Trinamch

Hi all,

We may be moving to Wellington in the next year or so. We have an 11 year old girl and an 8 yr old boy. Which are the best areas to live for good schools? Do you have to live in the catchment area to be able to get into them?

Also I heard that many NZ schools don't teach foreign languages, is this true?

Thanks,

Trina

marooned5

Not sure about the best areas in Wellington, but as to languages - a lot of primaries (which can go up to end of Year 8) don't do much language teaching - a bit here and there, but the colleges (start from year 9, or some start from year 7) definitely offer languages, often Japanese, French and Maori and others too. I'm sure some of the private schools offer more too.
As far as I know, schools in Wellington are zoned into catchment areas. Google 'schools in Wellington,' then read their ERO reports - they often give a very clear picture of how 'happy' a school is, how good the learning is etc.
Also consider, of course, price and availability of housing, and whether, given recent experiences, what you buy / rent is relatively safe against quakes...

MrsFychan

Wellington region is fairly large so I think you need to establish best places to be looking for access to work then look for decent schools around possible area's to live

simonmarkellis

Most colleges offer Japanese, French & Maori... There are loads of good areas, you need to identify what else you want from NZ.

Trinamch

Thanks for the info. I have a feeling that OH will end up working for a government dept. if what he's told me in the last week comes off... So I am assuming this will be 'Downtown Welly'. But I would like to live somewhere a bit more out of the city. We have a friend who lives there (Ngaio) and he's been keeping us up with the earthquakes and that geonet site is frighteningly up to date with the quakes. right... time to get back to researching....

kodachrome

Wouldnt Chinese be a much more useful language to be offering over French and Japanese?

Trinamch

I agree, Chinese would very useful!

I have been looking into schools today, thanks for the info... piles of paper and tables surrounding me...

MrsFychan

if CBD then where you live depends on what you want near by and how much travelling your OH is prepared to do. Kapiti Coast or North of the city is nice and has good schools but then its an hours journey on the train if you go as far as Waikanae. Then you have the Hutt Valley which has more shopping area's, not sure on schools.

Charismatic

Depends if you want to go on holiday to New Caledonia? Chinese i vewy difficul, Spanish would be easy and useful for plundering the Americas.

MrsFychan

someone's told me previously that whilst in college they do a OE trip to Paris so that's possibly why they teach French ? or they are winding me up as we have a school camp coming up and I'm not happy with the care provided on other 1 day trips so a trip to South Island for a week is giving me cause for concern

MOSO

Yes schools are zoned, but if you live in the catchment area the school has to offer you a place regardless of numbers so you may find large or small classes and most schools have composite classes (i.e. 2 year groups together).

Here's a list of schools in the Wellington region. Remember to read the ERO reports and also bear in mind that the decile rating is NOT related to how good the school it, it is to do with funding and socio economic sampling. Best to visit schools when you get here as different schools have different priorities - some are more academically based and others environmental etc. just as you get in the UK. There aren't any SATS exams so schools aren't rated in the same way. We visited several and they were quite happy to let our kids try them out for a couple of hours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...lington_Region

As regards languages, my kids' school offers Mandarin, German, Te Reo, French and Spanish in years 7 and 8. Paraparaumu College offers French, Spanish, Japanese and Te Reo and I think Kapiti College is the same. Most primary schools run trips around the country (usually outdoor adventure), and some go abroad - Raumati Beach School goes to Samoa, Kenakena goes to Australia etc. Local colleges definitely offer overseas trips for example France, Spain, Japan, Pacific Islands, Oz, Korea.

Trinamch

Sorry to hear that Mrs Fychan! I thought Kiwi's were very child centric!

Trinamch

Thanks Moso, I went thru the wiki link u posted already, but have not got around to looking at the ERO's yet. The schools on the Kapiti coast did look good. Is it a nice area... Paraparaauma? I didn't realise there was a train from that direction... that would be great cause I could have the car then he he he!
I am not soooo fussed about the languages, I was just shocked when I watched an episode of 'wanted Down Under' and a young woman wanted to teach in Wellingon. the school she visited said that not all schools teach European languages.... but then I suppose, why would they? Chinese or Spanish would probably be most useful.

jmh

I don't think NZ is that different in this respect. My SIL kept her son (aged 6) away from a beach trip his school was going on because of her experience of poor supervision on a previous trip. She didn't feel that his safety was assured.

This was in the UK, so you'll probably hear similar stories here.

Interesting point about Chinese. When I was a kid Japanese was language everybody said you should learn. I wonder what it will be in a few decades time.

Having travelled a bit, like many people here, French is actually a pretty handy language. Many countries have it a first language, but many other people will learn it as a second or third language. I even found it came in handy in Italy, where the owners of the accommodation spoke French but not English.

I know a school in Auckland where the lessons are delivered in French if anyone is interested.