jockomalay

Hi Bob,

Not just Scotland...

See below from the England & Wales Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 929

The Education (Student Loans) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2006

https://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/...6/20060929.htm

excerpt..

(3) For the purposes of this Schedule, a person is to be treated as ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and Islands or in the territory comprising the European Economic Area and Switzerland if he would have so resident but for the fact that—

(a) he;

(b) his spouse or civil partner;

(c) his parent; or

(d) in the case of a dependent direct relative in the ascending line, his child or child's spouse or civil partner,

is or was temporarily employed outside the United Kingdom and Islands or, as the case may be, outside the territory comprising the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

Therefore, it would appear that residency is based on what the definition of "temporary" is, is it.. 1 week, 1 year, 10 years, 20 years?? And I would think it would apply to anyone who intends to return to the UK and doesn't have permanent residence in their ex-pat country.

Cheers
Jockomalay

Bob

That's what I said, if your away based on temporary work assignment, you'd still be considered a UK resident, but, if you weren't working for a UK company that sent you abroad, or you applied for and got permanent resident in foreign country, you wouldn't be considered a UK resident.

jockomalay

Hi Bob,

Don't want to be picky... I agree with you re permanent residence, but what if you work for an EU company?.that's not UK and the regs state that EU states & Switzerland residency is acceptable, and where in the regulations does it state that working for a foreign company would change your rights ? It only states "temporary" nothing about assignments.

"temporarily employed outside the United Kingdom and Islands or, as the case may be, outside the territory comprising the European Economic Area and Switzerland."

As I said in my last post.. what is considered temporary. 1 week, a month, a year , a decade??

All I am trying to do here is highlight this to people and to advise them not to take the initial no response from the education authority and perhaps persuade those who may not even bother to apply, based on the mistaken belief that they would not receive educational support due to the oft quoted 3 year residency rule, when in fact they could be eligible

Cheers

Jockomalay

Bob

Working in the EU isn't the problem, but most here aren't in the EU...and the job has to be an expat posting abroad that is temporary in nature, buggering off and getting a visa for some new company puts you out of the realm of a temporary worker because there is no contracted length for your stay abroad...you can try wangling any which way you like, but if you got yourself a new job abroad, you'll be considered not to be on a temporary basis.

ShozInOz

The academic standards are far lower. I used to work as a lecturer in a 'top' Australian university. The standard of student entrsants compared to UK was poor - a 17 year old Aussie was about the equivalent of a 14 year old in the UK. The exceptions ere the overseas students (e.g. Hong Kong) who were way ahead of Aussies, except in English, and even then, the standard of some Aussies' English was appalling. Australian degrees are worth about the same as a British diploma. But if the kids enjoy school then it is no big deal, so long as they intend to stay in Australia. if they want to compete internationally, they may struggle.

It really depends how important this is compared to the benefits of Australia to you. It is only one factor.

woodyinoz

I am really pleased to hear that my girls in grade 3/4 are starting science next week. They are so chuffed to be doing things outside of the maths and English worksheet spectrum. They have also just started doing cultural studies and they are looking at history in Europe. I nearly fell over when they told me

jockomalay

Oh well being a Scottish Wangler it worked for me.........


Jockomalay

jad n rich

Yes. Grade 7, kids around age 12. The most complicated work has been some fractions, decimals and long division has just been touched on. Best part has been the report they had to do at home, needs lots of research (internet of course) but on the human body, they had to choose and study a system, digestive in our case, all came out rather well and a lot of emphasis on working on it themselves. The homework, has been again!!! the X tables 15 spelling words and finishing off colouring in. Some subjects are a bit of a con, take LOTE language other than english, japanese, they get half an hour a week with a teacher of chinese who knows a bit of japanese in all seriousness half an hour a week will teach them nothing. Then at high school next year they study spanish instead, all very silly, unrealisitc and un co-ordinated.


Sport tho, wow so far, 2 half days a week are lost to travelling off to tennis, bowling, surf skills (thats good of course here) but so much time in grade 7 on sport, bit odd as in grades 1 - 6 it was 2 x 45 min sessions, I personally thought the work time would go up not the sport

glittababe

I worry about the above. My eldest just isn't into sport, he doesn't enjoy it and hates all the competitiveness. He is however into science - have they touched on this yet in Yr 6??? Ummm nope! He does enjoy his school (Eumundi State School), the teachers really do enjoy teaching and they all have their own styles, which are of course more lax than uk. What Mark and I have agreed on is for the moment they're in the right place, secondary school tho could see us moving them into the private education system as they may need to be challenged a wee bit more. Cost of 3 kids at one of the private schools - bloody expensive! Think I may just have to live in a shack!

Ozzidoc

The sport aspect is about obtaining and maintaining life-long health, and about learning to work in teams.

Evelin

where I live in AUS the average family income is below the state average. The area is mixed, some people live in mansions and very nice homes, are professionals and simply want that their children are brought up amongst children from similar families. Often these families show more interest in the academic development of their children, they want that their children are able to make a conversion beyond footy of Big Brother later in life. Some of these children have to travel very far to attend a good private school.

It is heartbraking for me to see that many parents have no interest at all if their children after year 12 can read or write. They have no clue what their children are doing at school at any one time. The public high school where I live is huge.

On the other side if you live in or near one of the better areas in Perth, the public high school is excellent. In my few it really depends on the location.

I have said in other postings before, I would not have wanted my daughter to go to school in Australia. Although there surely are schools with excellent teachers but it comes down to - can I afford to live in a better area or can I afford to pay private school fees. I come from a country where we have no private school system and it didn't matter where you live, it was never too far to travel to attend a very good school.

As shozinOZ said, I made a similar experience at univerity in Australia. The writing and spelling skills of many students were appalling.

Ann-marie

Hi, I am having the same worries about my 16yr old daughter also, we have been here in melbourne 10months now, she comes home from school everyday saying she is very bored. She had just finished year 10 in england but when we got here they put her in year 10 again, i tried to say she had already done that year but they wouldn't listen. She is a very bright child and i am worried that she will get to a stage and say i'm not bothered anymore. Also i have a son at 13, he did not settle at all in school so i am homeschooling him at the moment, he says , the 3hours of work i do with him, is more than he did in a day at school. I get all of his books from a homeschooling association, which are far more advanced than he was doing at school. But homeschooling is not for everyone. I am hoping when she starts year 11 she will start to feel better.

Ann-marie in melbourne

TouristTrap

Yup. Where I grew up, we played 2 hrs sport a day (two different sports a term), did our O's in 2 years of study, all 10 subjects, had 4 to 6 hrs of homework every weekend, and lived to tell the tale

We chose to homeschool our kids here in the US because the standards are beyond pathetic. We wanted them to get an education. They've been talking about going over to the UK for unie, so it is enrolling for online IGCSE's for them next month.

banjo

I've been reading this thread with interest as we are just embarking on the whole minefield of schooling. We came back from Australia a few months ago and put our eldest into preschool for half a term to keep him busy and help him get to know a few kids before going to 'big school' in September.

Well.....most days he would walk in and not even be greeted by the teachers. No instruction as to what he should be doing, just expected to sit down and start tracing his name. Not even showed how to form the letters correctly. He did come home knowing all about his middle finger, french kissing and a raft of new (to him) four letter words. He's four! Now, he went to kinder in Australia and we had none of this. All the learning was done through play and they were't expected to sit and write their name at such a young age. He came out happy everyday and always wanted to go. It is now such a huge relief that preschool is over and I only hope his big school experience will be better.

From my very limited experience so far....Australia seem more concerned with the 'whole' child and not just focused on academics. The schools (in our town at least) encouraged parents to be actively involved in their childs schooling - helping in the classroom, on committees etc. and surely out of that flows a desire to encourage your child at home too? Is it just the school / education systems fault if a child gets to 16/17/18 and can't read or write properly, or shouldn't the parents of that child shoulder a good proportion of the blame?

Gibbo

I have never read so much garbage in all my life!!!