ma larkin

Hello Everybody,
New to the forum and also at the very outset of our plans to move to NZ.

We have 5 children between 9 months and 13 years old. We are Roman Catholic and would like to send them to faith based school at least for primary years. Would we have to pay and if so can anybody give an idea of approx cost? Also is there any cost attached to state schools?
Any advice gratefully received.

Apple12

This should be a good starting point for you, perhaps worth making a phone call to get more information.
http://www.nzceo.catholic.org.nz/pages/schools.html

Jules & Danny

There are both state funded and fee based catholic schools. Our kids are just about to start (after the Easter hols) at a Catholic school in Welly, which is a state funded one. It has a good reputation and we're in the catchment area so it has worked out well.

The added advantage of the school we're sending the kids to is that it continue up until they are 13, rather than having to pack them off to internediate school. Whilst there is nothing wrong with internediate schools, it would have meant that our eldest (who is 10) would have had to change schools in January. It means our 3 eldest kids can all walk to school together and our youngest should have little problem getting in when he's of school age... and we thought we were mad with 4 kids..!!

With having just moved to NZ and only starting the school in a couple of weeks, we just felt that it was too much of an upheaval for the eldest and having a consistent school for a few years would help.

Once your child is in a school, there is about $600 per year extra that you'd have to pay, over and above the uniform if one exists, to cover the costs of staionary, books, sports and other activities.

Having said all that, once all my kids have gone through communion and confirmation and have to leave their current school to go to high school - I don't thint I will be as adamant that they have to go to a faith school and atthat point will focus on the educational abiltiies of the school. We're already saving for private education, but with four kids it is going to be costly, even though private education over here is much, much cheaper.

planty

We found this site helpful when we were looking inot schools for our children: www.catholic.org.nz
There are lots of Catholic schools in NZ (mostly called St. Joseph's!), so no matter where you decide to settle, you should be able to find a Catholic school nearby.
As Jules and Danny said, there are costs incurred for most schools (and these costs will vary from school to school). We have to pay termly fees (it's not a huge amount - thank goodness!), which cover activities and so on, as well as having to pay for stationery at the beginning of the school year.
The majority of schools in NZ have their own websites; they are well worth a look as they give you a flavour of the individual school. Once we arrived in NZ, we paid visits to a few of the schools in our local area, and all the Principals were really helpful. Still, the one where we and the children felt most 'at home' was the catholic school that we enrolled our children at. I'm pleased to say that our boys love it there!
Hope that helps!
Debbie.

ma larkin

Thank you all very much. I have had a quick look at the links and there is plenty to guide us.

dubstar

Hi,

I have just moved my sons to St. Thomas of Cantebury college (boys school)in Christchurch, which is a car journey away from where we live:

Costs so far:

$700 per annum school fees Catholic levy and building levy inc.
$600 uniform
$80 school books (not txt books they borrow from school)
Packed lunches etc.

This is per child

Catholic schools are well thought of in our area anyway dnt know about the rest of NZ

I think there are 3 main high schools and more than 5 primary schools in CHCH

hope it helps

p.s
Please have handy you Baptism certificate and maybe ask your priest/father to write you a letter of introduction to your new priest/father

ma larkin

Thank you DUBSTAR for the info. Very useful as we are hoping to move to Christchurch too! Is this secondary or primary school?

dubstar

Hi,

Its an all boys school about 450 it enrolls boys from intermediate which is year 7 over here through to year 13

No idea what that means i'm still 1st form 2nd form etc, lol however, my youngest who was 11 on 20th feb is in year seven, and my eldest who will be 13 when he starts will go in at yr9

where abouts in CHCH are you hoping to be?

regards
dubstar

The Weezer

I've worked in schools in South Auckland that have among the very worst
reputations, and are really quite awful in most ways. I also work in a
Catholic school in South Auckland, and I can tell you there is simply no
comparison. Although the schools I've worked at are actually quite near to
each other, the Catholic school is clean, imposes discipline, has a friendly
atmosphere, and the students perform way better academically than
the public schools. It's also been a little oasis of sanity after working
at those other schools.

ma larkin

Thanks v. much. I need to look at schools for the girls as well.

ma larkin

Don't have a clue where we will be. Will be looking for advice regarding locations nearer the time.