lee and hayley

hi, my husband and i are looking into new zealand as probable move. can anyone give me information on schools for age 7yrs old? Are the years the same as uk? do they have free state schools or do you pay school fees? Any information you can give us would be super, Thank you.

janeyk

Hi
Primary schools start on 5th birthday until they are 11 school year is Feb to December although this is not the way children are allocated to years it depends on their birthday. For children born Jan to April they are likely to be in the year above.
Schools are state run (although there are som private) in Auckland most have school uniform in Wellington Primarys don't! (speaking from experience.) at 11 children go to intermediate for 2 years (years 7 & 8) before going to College (senior school)
Schools request a donation this varies depending on the school and the decile (this is based on the assessed level of affluence in the catchment area decile 1 being the lowest to decile 10) on top of this each school produces a stationary list of requirements needed this includes all their exercise books this varies from schoool to school and year to year
My son has just finished year 7 his donation for last year was $132 with an additional $132 for technology fee and his stationary for the year $130 this is for a decile 10 school on the shore. A friends daughter goes to a decile 6 primary and her donation was $100 if she helped out at school during the year for 10 occasions she did not have to pay this! so it does vary

the equilvalent of Ofstead is ERO which will give you an understanding about a particular school, but I do suggest visiting a few as each school as well as your child are different and have a different feel.
I live in Torbay when we first moved there we were in one catchment area however when we bought we moved closer to the neighbouring school but did not change both were equally good in my opinion in fact there are 5 primary schools within 1km my son could of gone to all feeding into the intermediate typically each school has 500 pupils for years 1-6 while the local intermediate here has 1100 over 2 years.
Hope this helps

MrsFychan

Hi Hayley and welcome to BE.

Schools are somewhat different in class set ups, or maybe not as some UK schools seem to do classes like this.
Generally the class sizes are smaller but they do mix 2 yrs together at times, so you will have yr 2&3, 3&4 in the same class. being 7yr he could go into a yr 2/3 or 3/4 depending on time of year born and where you feel he would be best placed.
When we came over last year our 2 children got into classes on the fact that they knew a child in that class. . I think they got the yr right for my 6yr old son for he went into 2/3 and is staying there this yr although he will be in yr 3 part as for my 10 yr old daughter I feel she could of so easily gone into a yr 7 rather than yr 6, even though she was put in yr 6/7 and this yr has moved up into yr 7/8 rather than staying in yr 6/7.
Although stated as "free" and "voluntary donations" requested you are expected to pay the donations and you do pay for school stationary and if lost you pay again.
you don't need permission to take them out of school, lots more emphasise on out door activities, our school does lots of beach clean ups, growing own vegs, nature walks, PE. Homework is given like projects no set way to do it so get used to lots of making things with boxes and cellotape and when their a bit older baking their homework.

Synky

I wish I'd had baking at my school. We had computers instead!

No permission out of school, that's good. Here it is draconian.

MrsFychan

not really baking at school, baking at home for homework projects
Youngest did do some lemonade scones once last year but eldest didn't do anything

lee and hayley

thank you everyone for your replies x

simonsi

Most schools are zoned and on the Shore this seems heavily enforced due to schools generally being pretty near capacity. In our experience this applied to rental property/temp accommodation of any kind and to all three schools we initially considered - although Intermediates and Senior schools have huge zones by comparison to the primaries as those schools are so much larger.

To give you an idea:

Primary: 300 pupils
Intermediate (Northcross): 1500
Senior (Rangitoto): 3500

pricklykina

Kids don't have to start school until their 6th birthday, although they can (and most do) start from their 5th birthday. It is good to have the flexibility. If you don't think they are quite ready, or would prefer them to start at a different time of year, then this can happen.

School runs as four terms, not three. Three terms with a 2 week break at the end then the long six weeker for summer.

Many primary schools have uniforms. Apparently it is illegal to insist on uniform at primary (I think ....)but many do.

I think that's all I have to add for now