chay and kerrie

hello everyone

hope you are all doing well haven't been on for a while things going OK with us handed in our stuff to immigration 21DEC had a letter just before Xmas saying could take up to seven months (up to 4 to be allocated a immi officer and then could take another 3 for a decision). Any way we are hoping to be in New Zealand by august this year we have a 3year old and 1 year old (boys). Frankie (3) will be 4 by than and we would have to be thinking of a primary school for him, am i right with my research that term goes Jan-Jan. we will be living in wellington (hataitai )for a year thanks to a lovely uncle of mine. Would be very grateful if any one could give me any info or advise on schooling around this area or any good web sites that i could get info sent to me.

many thanks Kerrie,Chay and boys

CWEMM02

Our stuff has been in since 24 November. If you go to the London office page on the NZIS web page you can check the tips and processing times link. The office is working on applications received to 1 November. We check often and it seems that 2 or 3 weeks was lost over the holidays at Christmas. We are about to list our house here in the next few weeks and be off to NZ by the end of the first week of July.

babybella

Hi,
One of my best friends lives in Hataitai and sends her children to primary school there. It is by all accounts a very good state primary school. I think it is just called Hataitai primary I will ask her and get back to you, or you could do a google search. The principal was Liz somebody and was a very effective head.
Hataitai is a really nice part of Wellington. Traffic can be a bit of a pain at rush hour going through the tunnel though.
Cheers
KAZ

chay and kerrie

Hi,
Thank you that would be grate any information from any one about schooling would be really useful.thanks again Kaz hope to hear from you soon
kerrie

poppets

Hello to you all, we are also coming to wellington about easter time, we need to find work, house, & schools for my son (5 in May) & kindi for my daughter (3 in June). any advice gratefully received. Have heard may have to pay for kindi, is this correct also my son will has delayed speech & requires some speech therapy, which is a nightmare to get in Hertfordshire, will this also be s abttle in NZ? Any advice gratefully received. Many Thanks

babybella

Hi there,
Yes you do pay for kindy but it is not much. At age 3 they usually go 3 afternoons per week and after 4 they go 5 mornings per week. sessions are about $2. My middle son had speech therapy and from memory it was very easily optained and free. We were also in Wellington, in Lower Hutt.
Cheers
Kaz

Boopy

Hi Kaz,
Nice to see you back on the forum.
Boopy

poppets

Thanks for putting my mind at rest with the speech therapy, it's one of my biggest concerns. As for kindy $2, what a bargin, i pay £7 per session for a playgroup at the moment!! What's lower hutt like?

downunderpom

Very nice. A wide, flat and fertile valley, with excellent shopping areas in Lower Hutt City, serving a swathe of little 'villages' up the valley as far as Upper Hutt City, which also has good shopping. Friendly people, excellent public transport (bus and train) with costs at a minimum. The gov't puts $25M into the public transport infrastructure in Wellington each year and it shows. A bus halfway along the valley costs $2 and runs every 15 minutes. A train into Wellington costs $3.20 if you buy the 10-trip tickets, and is cheaper if you buy a monthly pass. Trains are frequent, and are every half hour off peak. You can also buy a Day Rover, for $10, which allows you all day travel on the trains, off peak (after 0900). That means you can start at Wellington, travel all the way to Paraparaumu, along the coast, back to Wellington, then all the way to Upper Hutt and back. I did that, to look at areas to get a rental, before buying, and settled on Lower Hutt. I think we'll be buying in Upper Hutt. Travel time is about 55 minutes from Paraparam (as it's called), or about 45 minutes from Upper Hutt into Wellington. Lower Hutt (Waterloo Interchange) is about 20 minutes form Wellington by train. There are also express trains, which are obviously quicker.

Can't help with schooling, I'm afraid, as I decided against breeding!

babybella

Thanks Boopy, see how long it lasts eh before I get abused for being an ex-pat Kiwi daring to defend NZ.

Poppets, Lower Hutt is where we lived. It's very well provided for. Good shopping, resturants, movies and good schooling. Eastern Hutt is a very good primary school, then it's Hutt Intermediate, then Hutt Valley High. They all have web sites (do a google search). All these schools are very well regarded therefore they are zoned so you will need to check the zones before renting.
Lower Hutt also has a hospital with excelent maturnity facilites and importantly for us with 3 boys an A+E unit.
Property prices are not that cheap in Woburn (central Hutt though). Same as UK I guess good schooling raises the house prices.
Good luck
KAZ
Forgot to mention the river, we used to take the boys for swimming and picnics on the river bank. Good free entertainment.

poppets

Thanks for all the info Kaz, very helpful.

poppets

Thanks for all of that, very useful as hubby needs to work & the areas we thought sounded nice to live were Hutt & Paraparaumu. Currently hubby travels from hertfordshire to London (one & half hours each way), & costs a fortune.