[colandros]

we are in the proccess of applying and are still gathering info.
can anyone shed some light on the 6th form or college system in nz.
my eldest son was 16 in dec 06. in the uk he is in yr11 and is due to start 6th form in sept 07.
most 6th forms here are linked to high schools but are run as seperate bodies from the main school, is this the same in nz?
He was offered a place at the 6th form at his current school and two or three others that he looked at.
he has chosen to leave his current school at the end of this year and study his A'levels somewhere else.
is the system the same over there, ie, at 16 school leavers are free to apply to whichever college/6th form they choose and will
be accepted dependant on reaching the agreed number of passes in their exams?
If anyone has made the move with a similar aged child, how did they fit into the system in nz. are the systems comparable or
do uk kids suffer due to having not followed the nz curriculum

[Supadolphin]

Hi Colin and Ross

I would also be very interested to know the answers to your questions - our daughter is 17 and doing AS levels at the mo.

Debs

[wiki]

I can't answer the curriculum or integration questions, but I can tell you that NZ doesn't have sixth form colleges.

High School and colleges are all either five-year or seven year depending on the start age they offer (11/12 or 13/14).

There is a new exam system which has been brought into NZ which covers the last three years of high school, but International Baccalureate are offered in some schools.

When I was at school in NZ there were external exams when I was 15, internally assesed qualification when I was 16 and more external exams when I was 17, but all at the same school.

After Year 13, students can go on to university, polytechnic (thought of more highly than in the UK) or technical colleges.

[colandros]

so that means we would have to enrol him in a high school ?

[wiki]

Yes, but only if you want him to have a higher school qualification. The law says he only has to attend school in NZ until his 16th birthday.

He could go on to Polytechnic or Technical College without higher exams (depending on the course) but he would need to get a certain number of credits in level 3 (Year 13 of high school) to get a place at university.

It's a bit confusing, but a lot of schools are called "college" but are just high schools with a different name.

There is also a form of international GCSE/A-level offered in NZ at some schools, but you'd need to check that out with someone currently in the system and not all schools offer it, although more are turning to the IB because of teething problems with the new NCEA exams.

[katandbob]

so that means we would have to enrol him in a high school ?

Not nessesarily, Jason came over after finishing his GCSE's, and having the summer holidays with his mates (20hr game playing on WOW):laugh :o
(oh shame NZ Broadband is too slow for it here;) )

We looked at High school/College, but the curriculum was the same as the UK and technically he would have been repeating the last two years - ok he would have got a NZ qualification out of it - but my son was bored stupid in the last 2 yrs of schooling in the UK and the thought of repeating it was horrific for him.

We looked at the Polytechnic - SIT which has Zero fees. (although you have to pay setup fees - roughly $1500) but this was paid by student loan as he has PR. - but since I would have had to buy uniforms/books/stationery/and other fees that schools have - that was not really that much.

He decided to do a pre-trade course in Electronics(National Certificate in Electrical Engineering L2) (he has the idea of working through University to stave off Huge Student fees)

SIT were fine with his GCSE results -- he did a series of tests any way at the beginning of the course. He wears what he wants(no huge uniform fees) the course is 3 days a week - and I can drop him off on my way to work - NO Public Transport from our township. He has to wait 6th Mths before he can go for his Restricted licence.

- and on another point - ANY 17-18 yr olds who have a UK learner Licence, and have had driving lessons etc - if they have had the Learner licence for 2 yrs you can apply for a conversion
It was long winded and a bit of a faf with the paperwork - but we got our eldest sons UK licence converted - which allowed him to go for a restricted licence straight away - all he had to do was pass the 20 min Practical test.
So if your stuck in the sticks - it may be worth you looking into it.

Good luck anyway with the teenagers - from my experience the older the kid the harder the adjustment to life here (starting school asap will help)

My eldest returned to the UK after 5mths - and is not dealing very well with his family being split up at the min!:(

Kat

[Fizz]

Mmmm....tricky one this! Haven't posted for ages but this subject hits a nerve and I wish we had done things differently.
We moved here nearly a year ago with 15 year old(and an 8 year old). On paper NCEA looked similar to GCSE/A Level but we found the reality quite different.In fact we were so disappointed with NCEA that he went back to the UK after 5 months to finish his GCSE's. Our 17 year old was supposed to be joining us for her final year of NCEA but we all agreed it was best for her to stay in the UK and finish her A Levels. Like KatandBob, the separation is unbearable for them and us and we are returning to the UK to be a complete family again! Can't bear the thought of missing out on their last few years at home and now having lived here, we can't see that their future will be in NZ , even though we thought ours might have been.
My advice would be to be prepared for the fact that your child will most likely be ahead of everyone else academically and may find the work unchallenging. This of course, depends on your child and the school ,I suppose. If we could turn back the clock, we would have moved to an area that had schools offering Cambridge exams, which are more on a par with UK exams. NCEA is a touchy subject here at the mo and I could rant for hours but I am afraid I will bore you!!!
Moving here with older children has been really difficult but we don't regret giving it a go. Just do a bit of homework on colleges and courses before you put down roots. Good luck!

[flyingkiwi]

We have just moved here from the US with three teens and an eleven year old. The oldest is 17 and has been put in year 12. She only had a few classes to graduate from high school in the US but now has to complete this year and next before going to Uni. Have anyone been in the situation and what have you done about it. We are thinking about home schooling her for her few classes and having her graduate American school. The school here is very different than in the states and while she seems to be making friends she is very frustrated with her classes. Some too easy and some that don't make any sence at all.
Any help would be appreciated.
Diane

[IanW99]

Our eldest was 17 when we arrived and our local school (college) weren't interested in taking him on (only 6 months till he would have been 18) so he didn't do any schooling at all in NZ (he basically told us that we have ruined his life and he wanted to go back to the UK :uhoh ).

Anyway, after he was 18, we managed to get him enrolled in a University entrance type course which is run for 3 months. He passed that and is now at University studying hard and loving it :) and has now said that this was the best move ever, and he never wants to go back to the UK? Teenagers :laugh

So there are other options out there if you need them.

Ian

[katandbob]

Mmmm....tricky one this! Haven't posted for ages but this subject hits a nerve and I wish we had done things differently.
We moved here nearly a year ago with 15 year old(and an 8 year old). On paper NCEA looked similar to GCSE/A Level but we found the reality quite different.In fact we were so disappointed with NCEA that he went back to the UK after 5 months to finish his GCSE's. Our 17 year old was supposed to be joining us for her final year of NCEA but we all agreed it was best for her to stay in the UK and finish her A Levels. Like KatandBob, the separation is unbearable for them and us and we are returning to the UK to be a complete family again! Can't bear the thought of missing out on their last few years at home and now having lived here, we can't see that their future will be in NZ , even though we thought ours might have been.
My advice would be to be prepared for the fact that your child will most likely be ahead of everyone else academically and may find the work unchallenging. This of course, depends on your child and the school ,I suppose. If we could turn back the clock, we would have moved to an area that had schools offering Cambridge exams, which are more on a par with UK exams. NCEA is a touchy subject here at the mo and I could rant for hours but I am afraid I will bore you!!!
Moving here with older children has been really difficult but we don't regret giving it a go. Just do a bit of homework on colleges and courses before you put down roots. Good luck!

I agree with you on some points, so far I am not impressed with the standards of NCEA some of the students on Jasons course struggled with maths and have never done Trigonometry?

I hope that the actual programme Jasons on will be useful and he gets an aprenticeship


Our eldest was 17 when we arrived and our local school (college) weren't interested in taking him on (only 6 months till he would have been 18) so he didn't do any schooling at all in NZ (he basically told us that we have ruined his life and he wanted to go back to the UK ).

Anyway, after he was 18, we managed to get him enrolled in a University entrance type course which is run for 3 months. He passed that and is now at University studying hard and loving it and has now said that this was the best move ever, and he never wants to go back to the UK? Teenagers

So there are other options out there if you need them.

Ian!

I hope that Jason gets to that stage soon!

Kat