Linda Max

Hi there, as we have just sent our 15 year old back into UK education after 6 years in NZ, I can tell you that she is having a real hard slog to come anywhere close to her peers. She is back with friends that she went to school with prior to coming to NZ. Some clever some not so clever, and the not so clever ones are streets ahead of her. Our daughter gained top marks in everything except the dreaded maths here, so we thought she would be fine. Wrong. Our 17 year old is going back on Saturday, and will go to college in August/September. She walked out of school with no qualifications, (silly girl) because she hated school, thought we could put her into college to resit, as you can in UK, but here she has to be a mature student over 21 years, before she can resit school C, without that certificate, forget any halfway decent courses. After weeks of trying every educational institute in the north island, I got two pieces of advise.
1 Send her back to Scotland, she will get a far better education there. That was from the careers officer at the Hamilton Poly
2 We can get her work experience, no pay, no dole, no nothing, but it will be good for her. That was from a number of different education centres.
Not something we had thought would happen after 6 years here, and it has really thrown a spanner into the works, but education is one of the greatest gifts that you can give your children.
I have spoken to many Kiwis and the vast majority say they wish they had the opportunity to send their kids overseas to be educated.
PS. I have an aunt who lives in the USA who gave her kids a UK education. Seems that the UK can still boast a great education system.

HiddenPaw

Hi Scooby, eltham is lovely - I used to do lots of cycling up there (lots of hills!)I have some Aussie friends who lived in Eltham - they've just moved 'back' to the uk (they lived in Uk for 3 years, went back to Eltham for 2 years, and now back in UK.

We would have possibly moved up to the Sunshine Coast but the baby came along before we had a chance (we always said we would go back to UK when we started a family, which is why I knew I would probably never settle in Oz long-term)

Rosy

We were in Oz for about 18 months, and our decision to come back so soon was really based on education for our children. I knew that Oz wasn't for me "for life", although I did really enjoy a lot of the lifestyle. However, if we had delayed coming back to England any longer, our son would have had trouble getting into a good secondary school.

Both our children were way ahead of their peers in Oz schools, and when we returned we realised just how little they'd learnt in the 18 months over there. Son went into Year 6 when we got back and his teacher said he'd be lucky to make a level 4 in his SATS (despite leaving England primary school with straight 3's when he was 7!).

However, he and the school have worked really hard to get him back up to standard, and I am very pleased to report that he came home yesterday with his SATS results - straight level 5's in all subjects!

In my opinion there is far too much emphasis on "social" and "sporting" activities, in Oz schools, never mind if the kids can read and write!!! In my daughter's class at her school in Oz the children who were in the school sports teams were regarded far more highly than those who actually concentrated and tried hard during lesson time.

Although I still miss Oz very much I do believe we made the right decision to come back when we did.

Mercedes

You are probably also finding it harder if you are used to working and having that social intercourse at work with colleagues to being at home on your todd. When I first went to Australia I travelled and worked so had people around me all the time, then after I was married I had a time where my husband didn't want me to work, and that time was bloody awful. I knew a couple of people, but there was so many times you could pop in for coffee and drink it, LOL. But it was lonely and that was the time I got really homesick. For a short while I then became a volunteer, doing meals on wheels etc, it kept me busy I met some really great old dears who adopted me and it did help. I later went back to work and found it easier. I have lived in different states in Australia and some I met some fantastic people and loved the place and in others I found it hard. Maybe whilst you are looking for work, you could become a volunteer apart from meeting more people, it may open a window of opportunity for a permanent, paying job.

Just a thought for you, it helped me for a while, and help reduce my telephone bill to the UK which ummmmm was very high.

How does your hubby and child(ren) like it so far? Do they also want to go home?

Keep your chin up.

Mercedes.

Lucyemma5

I was wondering, did you go out for a holiday first, or did you go out "blind" so to speak?

I have never been to Australia, although my husband has loads of times as all his family have emigrated over the last 30 years or so. As my husband is in the Navy, it will be a lot easier for him (wherever he lays his hat and all that). We have discussed it for the last 13 years or so we have been togher but it never felt right, for some reason I am now ready. I am Westcountry born and bred and have only ever lived within a 5 mile radius from where I was born. Does that make a difference? I am getting a bit worried now. Either I am very brave or very stupid. The funny thing is that I am more anxious to emigrate than my husband is!

JAJ

Slightly off-topic, but has your daughter got a New Zealand passport or an indefinite Returning Residents Visa?

She may eventually have problems coming back to NZ if not.

Jeremy

angelica

Hi Olibeneli, I was saying my daughter would have been behind her classmates after a couple of years of schooling in Oz on the basis of the work she was doing in class there ie just starting in Year 4 in WA the maths topic was 'Learning the 2 times table' and in english the topic was 'Compound words'. She was having to go over work she had covered in Year 2 in UK. Luckily, as I had worked in UK schools, I used the UK standards website resources to keep her up to date with work she would have been doing back home.

She became bored quickly & didnt want to go to school in OZ, which is completely out of character, so I am glad we came back sooner rather than later.

Angelica

MikeStanton

Interestingly, if you look at the OECD ranking of Oz and NZ schools they are comparable - even slightly higher - than the UK.

However, in our experience, and that of most people who have posted on this site, Oz and NZ teaching appears to be behind the UK. How can these experiences and the OECD rankings be reconciled? It could be due to different things being taught at different times, with it all balancing out by the end of the school career.

Certainly, in our experience, Oz education is not as academically rigorous as that in UK. And, having employed both university-level Brits and Aussies, the Brits tend to be far better at analysing problems - I put this down to how and what they were taught, not any difference in IQ.

scoobydoo

We had been to various parts of australia on holiday a few times - I'm not sure that this would make much difference as a holiday is very different to living somewhere.

call yourself adventurous and remember to remain open minded about the whole experience! I'm trying to do that!

Linda Max

Thanks Jeremy, yes we do all have our Kiwi passports.

heading downunder 2002

Hi Scoobydoo,

I really think that you can't put a time on it as everyone is different. For me I knew very quickly what a big mistake we had made, we stayed 6 months but the decision was made to come back to the UK after about 2, we actually stayed because the Rolling Stones were performing in Brisbane (it was worth waiting for). A lot of people say that after that length of time I was suffering from homesickness but it was much more than homesickness and although I did feel homesick it did pass but the rest did not. Some people know straight away if something is right or not and I am someone that if somethings not right I do something about it straight away and don't hang about.

In our situation we are so glad that we came back when we did as we were able to still buy a house etc. Our house has gone up by £50,000 since we bought it in Feb 2003 and we haven't even done it up yet!!

We have no regrets at all and for us it was the right decision to return, but everyone is different and that is why some migrate to Oz etc and live happily ever after whilst others don't.

Good luck, and I hope that things work out for you and whatever decisions you make in the future do them because it is whats best for yourselves and not for other people or what they might think

Susan

scoobydoo

I think that normally if I felt something was not right I would do something about it! But in this case my husband and child are enjoying their experience of being here. We did originally say that if one of us wasn't happy we would go home but I'm not at the stage where I'm totally miserable yet!!!

It is interesting that most people who go back know early on that it is not for them.

Now.....had better start working out how much we need to save for the shippers back ....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:scared:

badgesagent

Badge says he just knew after 30 years that the UK was STILL not "right", but after 6 months he knew that Australia was, and 1 year on it still does..

so, go with your feelings. If it feels bad, it may not get better.

bromleygirl

Found this BBC news story that I thought would interest everyone. It appears that Oz wants us Brits to move there even more so. They claim in the article that the Ozzies love the Brits, houses are cheap and jobs are well paid.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3853597.stm

Ceri

I find that story amusing, has anyone else noticed the difference between the comments from residents in Aus and the Brits who are in the UK

"They like the British, there are cheap houses and good wages, or so I've heard." ( British wanna be expat)
Where are they going to live? So long as its not near me it doesn't bother me." ( Aussie)


"I would be interested in going because its a better standard of living, with better weather than we get here ( British wanna be expat)
"Aussies say all poms are whingers anyway. There's plenty of whining - the sun's too hot, they don't put enough sunscreen on and they get rashes...." ( . Aussie)

It tickled me anyway