Suzbits

Right, where do I start! We got back from a 2 week mad dash recci on 26 June and loved the place. Eventhough it was winter with frosts, rain, etc we still loved it all, the people are so friendly, drove 6 hrs from ChCh to Nelson - the countryside is amazing, what more can i say.

OH was lucky enough to get quite a few job offers with some great companies, we were considering Ashburton but need to follow our gut instinct and don't think it is for us. We spent a day with an estate agent who showed us lots of different properties in different areas and Sumner & Redcliffs were on our preferred list. Is anyone living there or has lived there that could give us some good/bad pointers. We looked at the primary schools - Redcliff Primary and Sumner Primary - again any good/bad points. We have 3 children who when we arrive will be 8 (9 in Nov), 6 and 4.

We are about to send off our ACPO police checks and book medicals, so all being well we could be over in early September!!

Feel free to PM me.

Thanks

Woodlea

I've heard the causeway can be a bit tedious, and have experienced the queues myself but there is always the long way round. Don't know much else of detail, but love driving round Mt Pleasant and up Taylor's Mistake Road. The views from the hills are amazing and must be great to wake up to, good luck

Sleeping Beauty

my brother use to live in Sumner, they loved it.
sorry not much help i'm afraid, just thought i would add this as i saw the thread

howardk

hi...we lived there twice in last few years.....nice place....causeway is no real issue,if you time your travel badly it may add 5 minutes at peak.....good people and lifestyle....if you want any info you can send a pm......cheers.

newtothis

We currently live in Sumner & love it, though are moving to Mt Pleasant in a few weeks - you seem to get more house for your money there.
Sumner, Redcliffs & Mt Pleas schools are all decile 10 (on scale up 10 where 10 is best) & will be sending ours to Redcliffs.
Not sure about living in Sumner in the summer though - its been really busy here recenty with the sunny weather we've been having (in between the crazy snow the other weekend!!)
As far as i'm concerned, this is the nicest bit of Chch! BUT it is known as Pomner now on account of all the British living here.....

southerner

Decile 10 means the school has the richest community - you would need to review the ERO reports and speak to parents to identify which schools are most suited for your children.

howardk

agreed.....but both redcliffs and mt pleasant are very good..

Black Sheep

Define 'very good', please!

I made the HUGE mistake, before actually moving to NZ, of not asking people (total strangers I should emphasize - if only to myself as I gain wisdom through hindsight - about whom I really knew absolutely nothing, yet whose advice about NZ I actually didn't think of questioning!) to clarify what they meant by 'very good' when referring to the schools here.

There's no question that there are many Britons living in Sumner/Redcliffs, and that in itself could be helping to push up the standard of the schools in those areas - but I wouldn't totally count on it! My kids went to decile 10 schools, and they were NOT 'very good' - in fact, they were far far from it!! (Ha! I remember before coming to NZ there was one British guy on this very forum, a primary school teacher no less, who tried and tried to inform people about the poor academic standards of the schools here - and he was consistently shouted down by other BE members for his efforts! Ah the sad irony! Nobody, myself included, wanted to hear that the NZ they were emigrating to might be anything but the perfect paradise NZ Immigration was trying to sell to them.)

I actually care very much that my children, who are very bright kids (or who were so before they got 'dumbed down' by the system - Tall Poppy Syndrome is endemic to NZ society, so not surprisingly very much alive and well in every aspect of school life here), get the best possible education I can afford them. So I feel I have seriously let them down by keeping them for so long in these so-called 'very good' schools. Unfortunately I no longer have the money - after living in NZ for so long on NZ wages and with savings all gone - to put them into private schooling. But even if I did, I'm not convinced that any expensive private schools here would be as good in all ways as the excellent, but probably-only-decile-4 or decile 5 'state' school we took them out of in the States.

BTW, the serious issue of bullying, and how the schools here DON'T deal with that problem, is a topic worthy of discussion all on its own...

Suzbits

I am now starting to worry slightly as with things like bullying our village school is zero tolerance and having had my youngest exposed to it duirng her foundation year!! I don't want to go there again.

Would the schools think it were strange if I asked to be put in contact with some parents from the school, maybe PTA? I know they will give an unbiased view but it may be better than nothing. I am sure here it would be OK but not sure how this would be seen in NZ?????

Many thanks for all your comments on Redcliffs and Summner, now all we need to do is get the house rented.

howardk

we moved back to canada.......schooling here is excelent......probably at least a grade and more higher than nz.........if you want to live in sumner etc the dilemma is high schoolng as you are zoned for linwood.......we would possibly come back again if we could get a place for my son at medbury or st. andrews but both are full altho' my daughter can get a place at selwyn house.......decile has nothing to do with school performance,but we have experienced many schools in several countries and if that school is located in an area where high incomes exist and 'intelligent' parents care about their kids' education then the schooling is of a higher standard......bullying/kids aggression is a big issue in nz...my son experienced it,fortunately he is big & strong for his age will make a great loose forward,but it still made his life uneasy...can't comment about the uk as we moved away when our kids were young....but have none of it in canada...polite,well rounded kids here generally where we are........our only issue's with the sumner etc area is high schooling....the idiot kids in wrx's on sundays and all the broken glass,especially the idiots that regularly smash up the bus stop shelters......

howardk

.....very good by nz standards........which i agree are poor generally.....but i think as long as you get into a good high school things sort themselves out.....we are far happier with the system in canada and have experienced it twice now.....but very test/academically focused......