Hokey-pokey

The primary school my young children attend provides a very stimulating array of programmes for its Gifted and Talented children ( the G.A.T.E programme ). Future problem solving, student think tank and for its top maths students , Otago University Maths problem solving. These are funded directly by the Education Dept which has stressed to schools that they must meet the needs of very clever children. The objective is to eventually have all schools throughout the country participating.
These children are not deserted after primary school either. Once identified, they are encouraged to continue in these " independent thinkers " groups throughout their remaining school years.

I feel a bit sad to be saying this , but I really hope my children enjoy travelling and living overseas as much as their Olds did, before they returned home to NZ to settle down.

george toni

Mi McCuddy1 and iy's george by the way toni is my wifes name.

my bikes better than your bikes better than....

could go on all day.

thing is what I think dosnt matter one bit as in the end its your life and your family and if what you have found here isnt working for you then who am I to say any different.

My points are to balance out your views with that of what you think.

If you find the old area of england you lived to be far better for the things YOU and your family like/want then so be it.

I hope you still find it as good when you go home as go home I think you should go as if you cant find happiness here then why hang about in missery?

On another point if you cant find things to do in a place as big and varied as chch then heck head in sand springs to mind.

We lived in cumbria for 5 years prior to moving to NZ and my view on getting here was that NZ had all the same great views but with real towns/cities as well.

In pembrok.... you show me where you can actually use the land as freely as you can here,where you can fish in practically ANY river catch AND eat the fish,hunt have as nice a beaches that arnt full of yob's with hoodies or kids telling adults to #### off. Show me the class with the un stressed and un crowded classroom with the 'average' child shoved to the back so as not to disturb the bright children with questions the teacher dosnt have time to answer, show me the school that isnt locked up like colditz with bars all around and on and on. Heck our school here has a sign on it saying 'all are welcome to use the school playground and equipment when the school is closed but please respect it'

As for the getting here and being put back a year or so well Der! just speak to the principal and ask for little ??? to be moved up a class.We did for all four of ours and had no problems as that put them where they should be.

Its allways someone elses fault springs to mind!

GEORGE (just so you know)

gina and danny

hi just my two penny's worth.

my boy is 9 , 10 in december, at his school there are english kids whose parents opted to put there kids in the year above their age and all of them are struggling to keep up, i opted to put mine in his own year group he is the youngest in the class and i find he does just aswell here as in the uk, he even struggles a bit himself sometimes, they get homework every week and even i thought it was hard!!! they are doing maths work at age 9 that i didnt come across until high school in the uk,

but as you have made the decision to go back to the uk i wish you all the best and hope your kids get the education thats right for them.

mcuddy1

Well Georgie boy

If you hadn't started out with (Dear oh dear what on earth is it that people coming here want!)

Then just put your point of veiw fine!!!!!

But alas you had to get your little dig in first. Regarding CHC, hell it's full of hodies here more so than where I came from. They all hang around the shopping mall down town.


School playgrounds I agree are a lot better in NZ and also the social side, I suppose. But swearing here is a lot more prevalent among the young kids, it's all over the radio and seems tolerated by adults.

Regarding the Lake district, but not having lived there the hiking and real towns like Ambleside and Keswick I like a lot more PERSONALY.

Each to their own without your superior attitude.


Martin C Just so you know

Black Sheep

If the objective is to eventually have all schools throughout the country participating in the GATE programme, then one would have to ask just how seriously this objective is being pursued. Words are cheap - and nowhere more so, as it took me a long while to discover, than in New Zealand! This objective was first widely reported in the media at least 6+ years ago when it was announced that all schools were to begin immediately to assess their gifted students' needs and get a programme started within a year. Well, more than 6 years later and not one of the schools in Christchurch that my children have attended or even that are anywhere near our area, most of which are 10- or high decile, has offered the programme. As we live in an area very popular with British immigrants, I would not want anyone reading this from outside of NZ to get the mistaken idea that their 'gifted' or academically-high-achieving children are necessarily going to be well catered for here by the kinds of programmes described by some posters here as though they are, or are even soon to be, 'the norm'.

I would point out too that it's very easy to be taken in by the spin that is put on just about everything here, especially about the education system. It is far too easy to be seduced by beautiful words, about how "our system teaches children how to think" for instance, or like "she'll be right". For some of you, soothing positive words alone will be good enough for you. For some of you, the schools you left behind in UK sound bad enough that most any change would be for the better. But for some of you, your brains will at some point (and unfortunately this will be later rather than sooner for many) get back into reality-mode focus, and with eyes wide open what many of you will then see will not at all jibe with the things you've been told or the pictures you've been painted. That goes for much more than just the education system here as well, by the way.

george toni

fair enuf McCuddy1 boy

just a point of view and one to balance out all the opinions you have put regarding all the bad things you see here.

you dont like it here I do and thats fine, and dear oh dear if thats not ok well what is!

And again I say what on earth is it people want from here.

What I take from your posts is that the country sucks,the people suck ,the schools suck,the outdoor entertainment sucks...

I dont agree hence my posts.

each to there own and hope you escape this hell hole of a place asap

georgie boy

mcuddy1

Well Boy George

You have every right to post what you want if you disagree with me, most people on here disagree.

But!!!! most just reply factually without the snide remarks unlike yourself, who feels the need to demean someone else's point of view.

Oh and talking of schools, in Canterbury it's quite normal to have a pig hunt as a fund raising day for the school. Also a nice rabbit shooting contest for the kids and the to top it off a competition to see who can through the dead carcasses the furthest!!!!!!!!!!

How civilised is that?

SarahB

Wow... all you posters saying your kids dont get homework surprised me. I'm a newbie to all this school stuff tbh... my son started as a NE last November... he has had homework literally from Day 1!! He is now a year 1.... he gets reading every night and he is given homework every Monday which for him has to be handed in on the Wednesday. It can be anything from "what did you do in the holidays with your family?" ...this week it was to design and produce a whole menu which we did together.... sometimes I have to ask the teacher what it means? lol

My friends child is same age and goes to the school in the next village which is Maraetai, they dont get homework there.... so after hearing you all saying your kids dont get homework, looks like our school is different to all the rest?

I am very happy with Beachlands School... the teachers seem good and the FERN (friendship, encouragement, respect and nurture) values are drummed into them all the time. Ive never known kids of all ages to be so kind, polite and look after much smaller children so well... its refreshing and lovely to see.

My son is doing very well and although is one of the youngest in his year 1/2 class is one of the top readers in there which makes me very proud. He is coming on in leaps and bounds and long may is continue eh? (love the Eh? after everything...since he started school he now speaks kiwi! lol)

bourbon-biscuit

I didn't say he wouldn't! You're moving him from the NZ school system to the UK one, which is totally different. MY point was that you can't really judge an entire school system by EITHER your experience or by the standard your kid(s) will be at compared to a UK school system when you return them. MY point was that the best means of comparing is to look for a more objective measure, as neither you nor I can ever be. I provided you with a link to an objective indepth assessment of OECD education systems. You don't want to accept what that shows about NZ's education system because you want to leave NZ and find as much justification for your choice as possible.

It's perfectly plausable that the school your kid(s) attend here in NZ isn't a great school or the education they're getting doesn't suit them- but that doesn't mean that NZ education is crap or 'behind' or that the UK system is superior.



Erm, is your ego so massive/ your experience of the world so small that you imagine your 'experience' to be more worthy of being labelled FACT than the conclusions of PISA? That's too funny

mcuddy1

My ego massive ,ha ha The fact is I attended an educational institute here in Chc NZ. Out of 18 students half of the class had not been taught basic
Maths. Oh and I am not the brightest spark.

That is a fact anyone can draw their own conclusions and how do I ignore that as I witnessed it first hand.


Also I don't think I labeled all education crap in NZ, but you can look where Auckland uni is in the rankings. You can also see where the UK ones are.

Nuff said.

george toni

I will back off from this thread now as its loosing the point.

But I have to say "(Dear oh dear what on earth is it that people coming here want!) if thats a snide comment then your skin must be really thin!

As for the hunting thing I say thats all good in my book.

Rabbits are a pest and taste good,when they hunt things here they generaly eat them and I bet here more kids know that their meat comes from an animal and not from a supermarket shelf! are the price of a good balanced education

Funny how for some its all about where something comes on a 'table' as if that means we are top so you must be crap. Education is about alot of different things and not just about what is on paper.

By the time you leave high school all you need is the basics as from there on in there are polytechnics and courses galore in which to push forward.

anyhow im away from this post now as its in danger of turning into a he sadi she sed fing (whoops uk education no homework sorry)

boy george

Hokey-pokey

Thats terrible to hear, no wonder you're peeved. Sad to tar the whole system due to your bad experiences - but thats only natural. You sound very bitter about NZ in general. Im guessing you've been through some tough times. Pax.

Tomsk

It's a difficult subject and there are many different variables to be taken into account. However I have to say that both of my children have done well so far in the NZ education system (although the NCEA exam results from the current raft of exams that they are sitting may well tell a different story ). We moved out here in June 08, after son had completed his GCSEs. It turned out that he'd achieved 11 passes at GCSE, including Maths, English & Spanish....which 3 subjects he also sat again at NCEA level 1 standard the following November. Now different school, different syllabus, different texts in English, and of course no credits to take forward with him. But he didn't do that great in NCEA because they were testing a different set of skills. Particularly in maths, he found that harder over here with more geometry & trigonometry etc.....and less algebra

I'm not about to start debating the strengths & weaknesses of either education system largely because I'm not particularly well informed, and I can only comment on my own experiences. But my children are thriving at school in NZ, they're working hard, they have substantial amounts of homework (although getting them to do it can be a challenge ) & the work seems to be stimulating them, challenging them and they are learning. Ultimately that is really all that concerns me....that my children are able to attain the academic achievements they are capable of and that they have some enjoyment of the process. NZ is giving them that. Each to their own, I really don't think that there is a definitive answer to which system is best....they're different, and ultimitaly both systems turn out a good number of well educated young people, equally both systems fail a few.

Comauver

When I was in NZ last year (as a tourist) I got talking to a 16 year old lad in Wellington, who had emigrated to NZ 2 years earlier and I was amazed when he said that the standard of ed'n in NZ was lower than that of the UK and the discipline in school just as bad, even worse, bearing in mind he previously attended a bog std comp in Peterborough.

As a parent of kids now in their 20s, who have been through the GCSE system it seems hard to fathom that education could be even softer in NZ than that which currently exists in Blighty.

I don't hold any opinion on the NZ education structure but am only telling you what I was told by a lad who was experiencing it.

TeamEmbo

Our kids school runs the GATE programme. Our sons been in it since July 07. We're in Rangiora.