ranbysue

Hi

Just wondered how the prison officers who are already there are faring and how their lives are going and also if the decision was right, wrong or too early to tell.

Love

Suze x

MV5555

still to early to tell sue in wellington training at the moment...........lets just say we bite our lip in class..............weather at its worst but it is the middle of winter...but when the sun comes out its loverly warms right up .........today was great having a coffe inbetween classes and the sun was out it was warm and the snow was shining off the distant mountains................from a practical sense things arnt cheap here ........food and comodities are priced ok if you know where to go epecialy fresh stuff .....the chip shop for 5 bucks bout 1.70 u can get a special and will not be able to finnish it the 20 dollar special for a family is ridiculas lol................cars are cheap housing is quite expensive but affordable if you are able to bring even a small amount of sterling and live outside a big city........we have settled in Te Awamutu a loverly place very friendly not to big or to small.........wage rise in the pipline looks like we are about to get 43000 b4 any overtime one shift extra a week puts u on about 53000 u are entiltled to family assistance if you have children we currently get 140 a week we have 2 children.................the country......a beautiful place i been fishing on the warfe in raglan and caught my tea loverly legal snapper.......been to the wonders around taupo and rotarua ( spelling not my strength) kids will love school it blows away the schools back home the children love it chidren ar children here and are allowed to grow up naturaly i hope you get what i mean by that.....................this is not the uk life is different and we have still to find our feet when it comes to finding our permanent home and my wifes job choice ect ect but after only been here month our feet are firmly planted........In Te Awamutu there are xpats who have made us welcome and i can see the sence of community spirit here as we have all had experience of a move and bend over backwards to help each other and make everyone who come here feel welcome.................the new zealanders what i nice friendly bunch of people what more can i say

Here is different first year finding our feet is going to test alot of avenues but we are here to take them on and live our lives not looking back but settling down and moving forward............................advice if your gonna do it do it and jump or walk away playing around on the edge will just frustrate you



mark

another thing there is no litter dog muck anywhere i find id bizzare, no graffitti where we are.........the sky at night is unbelievable u gotta be here to experience a clear night.................lastly do not be put of with peoples bad experience choose where your going well i firmly believe we have come to one of the better places for settling and life is hat u make it it might not be for some but it is for us.............good luck god bless

K9s

Suze

WRONG decision !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

K9

MV5555

If you can manage to get on as a dog handler over here there wage has just been increased to nearly 58000 for a standard week.

i know it didnt at all work out for k9 but its not all doom and gloom for everyone we have a good expat community here in Te Awamutu and are enjoying our new life away from the uk.............and i know that the success rate for settling is low in some parts of the country. Here to we have had people leave not the country might add but do take a different direction employment wise now with the increase in wages people might hang around abit longer as when you complete level 4 here with the new wge wage structure your on 50k all you experience sentenced planners if you can get on that mondayto friday nearly 60k and you dont need promotion to do the job. Its horses for courses.

Big shout to nigel in christchurch let me know your ok mate and r getting on


mv

MV5555

by the way sue tony colins sayes hi he's loving it correction to the last thread dog handlers $58000 per year lol

Andrew Cross

Hi Mark,
Still here. Working away and getting on with life. Weathers abit crap, worst winter for a long time, if we can get through this then the rest will be easy. Wifes got a job and kids are very happy so all in all we feel we did the right thing. Hope the training is going ok for you mate. Take care.

K9s

That might just pay the shopping bills

K9

MV5555

jees where did u shop lol

ranbysue

Hi Mark

Thanks ever so for your reply, it was very welcome and I am really glad that you are enjoying it. Te Awamutu is where (if we come out) we would settle.

I was so surprised to hear that you know of Tony Collins...how did he know about this specific thread on here and your reply to me?

Would you mind telling him that I received his message before he went out there and that I have been watching my private messages to see if he had replied. Tony was the first contact that we had on NZ that was started on a holiday truth website believe it or not. Would you ask him to send me a pm or e-mail to update me on his time so far.

So glad to hear that you are settling in well Mark and good news on the pay front! The weather in comparison in the UK is good at the moment and has been around 28oC last week. Still the same old story though everywhere you look. Do you know from your time so far if the prison employs lecturers in social and life skills as I do that part time at a prison at the moment and I would like to contimue that if we came out. My husband is an officer.

Anyway better go as getting late over here...but please don't forget to tell Tony for me will you.

Good luck to you all and keep me updated.

Suze x

dekajack1

Hi

it has been a long time since I posted on this thread but just to let people know how we are settling.

After 6 weeks at college spending most of the time in disbelief, the fact that you cant fail the course shows how much they need staff. The fact you have people who left school last year and are now prison officers, but I believe you could be a prison officer in England at 18 as well, minimum age in Scotland was 21, the job is the same, money not great but could be. For those people who are coming over, I know it will be hard but just bite your tongue at college because we all know that is not how the jails run but change from within.

Outside the work I feel it is the right decision for us. Although the houses are a bit more expensive here, my friend came over and went to Palmerston North and the houses there are about 100K cheaper than here.

Schools are great and almost every school has an after school club, unlike back home, the schools are still quite busy up to 2 hours after they finish with clubs etc. If I picked up my son back home from school at 3.00 if we passed the school again 15 minutes later it was deserted even the teachers were away.

Food shopping for a family of 3 is about $150 per week and that is me over buying as usual, need my cupboards to be full of tins. If you are coming over and buying things in sterling they are cheap but probably on par with back home in relation to wages.


Not everything is rosy all the time, but if you have the right attitude and are here for the lifestyle there are worst places in world.

One of my colleagues is going through college at the moment and he is staying in the Te awmatu area and loves it.

HOpe you settle in well

taffinkent

Hi everyone,

We have been in Invercargill for nearly 5 months. As some have said college is a real joke and if you can get through that you can face almost anything !

Job OK. We are in a small nick ( CNA 172 ) No stress ( when you do it is with some of the staff and their eccentric ways ) Pay review will be voted in and wages will rise ( up to $43k WOW !!) Big issue for me is the NZQA Level 3 ( NVQ). I have refused to do it. There is talk of "recognising prior learning" and I am in touch with Head Office and the union to pursue this matter to the full. There are SO`s positions coming up in Invercargill and I have been advised to apply. (Wages for SO will be $54k ) I still scour the job pages and have applied for a few as a back up. Nothing yet !

Lifestyle is good. Southland is a great place to live. People say Invercargill has terrible weather but we have had no snow and it has been quite mild compared to some of the South Island even though Winter is here ( ...might have spoke too soon !!)

I have heard that if they want more UK officers ( and they will ) that you will have to come here to sit the interviews. My advice is to really do your homework first. There is NO WAY that I would have paid to come out here for an interview that you may not be successful at.

Good luck to all. If anyone wants any advice please feel free to PM.

Taff and Debs

MV5555

at last i thought i was the only on speaking up lol its great to hear of others who know they have made the right move............one thing we all say collage is a joke but is no reason to go home get yer head down bite yer lip and work your way up the ladder in what i see is a much more stressless job than i ever did in the UK.

Sue, Tony is at collage at the moment i will pass on your message he would nt dream of returnig to the UK..........as for lecturers yes we do have them here at wiakeria especially on the youth unit not sure where you apply though.......another carreer move over here if you were inclined to go that way is probation officer, no formal qualifications are required just good communication and common sense they will fully train you up. If you were to take a change in career direction this country will give you the opportunity to take it you just got to want it and be prepared to work.

dekajack1

Really good to see people looking at the positive and not the negative all the time, and yes I know they do things differently here, some good some just different, but there is scope for promotion and lots of it.

Ann

ranbysue

Thanks

The replies are positive and making me want to really consider coming...

thanks Mark. Tony has pm'ed me

MV5555

extra info for sue found out today they are desperate for course facilitators basicly means you run classes on varyng subjects.........your trained in what to teach but a knowledge of supervising small classes is required which i presume u have is run by a goverment dept ourside corrections pay is 43000 to 57000 always adverts within the intranet system at corrections