garryhg

thats probably why he's more confident here,there not making him feel different form the rest of the class........by that i mean not giving him any special help that might single him out........glad its worked out for you...jacky

as for" who were they trying to impress."....probably the girlssome things don't change no matter what country your in.....

uk+kiwi

Whilst it's nothing out of the ordinary, I still thought it was quite rare? In some ways I'm not sure how I would have felt with that comment/approach, especially if the child concerned has specific needs.

I have a couple of friends whose children have Asperger's and they both need lots of extra support in the classroom and playground. They are not doing the same level of work as other children of their age for example. Although I'm aware that the spectrum is huge in variation.

Anyhow, it sounds like your son is doing very well and thriving, which is wonderful.

uk+kiwi

Exactly what I thought when you first wrote it!

simonmarkellis

Bugger me!! I wouldn't have dreamed of that, i'd have moved him to a different school in the first place...

uk+kiwi

I know. And good point about trying a different school, I hadn't thought of that. They did investigate though.

The crunch factor in deciding to sue was a parent's evening at which they were told that he'd be unlikely to pass any GCSE exams and thus leave school without any qualifications. At that point and subsequent visits and talks with the Heads of various schools in both sectors, they realised there was little point in him continuing in the state sector.

So they moved him at their expense, which they re-couped once they won. Brave decision since they couldn't afford it long term.

littleal

Hello - I know what you mean about the primary school issue. However my 10 year old would barely hit 11 in the UK before she's into an 11-18 high school. She is so small and so young - bright but not streetwise. I'm hoping she can keep her innocence a bit longer by not going to high school until 13 in NZ.

Good luck with your decision-making.
Alison

simonmarkellis

Very brave!!

teambwr47

I think this thread has gone miles off track as its now kids and schools rather than money but hey does it matter....

We're fortunate here in NZ to have a very good wage coming in every month and while we are sligthly worse off in New Zealand in terms of cash into the bank we're happier here than the UK. We're not short of money over a month and are able to run two nice cars and down a few bottles of vino a week and have a roof over our head...so all the major things covered i guess...

In terms of the way the thread has gone....we have two kids aged 6 and 2 and one of the reasons to move here in the long term was the kids future in the UK. Our eldest went to a very good private school in the UK and loved it, as did we, but taking a much longer term view on the UK we considered amongst many other things, the move to NZ to be a good option.

Our daughters are now both in school with the eldest in Brookby and the youngest in a fantastic nursery three days a week. Both seem to love their schools here and the eldest insists being a 'kiwi kid' as she calls it and not wearing shoes as she leaves school.

We seem to have been very lucky in that our kids have settled here very very well. Obvioulsy the younger one knows little about the move etc but an intelligent 6 year old with a questioning mind sure does. So far she has twice mentioned 'home' and 'friends at home' but neither time has been with any upset. When now asked if she'd like to live here in NZ or to go back to the UK she answers very certainly....New Zealand.

Pastor Flaps

On the money side, I didnt really keep an eye on the figures as much as I did in the UK becuase we were renting when we arrived in NZ. However when we looked at buying our 1st home in NZ, I looked in detail and was really concerned having seen the figures in black and white / detailed on an excel spreadsheet. HOWEVER, when I converted them back into pounds, some of the figures were much better than UK with some being the same as in but in $$ e.g. Council Tax in UK 1400 pounds / rates in NZ $1400. I now earn more than I did in the UK and we do cope and manage through. We should be much better off as we only have one car and dont have a car loan, so in the back of my mind, things just dont work out. But they do and we will be fine.

On the kid front, I agree with nearly all the comments previously made on a the positive front. My daughter was 9 when we arrived and wouldnt say hello to anyone. She had been spending far too much time with older children and was growing up far too fast. She has always been very polite and we are so impressed with how polite some of the children are here. she has a much bigger group of friends and spends most of the time out of the house playing. There are always two sides to everything and I could debate everything signle elemant of our new lives in NZ in the manner of a political debate e.g. Labour v Conservative. But I must say the proof is in the pudding, so far.

For me, NZ is how the UK was 25 years ago. My kids are living the life I was by spending so much time outdoors. In the UK this just doenst happen anymore. Very sad. Plus when we moved inot our new house we had three neighbours come around with scones, picklets and cake. All fresh and warm out of the over. We had moved 3 times in the UK and this never happended. When I told my parents they said that used to happen 20-30 years ago.

One thought to leave this thread; I was talking to some friends at work and some how we got on the subject of Happy Slapping. Nobody knew what I was talking about, which i thought was excellant.

happynz

erm...what's Happy Slapping? My user name is happynz. Therefore, should I be concerned?

Wessa

Thanks all for your input, its been really helpful and in some parts quite funny.

littleal

Happy slapping is using a mobile phone to film someone being beaten up. Not pleasant Happynz, I hope this hasn't reached Chch.

Alison

happynz

I haven't heard of Happy Slapping - filming spontaneous fights - occurring here, not to say that it isn't going on. Christchurch does have toerags, same as any other city, but as far as violent crime goes, overall the city is not too bad for the general populace (not to say that violence is unknown).

Avid

Not really 'spontaneous'. 'Random' would be a better word. Gangs of youths decide to attack somebody and film it at the same time. It's led to murder charges in some cases.

Helps you understand why some British people are keen to emigrate.


But will they bring their inherent thuggery with them??

Pastor Flaps

also Happy slapping has moved onto other activities using mobile phones.
Before we left the UK 12 months ago we were aware of an incident in our friends school where one of her friends was filmed having sex with 4 boys in the school yard.
She did it voluntary but also under a lot of pressure to be on film. The film was then loaded onto You tube from their mobiles. It was removed as soon as You Tube spotted it. The buzz around the school was who could do the most outragous think on thier mobile. Really scarry and something we certainly didnt want our daughter made aware of or be part of when she was older.