How long to register children in schools
 

Hi,

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to do the initial registration from the UK to be followed up with a visit in person when we move?

This is the make-or-break thing for us. If we can't get our son in to school very soon after arriving it will cause us problems:

a) whichever one of us doesn't already have a job offer will want to go job-hunting;

b) the longer he is out of school the harder it will be to persuade him to go!

c) conversely, the quicker we get him started the quicker he will be able to make friends (in theory!!)

Any input on this subject would be appreciated :)


Marion

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

It is possible - we did it, but you may need to be careful on timing, I don't know if you can do it at anytime of year.

If you live in the school zone of a particular school, you should be able to get a place at that school. (check out school-zones.co.nz) So in theory it's a bit better than here where not only do you have to live in the catchment area, there has to be a place available.


If want to get a place from the UK - firstly the children must have the correct visa in place. We did it more by luck than judgement. We happened to contact the school in Wellington in the Oct which was when the school did their out-of-zone lottery. We filled out the forms online and we managed to get a place for them allocated for the next school year and then we visited the school ourselves when we went last Feb for our reccie. We contacted another school (which we also viewed when we got there) we were interested in but with no luck the answer was you have to do it when you find somewhere to live in NZ.

I suggest you contact the school/schools you are interested in and see what system they operate. Until you have a firm date or arrival or rental address they may not be overly helpful, but I suppose it would be the same if you arrived in the UK from overseas.

Also, won't you want to visit the schools before deciding which one you want your son to go to? We visited 3 primary schools in Wellington on our reccie and all were opening and friendly but let's face it some are better than others and it would probably help to get a feel for what's on offer and what the staff are like before committing yourself.

Good luck in your planning, but I think it would be better that your son misses a couple of weeks off school and getting the one that suits you and him rather than guessing from the UK.

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

I would imagine that it would depend on the particular school. However getting my children settled into school asap was a priority for us, so I'd emailed possible schools from the UK and studied the websites etc, so I was aware of the available choices. The schools were all great at responding to my emails & answering questions.
We had a big advantage in that hubby needed to come over to NZ in advance of me & the kids, in order to start work, so he then actually pohysically looked at the schools, to form an opinion. He also got us a rental home, so that crucially we had an address :).
Once the children & I arrived, we turned up on Monday morning, sleepwalked through Tuesday, interviews at schools on Weds & Thurs, bought uniforms on Friday....and started school Monday morning. So it is possible to do it quickly :thumbsup:. I should add both of mine are in High School, both chose seperate schools, on different sides of town, just to make life nice & easy for me, both have settled in brilliantly and love school over here. They both felt very strongly that they wanted to choose their schools, which they did. I had had misgivings about daughter's choice of school, it's definitely not the one that I would have chosen when I was studying websites & ERO reports back in the UK, but she loves it and is doing well there. And the school that I would have chosen from me researches would have been wrong for both of them on so many counts.

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

Ok...The school year starts in February for the year, so the closest to it is best. We looked at many schools and shortlisted four....which all seemed to be among the best in the area (which is Wellington, for us). If you like the school (we did post queries on online forums such as emigratenz, didn't know about this one at the time :( ) and we got very good helpful responses. If one emails th school with visas and date of birth then all you need to do is turn up for admission provided you have a rental agreement to prove you are in the 'catchment zone' for it if it is a zoned school. I think the right term is enrollment zone, but its more like, hey catch me, me me me.

So its hand in hand with the home search which can make it stressful, but it will all work out. This is a very friendly country.

PM me if you need

Regards
NC

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

Thanks for all the help!

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

You can start your children in school here at any time of the year. There aren't set intakes like the UK, kids go on their 5th birthday whenever it falls and from our experience you can go visit the school in the morning, think hey that's nice, buy uniform and books that afternoon and they start the next day! Most schools are zoned, so yep, you'll have to check the schools in the area you are renting/buying. Some schools are really strict on this and will periodically ask you to produce a current utility bill to prove you still live within the area. So you shouldn't have a problem unless you want to send them to a private school that might have a full roll/waiting list.

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

Thanks for that info TeamEmbo.

That's reassuring to know!


Marion

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

Marion, I didn't notice if you said how old your son is. If your son (was it a son?) is in the more senior years at high school and you don't start by the July term, then you son/daughter will not do very well integrating into the school. The kids have NCEA exams and basically term four is all about set up and practice for the exams.

School zoning is a real bother if you want to pre-register. You will have to wait until you have moved. we found our rental and then took a copy of the rental agreement and the kids passports so that the school could see that we were in the zone and the kids had permanent residency so we didn't have to pay a foreign student fee. Once we had the rental, we made an appointment with the school and started the kids. It is really no bother at all.

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

You're right CAN2NZ - I didn't say how old our son is!!

He is 12 at the moment so he would be at least 13 by the time we got there. Would that cause problems or would he be young enough at that point?

What year would he be going in to? I haven't quite got my head round all that yet!


Marion

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

Our son is also 12 and is in year 8. Year 8 is the last year before secondary school. We have been in NZ since September 2006 and have lived in Rangiora in the new house for a year and two weeks. Do you know where you are going to and when?

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

Our lad's 12, turning 13 this April, and is in Year 9 which is first year of senior school.

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

Our boy will be 13 in May so he would possibly be in year 9 too, if we were over there just now.

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

I really don't know! It might depend on the ages/dates of the birth of the actual class he would be joining, previous academic ability (his) or the class he's to joins academic ability, ie. where he might best fit in to make settling in easier for him. Our son was just about to finish year 6 of primary in UK so was due to go up to secondary school but we moved here at the end of May and he joined his NZ school in Year 7 only the school terms run differently here so he was only in Year 7 for the last two terms of that before going up to Year 8 the next February.

I think it might be my son who is out of line with 'normal' ages/school years! But he seems to be doing very well for it.

Sorry, I've probably confused you more now :o

Re: How long to register children in schools
 

I think that if your son is 13 in May, he would be in Year 8, but you need to e-mail schools in the area with his birthdate and ask, as there seems to be some variation. Where we live (Timaru) the end of March is the cut off date for moving up, so my March born 12-year-old is in Year 9 this year, but anyone born from April on is in the year below. However, you may get a choice because his birthday is borderline and he's started at senior school there.

I'd say that's a great age to be moving countries and his school work won't be compromised. It's from Year 11 on that it gets more more difficult. If it turns out that he will be starting High School the year you arrive, it would be great to move before February, as everyone in Year 9 will be new at the school and a lot of them won't know each other. However, it really won't matter and I'm sure he'll fit in just fine.