lucyporter78

Hi

I lived in Wellington for a while and it is a great place - be prepared for the wind though! Where to live depends on how much commuting you want to do. Being in the city means that you can walk pretty much anywhere. I lived in the Basin Reserve area and it was a handy location but some areas outside the city are beautiful. Kandallah is pretty, Oriental Bay is beautiful, views from Mount Victoria, Thorndon is olde town but many people come in from further afield. There are bargains to get if you don't mind some DIY. There are great Hostels aswell that offer Family Rooms with weekly special rates to give you time to find something. Don't be put off by the term 'hostel' - they are far superior to UK ones.

I hope you fall in love with the place like I did! Enjoy.

brackley

ronda, we have been on 2 trips to wellington and like the look of karori, good schools for em and is zoned for wellington girls collage which they start in year 9 not 6. karori normal school was lovely when we looked around the deputy head took us around the school, talking to em mainly. she cant wait to start, they have loads of animals in the class, guinnea pigs, hamsters, water turtles etc, all the kids seemsed very relaxed and happy. no school uniform . we are heading to london on saturday to do a bus trip of the sites and also hit the sales to get well stocked up on school clothes for her for this year and next!!!

my husband built some new houses in shipston about 3 - 4 years ago. good luck with the move keep in touch. wendy

danny.f

Hi Wendy,do me a favour,we're coming out in November and are starting work at the hospital in feb/march,and have 3 kids aged 9,8 and 2. Do you know of any nice,or similar schools in South Wellington,within say 20 mins drive of the hospital? Danny.

brackley

hi danny, don't know of any, but if you go onto google nz and ask for schools in wellington i think you will find a site with reports of each school. looking down the line and i dont mean to offend anyone if there kids go to this school, but we went and had a look around wellighton high school as well, not advisable, results not very good and it reminded me of rydale hi in grease!!! my daughter wasnt very keen either and felt much more settled when we found wellington girls collage. if you get no joy then pm me and i'll see what i can do re sites for schools. wendy

danny fearon

Thanks Wendy. We have been on official NZ sites and stuff,but find the grading a little confusing,and you can never beat word-of-mouth recommendation. where is karori school? how far to south well? Danny

brackley

karori normal school is in donald street karori, obviously they have catchment areas for the school, but if you email them they will send you the list of streets. i believe all the schools are rated 1 - 10 obviously 10 being the best.

Apple12

No the schools aren't rated 1-10, the rating to which you refer is a judgement on the socio-economic make-up of the school's catchment. So if the parents of the shool are rich, the school is a 10, and is less likely to attract special government funding for extra teachers, resources etc.
Obviously it is possible that the school with a rating of 10 provides the best teaching and has the best behaviour - but that is not necessarily linked. It may just mean that the Parent Teacher Association has to do less gala days and fundraising, and that the teaching is lazy.

See here for more information: ERO reports
Quoted from this website...
3. What is a decile ranking?

The Ministry of Education uses a decile rating system for school funding purposes. Each decile contains approximately 10% of schools. Schools in decile one have the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Schools in decile ten have the lowest proportions of these students.

brackley

i was told this information from a person who works for the ministery of education last time i was in wellington, the person also gave me a list of all the schools with the rating on. wendy

asiatic

You can also fine out enrolement zones on http://www.schoolzones.co.nz/