9835michelle

Sorry if this question has been posted before.

Me and my partner are looking at moving to new Zealand (Wellington or christchurch) for work and i've been looking into the education system as we have a 14 and a 10 year old. Unfortunately we wouldn't be in a position to go for a private school but the more research I do the more I'm starting to have doubts as keep seeing articles referring to poorer education or widespread bullying. Has anyone got any advice please, such as schools to go for/avoid, or if it's just a lot of scaremongering. As much as I hear about new zealand being a good place to go i'm also reading a lot of people's horror stories. Any advice would be great thank you

Spacecake799

You will get many different opinions from people. My opinion is it depends on your children. Learning here is independant, that might suit your children, it was fine for my daughter who was motivated it was no good for my boys.
It was the biggest reason we returned.
Happy to answer questions but remember its just my opinion and my children but they were in very good schools.

9835michelle

Thank you for your reply. Can I ask how old your children were please? And did you find it easy enough to return. If we go ahead with the move we would have to stay at least 2 years so my eldest could complete high school (otherwise she'd come back mid gcse's which might not work out for her), but then I worry not having gcse's might be a disadvantage when looking at higher education/jobs etc.

jmh

When you see articles referring to how bad things are, just check to see who they are comparing it to. Many times I've read stories in the media saying how terrible things are only to find out that compared to others they are not so bad after all. The media love to hype up a good/bad story.

Check out the school's ERO report - sometimes they have them on their website but you can also search the ERO site. Google the school's name and ERO and it should come up.

garethwm

At the end of the day, when the OECD last measured the skills of NZ children, they ranked 5th in reading, 9th in maths and 7th in science compared to other countries. So that may give some perspective.

MOSO

You may find this list of Wellington Schools useful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...lington_Region

The main thing to remember is that schools here are DIFFERENT to the UK. We follow a different curriculum, school are independently run under the umbrella of the Min of Education. There isn't a prescriptive National Curriculum and no SATS exams. Learning is inquiry based and encourages children to think and direct their own learning to a certain extent.

Check out the ERO reports and websites and when you get here visit the schools and ask the Principal "why should I send my child to your school?". The answers can be very revealing and you can spot where the school's focus is and see whether it will suit you.

Don't forget to check out school zones as well. If you live in the zone the school has to give you a place regardless of numbers.

sparklyfrog

Reading this kind of thing makes me want to move to NZ even more! The UK system is so backwards we're considering home education if we stay here!!

9835michelle

Thank you, will start having a look at schools in both areas

Spacecake799

My kids were 7, 13, 14 when we arrived.
We stayed 6 years, our youngest went into year 8 here.