martyc

I would like know how your children feel their education compares to that in the UK. What they enjoy, don,t enjoy etc.

I think that here in the UK it is all about reaching targets and setting assessments.

Also, do they get as much homework?

Thanks

martyc

Woodpigeon

Can't comment on my kids' personal opinions (they're all out and about with their busy social lives atm ), and all I can offer are my personal experiences which will be different from those of others Also the only experience we had of the UK secondary system was one Autumn term before we moved here, so not much to compare it with.

First up a bit about the schools in my area. There are 4 co-ed High Schools - one is a composite so caters for pupils from year 7 - year 13, and one is an integrated Catholic HS. There are three boys' schools - one is an integrated Anglican HS. There are 4 girls' schools - two are integrated Anglican HSs. IIRR only two schools are zoned (have enrolment catchment areas) - one of the co-ed and one of the state girls'. High Schools in NZ cover years 9 -13; years 7 - 8 tend to be taught in Intermediate Schools.

My kids enjoy going to single sex schools - dunno why exactly, but they do! Though both schools interact on a regular basis so they are not isolated genderwise.

Our eldest was placed in the accelerant form class in year 9. Which meant that they were taught at a faster pace, and covered subjects in more depth. They stayed in the same class group for year 10 as well where they sat some NCEA level 1 assessments - giving them a headstart on accumulating level 1 credits before they reached year 11. He had a lot of homework, way more than the other classes in his year group. He also had a lot of opportunities to be involved in extension work e.g. a science project run at the local university. However, he did find that a lot of the English grammar that he was taught he had already learnt whilst at primary school in the UK! But in the main he was learning new material.

Our daughter is a middle of the road scholar. Her experience, albeit at a different school, has been rather different! Much less homework, much less pressure put on her by the school to try to achieve beyond the average, and many more distractions in class - by which I mean that there have always been a number of girls in her classes who just aren't interested, and waste the teachers' time. She lost her way a bit once she hit NCEA and nearly came a cropper academically, but she now seems to be on course to meet University Entrance at the end of her year 13 - but not with the same sort of high achievement of her older brother.

Our youngest is at the same boys' HS that his brother attended. He is a very capable scholar, but one who has worked out that he can achieve well enough without putting in too much effort (so if he worked harder he would be achieving on a par with his brother if not higher). He was placed in the second highest form class in year 9 and we noticed that he had a lot less homework even though he took almost exactly the same subjects that his brother did and with several of the same teachers. He cruises, and his teachers are aware of this and try to encourage him to work to his potential but without pressurising him - he has been left in no doubt that he will achieve at the level that he works at.

IIRR compulsory subjects in years 9 & 10 are English, Maths, Science, PE and Social Studies. Option subjects offered included French, German, Japanese, Maori, Economics, the usual variety of technology subjects, Music, Drama, and Art. Brighter kids were expected to study at least one language. At year 11, pupils start NCEA exam studies. My boys could drop science at this stage, but daughter still had to study it for year 11 - it's taught as combined science until year 12. For years 12 & 13 most subjects would have the pre-requisite that they had been studied at year 11, although there are some which can be taken for the first time at both year 12 & 13 (e.g. daughter dropped Chemistry at the end of year 12 and replaced it with Computing which she hadn't studied at all before). PE is usually not compulsory from year 11, but is a pretty demanding NCEA subject.

Assessment-wise, across the schools exams are held towards the end of term 2, and for pre-NCEA years again at the ends of term 4. There are usual ongoing class assessments throughout the year, but none that are the same as the strict SATS like tests of the UK that I am aware of (that's at this point in time, looks like that could be changing though!). NCEA is based on a mixture of ongoing assessments and end of year exams. It is possible to choose subjects that can leave the pupil with very few, if any, external exams at the end of year (daughter has just one subject with compulsory end of year exam, and a couple of others where she could sit one specific paper if she wants). There are a mixture of Unit Standards and Achievement Standards - one sort you can only attain an Achieved mark, the other you can attain Achieved, Merit, or Excellence - don't ask me which is which, I can never remember!

My kids have always had heaps of extra-curricular opportunities acorss a wide range of activities, not just sport, music, drama etc. For example both schools have Amnesty International, Fair Trade, etc groups. Also, senior students are encouraged to take an active role in the wider school, such as being student rep to the Board of Governors, producing the school year book (a rather weighty tome for both schools which includes fun stuff for the leavers as well as serious reports on subject areas and sports etc for the year). Pupils can get involved in as much or as little as they wish.

The over-riding impression that I have formed of the education system as a whole here is that the schools and teachers put the emphasis on developing the pupil as an individual, with the aim of them leaving school as confident, responsible members of society. They seem to be able to balance this with academic achievement for those capable of such, whilst making it the primary objective for those less academic.

Not sure if this answers your questions, but it might be of some use in some way

martyc

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, it does answer alot of questions. My sons school here in blighty has just applied for academy status, is very well run and very focused on the individual student which is something that we are hoping to mirror in NZ.

Im assuming that their previous schools were helpful in providing information for a smooth transition or did this take a bit of sorting out?

It is interesting when you talk about your children favouring single sex schools.
My son has mild aspergers and this could work well for him in his teenage years .

Thanks again
martyc

florabundi

Brilliant post ~ thanks woodpigeon. I have been researching the schools a little. My daughter is nearly 14 and just started 3rd year at academy and my son is Primary 2. Daughter is horrified at the thought of an all girls school (this makes me very nervous!!!), although my son probably wouldn't notice as long as there are plenty sports on offer! Daughter's school at the moment have a"dress code" instead of a school uniform which looks smart and allows them to look individual at the same time. I have noticed that quite a few of the schools insist on "knee length kilts" for the girls. I have absolutely not mentioned this to my daughter Personally, I think uniform is great to put everyone on an equal footing and hopefully it does away with the micro skirts/long belts that some of the girls where here!

Justcol

Am going into loads of detail as haven't got the time but
have two boys who both went to a selective grammer school in the uk
both always in top 5 percentile when tested.
Came to nz at ages 14 and 17, eldest did final 2 years of nz school, initially
found it fairly easy but the final year (13) was real hard graft for him.
Now at uni in manchester.
Youngest, again found it fairly easy at first but set standards high and now
gain excellence level credits in most topics. He has to put in the hard yards
to maintain this level but he enjoys the teaching style and feels the independant
study style will stand him in good stead if/when he goes to uni.

Lots of brits slag off nz education, its unfair to do so and nz unis are amongst
some of the best in the world.

Woodpigeon

Hmm, I know nothing about how academy schools run - think they were still in the planning stage when we left the UK.

With regards to the helpfulness of their previous schools, we came to NZ armed with school reports and contact details in preparation. The youngest two went into a year 1 - 6 primary school here where they didn't even ask to see any documentation from their UK school, just quickly read through the reports and handed them back to us! The eldest one went into an intermediate school where they 'borrowed' his term 1 secondary school reporot, and have never given it back (though to be fair we kept forgetting to ask for it). But that didn't really have any bearing on his entry into school here as intermediate schools are nothing like UK secondary schools anyway! I was surprised, given what I had heard about the NZ education system, that there was no real assessing of any sort (academic or social etc) of the kids before they were assigned to a year and class. As it happens, eldest was put in the wrong year (year 7 instead of year 8) and by the time we found that out he was settled and didn't want to move; and youngest was put in a year 3 class when he would have been better off in a mixed year 3/4 one as he had been in at home.

From our experiences I would suggest that anyone enrolling kids into any level of NZ schooling look for schools who will take the time to really work out where the child is best suited. In our defence, we were doing the school enrolment thing in a rush as we wanted to get the kids into the start of the school year less than two weeks after we arrived - and naively trusted that the schools would be automatically working out what was best for our kids. I would suggest doing your research into available schools from the UK and discussing your childs needs with them before you arrive (we tried this, but found the schools very slack on communication - maybe that should have warned us!).

Good luck!

Woodpigeon

Okay, first up, your daughter wouldn't have to go to a single sex school unless a) you really want her to, b) you move to an area where there are no co-ed schools (none that I know of), or c) you move into an area where the only co-ed schools are zoned and you live outside the zone. There is a good mix of both co-ed and single sex schools in the major centres in NZ as far as I am aware

Knee length kilts for girls..... well if you're still looking at moving to Dunedin, then she's going to have to get used to this! Off the top of my head I can only think of one state school there where the girls' uniform doesn't include a kilt for at least part of the year (don't quote me on that though, I'm just too lazy to look at each schools' website to check ). It all stems from the Scottish history of the area. Incidentally, are you aware that the boys uniform in many schools (intermediate and HS) includes shorts - all year round??!!

Oh and the last time I bought a HS kilt it cost me nearly $300!! But the cost of school uniforms has been discussed at great length in a previous thread so I won't go off on my rant about it here

Woodpigeon

Have to agree with Col here - year 13 is a tough year regardless of how capable or hardworking your child is. Also agree that the child gets out what they put in. In my daughter's case, she has some teachers who will go that extra mile (and I'm talking about private tutorials before/after school) if she shows that she is putting in extra effort herself. Those who just do the bare minimum will just get the teachers' time in class - they won't be chased up or encouraged to work harder, other than general pep talks.

Likewise with the indepentant study style. My eldest would hand in assignments that looked more like a small book, because he was so interested in the topic, and he received respect and appropriate feedback from his teachers for doing so His research skills were well developed way before he started at uni. The downside of this is with a child who isn't selfmotivated; IME these are the ones who get overlooked.

I have no wish to get into a heated debate on the merits of the NZ education system, not least because I don't want this thread hijacked, but I will just say that having experienced both primary and HS education here I do feel that the primary sector is not what I would have preferred for my kids, but HS has mostly worked out okay for them whilst they intend to progress to uni education within NZ. I have serious doubts that my daughter's NCEA results would gain her admittence to a uni in the UK.