mj12

Hi all,
I am sure this has been mentioned previously but can't find it.

Basically we have been in Oz for @1 year, when we left UK our youngest (6yrs old in May 2005) had just completed his first term in primary school grade 1. Since being in Oz he has only been able to attend Pre-School part time (@ 3 days a week), & this is basically the same as a playgroup in UK so in effect he has not really improved, he can count but his writing & letter recognition are more or less the same as when he was in UK. He is due to start school here in January.

However we are considering returning to UK schooling (UK or Portugal) & we are wondering if anyone has returned with kids in a similar situation & how the kids & the school coped due to the different systems/ages between Oz & UK??

TIA

MJ12

jad n rich

Would be interested too, our situation is far more serious its been 4 years and ones amost 11 and ones 8 from what most newly arrived poms tell us we dont have a hope in hell of fitting them back in, surely it cant be that bad do they help them catch up??

Only thing we can think of right now is spending a term in the UK to see if its possible they will ever catch up to the UK school system before we make the big move or if we have left it too late.

Any honest opinions would be really be appreciated

scoobydoo

Our child is 6 and had been at school in the UK for Reception and three quaters of year 1. He has now nearly done 9 months in grade 1 in Australia .
I have compared his work with friends childrens work in the Uk and have come to the conclusion that we would need to go back to the UK before the uk summer holidays so that we can help him catch up with his maths, spelling and handwriting (which are now, from what I have seen, a year behind his friends work) during the holidays. That would then give him time away from school to get up to date.

He would go back to his previous schoool and having spoken to them they assured me that they would help with this.....of course this is a bit different to older kids with exams looming etc.

I would advise contacting the school you are interested in and asking them their policy on helping kids catch up and any suggestions they can give you to help.

janeyray

When we arrived in Perth our daughter was turning 6yrs. During her time at school in Perth she seemed to far less academic work than she had in her previous year in the UK. I found that most of the lessons consisted of gluing and cutting, pasting and painting. They were learning the alphabet (!) which our daughter had learnt in her previous years!

When arriving back in the UK she seemed to take everything in her stride and settled down to life in the UK school system once more. We found there were a few problems with maths which we soon solved by learning how to add up using a 'number line' (!?) thats us, her parents learning how to use the number line before we could show our daughter!!!!

Whatever type of schooling system children are in they seem to adapt fairly well, especially if they are between the ages of 5 - 10, after this age I can only assume changing schools and countries is very difficult.

odaat

Our son was one year old when we arrived in Oz, we left Oz as he turned 5 and went to Saudi Arabia.

In Saudi Arabia he was struggling at the British International grammar school, the Australian schooling system is at least a year behind the UK curriculum.

This year we returned to UK, Our son is now 7yrs old, we put him in a private school and he has had intensive support with his basic english and maths.

We attended school parent teacher meetings a few weeks ago, Our son has made considerable progress since coming back to UK, he still has a bit of catching up to do - the skill and support from the school has been excellent.

The real key has been the good wife who has diligently schooled our son with his reading and maths. Our younger daughter has just turned 5 and only knows the UK private schooling systen, she is thriving and comes home with excellent reports on a daily basis.

IMHO - the key is to start home schooling in basic maths and english now, plenty of guide books and resource on the net, check the UK school systems and results before you return and make sure he is put in a school that can offer intensive support, consider a private school, a private tutor or summer school as a "top up".

odaat

simoneb03

I agree Odaat - the key is to start now and go on helping them. our children were 6 and 8 when returned from NZ which is probably similar to OZ. academically it's basically ahead here, but they miss out on sport, practical problem solving and all those things, so if your kids are sporty and not academic as mine are it's a bit of a shock but OK with lots of support from home. when we were in NZ i thought it would be great for them to have more formal learning here, now i'm not sure, that practical/sporty stuff is very good for their development as well rounded people. you have to do your own sport here and if you can afford it, a tutor is a good idea.