy it was fairly obvious to all he it was pointless him sitting there doing work he would finish in minutes. This can backfire later, when your 15 year old is in grade 11 with kids who are 17 and driving, big difference in a year or so at that age.

By the end of primary we gave up and got him into an advanced academic programme leading to the IB. Again, buyer beware, is you kid really up for 3 hours of study, and 5 hours of study in exam block ( a day!!!) in grade 12. Seriously.

We were lucky in primary had a couple of years where kids got exchange teachers, one from USA one from Canada, both were rather stunned at the level and lack of work. Would take the time to extend the kids but thats the only time we got that bonus.

In primary I quickly noticed there were classes where the kissy ass mothers kids got in, and the teachers kids... ( by high they are nearly all in private schools ) anyway, by volunteering at the school a couple of years I got them in the good class a few times too, only by having a quiet word after the class lists went up and you knew from experience with Miss X your kid wouldn't learn much that year.

I also learnt to see what the kids really did, by being in the school. EG, the kids getting A in japanese sounded really really impressive. However once in the school you learnt it was a 30 minute a week and nothing that would teach them more than a few basic words and lots of colouring in kimonos, a sushi lesson, useful but hardly learning a language.

None of my kids reckon school got serious to grade 11 where it became an enormous shock LOL, that you were now expected to pass exams, do real homework and get into UNI etc. I notice the last teen is winging A and B grades in term one without doing a stroke of homework. Will be some right nagging soon I can tell you!

My daughter was at a grammar school in the uk, and when we came here she was put into a private school and did the last term of Y7, even though she had already completed it. In her language classes she was at year 9/10 standard- ie a good two years ahead. I did consider asking for her to be put up a year, but decided against it, as she would then be the youngest, and would struggle socially. It had its benefits too, in that she could relax and make good friends without being in the pressure cooker of rigorous academia. Now in y11 she is doing the IB and IMHO is a well-rounded child, having experienced a broader curriculum.

If your child is bright, then perhaps you can get them into the talented and gifted classes. But at primary school I would not worry too much, unless you want them to go to a selective school, and then go through tutoring to get there. You will find that 90% of the children are Asians. (Not being racist, but genuinely there is a lot of pressure on Asian chidren to succeed and almost all of them have extra tutoring.)

Thanks so far for some really helpful answers and also for the support. Its a minefield and I already feel a little better and have spent the day (again) looking at school reports and what each school does and doesn't do. It doesn't help that I also have to scour the high schools too when I am scarcely there with decisions about primary school! My daughter is a drama fanatic, I ideally would like to send her where she can enjoy that. Any ideas on adelaide schools for those types of talents? Where she is, they don't do any after school clubs either which I think is reasonable to want from a school..