WhatToDo82

Can anyone help me?

I have two boys who are currently year 5 and year 10 in England, but will be year 6 and year 11 by the time we get over to NZ. They are 10 and 15 years old at the moment, and their birthdays are in March. We expect (hope) to get over to NZ before their next birthdays.

Can someone please clear up a few bits about the transition to schools in NZ?

1 - What NZ school years will they go into, based on age?
2 - What school will each go into? I'm guessing High School for the eldest, but what about the younger one?
3 - What qualification choices will the eldest have when we arrive? He will not quite have completed his GCSEs here, and I understand there isn't a GCSE equivalent over there anyway. But, what about A level equivalents? Will he be in time to start those? Or will he need to 'repeat' a year (or part of)?

I am looking at potential schools for the younger and am confused as to which 'type' I should be looking at! For the older, he is anxious about having to repeat a year... In the UK he fully intends to do A levels and then go to uni, possibly to do Veterinary Science.

Thanks :-)

jparsons

If i were you i would definitely not move your eldest accross at this time, he would be half way through his gcses in the uk and this wouldnt be then best time to move since year 11 wld be his examination year. In NZ he wld have to much catching up to do in order to complete the NZ equivelant of GCSE (which i think is ncea level 1 or 2.)

maquis

Younger one, finishing UK Year 5 in July, would go into Year 6 in NZ this year, Year 7 from next January. The "cutoff" birth dates for school years (like the UK 31 August birthdate cutoff) vary across schools from around April to June, although there is some leeway for parental preference apparently.

Some primary schools in NZ go up to Year 6 - students then go to an Intermediate school which take Years 7 & 8. Some primary schools are "full primaries" and go up to Year 8. Secondary schooling (at high schools/colleges) starts at Year 9.

WhatToDo82

Waiting is of no benefit to him as the school year is jan to dec anyway in NZ. The longer he waits to change systems, the more he will potentially have to catchup with for the 3 year A level equivalent (which may be the NCEA?)

Plus I already have my job waiting and theyare already holding it for me after we were initially supposed to get over there jan this year and are now about a year behind...

maquis

If you know the area you'll be moving to, then it should be fairly easy to check the local secondary school options. I'd email them with your concerns regarding transition for your eldest, and they should be able to advise you.

jparsons

thing is that if he were to join early next year as you plan, he would move into NZ year 11 that would start in Jan 16, if this is the case then he will not be starting any A level equivalent until NZ year 12. The problem with this is that he would be joining school in NZ during the last year of their GCSE equivalent and hence he may find it extremely difficult to achieve good grades as he would have missed most of the course content. Therefore I was suggesting that he finishes his UK GCSE's in June 16 and then in January 2017 he wld start the NZ A level equivalent. If time is of the essence for you and you need to get out there immediately have you considered to option of private schooling in NZ (which means that the eldest could continue with GCSE's and take international A levels)

WhatToDo82

Good idea. I will try contacting the local school.

Jp, I won't be able to fund private school.

I was under the impression that there was no GCSE equivalent just an A level equivalent studied over 3 years, rather than two...

jparsons

Uk year 10-GCSE.
UK year 11-GCSE.
UK year 12-AS LEVEL
UK year 13- A level

Nz year 11- NCEA level 1
NZ Year 12- NCEA level 2
NZ Year 13- NCEA Level 3

The options for the elder one are
:
Start NCEA level 1 in jan 16

Or finish uk gcse's in june 16 and then start NCEA level 2 in jan 17

It seems like the first option wld suit you best, if you need any help with auckland schools or choices feel free to ask as i went around auckland in feb to choose the school for my two boys (one 16 and one 13) and also did some thorough research on the side

maquis

If your eldest is currently in Year 10 in the UK, in January 2016 he will be in Year 12 in NZ, unless you choose to keep him back a year.

jparsons

[QUOTE=maquis;11668630]If your eldest is currently in Year 10 in the UK, in January 2016 he will be in Year 12 in NZ, unless you choose to keep him back a year.[/QUOTE

If he joined year 11 in nz that would not be keeping him back at year, considering he doesnt plan to go to a uk university

maquis

What age are Year 11s in NZ? I thought they would be 14 turning 15, or am I miscalculating? In which case, OP's son would be a year older than a lot of his classmates if he started Year 11 next January.

MrsFychan

I would be more inclined to discuss the schooling with the potential schools. we unfortunately took the age thing into consideration and it was a nightmare, my daughter having been schooled in the primary system in UK was bored out of her tiny mind with the NZ primary so much so that she asked to be moved. we approached the college, she was 12 at the time and in yr 7 so meant to be at primary for another year and they agreed after seeing her test results, to letting her start a year early, sort of. The thing with the primary was they put her into a year 6/7 class because she sort of knew a girl in year 6 but they put her down as a year 6 where they could of put her down as a year 7 in the same class and she may not of gotten so bored. Best thing we did was to skip year 8 and go straight into year 9 and college with a more UK based system of teaching, does mean she is the youngest in the year but she can hold her own.

We are now a bit concerned for the younger child with the numeracy results for NZ being poor compared to other countries and the system in place is just not working, and lots of kids going onto college not even knowing their times tables. The school the youngest is at seems to be trailing different forms of teaching from teacher lead to child lead and learning themselves, so basically self taught and each year the form of how the children are being taught is different, so the way he is taught this year is different to the way he was taught last year and will be different again next year. Poor thing won't know what he is meant to be doing or how.

kitti

My children moved over here with no issues and love their school. They're all doing really well in all subjects. I wouldn't go back to the rigidity of the UK system with all the testing and concentration on merely a narrow curriculum.

NZ schools teach the children how to think for themselves, be self reliant and good all-round thinkers instead of learning by rote.

Maths is taught with emphasis on thinking about solutions and strategies. I think it's wonderful and my children know their times tables!

jmh

I'm not sure the media coverage on the maths thing was well researched. I know two maths teachers at primary level, one a specialist in the much criticised numeracy project. They both said that times tables are taught and memorised. They both think that teachers have not been given enough support to deliver the new way of teaching.

The fuss and bother in the news is because New Zealand has dropped in maths and science to 17. The UK is at 20. Top performer was Singapore.

Asia tops biggest global school rankings - BBC News

WhatToDo82

Interesting to know. My youngest son had a keen interest in Maths, that is definitely where his passion and talent are. The eldest likes biology, history and animals. He is deciding if he wants to follow the veterinary science route or something else.