[5kings]

Hi,

I have been an avid forum reader for a while, so thought I'd say hello instead of lurking!

We have been thinking 'should we? shouldn't we?' for a while now, and now think we DO want to go to NZ, it's just a case of when!

Anyway, we are from Suffolk, I'm currently a full-time Mum of three, and my husband is a graphic designer, so will be the main applicant for us. I am in the last year of an OU degree course, which I want to finish before we move ideally.

On the EOI calculator we have 120 points so far, (i think) but no job offer as we haven't started looking yet. Going to the London Expo in April for more info.

Anyway, so many questions to ask, and even more we have found the answer to on this excellent forum! I am quite excited just thinking about going, would go today if only 'Stay at home Mum' was on skills shortage list, but will have a better chance with my degree! :laugh I was planning on going for teacher training originally, but now don't know whether to try and get teacher training in NZ, or stay here for longer and get PGCE first? Also, our house needs a fair bit of decorating and a new kitchen, so that will take a bit of time and money before we can put it on the market.

Also our major worry is not having enough money to bring with us, will hopefully have about £30k after paying all debts, mortgage etc, but know that won't go far with no job offer, so think one of us needs a job before we go. Unfortunately we do not have enough money for a reccy first, so it is a bit of a gamble, but we are from the 'life's too short' camp, and don't want to regret not trying.

I look forward to the fun and games ahead of us, and all the decisions that need to be made, I am sure I'll be back for more advce many times!

Look forward to hearing from anyone,

Helen

[Belmont Babes]

A big welcome to you and yours :clap . We haven't been to NZ yet either, we are from your camp too. All the best with everything. Keep asking those questions, I know I do.
Regards
Nat

[nickydwuk]

Welcome to the forum. We are in the same camp - never been to NZ but know it is the right place to be. I'm sure others will be on to give you support & advice too. I am just putting my house on the market and the agents have told me that it is not worth spending a lot of money putting new kitchens in etc.. (unless your current one is has fallen to pieces :laugh ) as buyers normally want to rip them out & start again and it won't add the same value to the house as you would have spent. It may be different in your neck of the woods.

Anyway, good luck with your plans.

[5kings]

Hi,

We have about half of a 1970s kitchen at the minute so if does need doing! Only going for a bargain b&q job though! Trying to spend the minimum on the house, but need it to look a bit tidier.

We are quite lucky as our type of house (3 bed terrace) go quite quickly, often with first time buyers or buy-to-let, so maybe we wil be lucky and escape being caught in a hellish chain. I di dthink about getting an agent in for advice, hubby wants to put new interior doors in, and I am not sure if it's worth it, never sold before (first time buyers) so all new to us!

Helen

[Justine+Ben]

Hello and welcome to the forum :)

I have also never been to NZ so Like you, I am taking a big gamble! (My husband visited Auckland but only for the interview and for just a few days so he didn't see much at all).

I did my teacher training in the UK and so far it seems it will be very easy to transfer it to the NZ system. In the UK you can study for the PGCE without paying fees and you actually get about 6000 a year from the teacher training agency while you are doing it (it is probably much more than that now!). Also, if you decide to train in a secondary shortage subject (ie: Maths, ICT etc.) you may also get a golden hand shake (a few thousand pounds as a bonus) so there are definitely benefits to training in England. But probably after getting a UK PGCE you would want to do your NQT year there too? So it could be a couple of years to wait. I suppose another advantage of doing it in the UK is that if for some reason NZ doesn't work out for you (for whatever reason), you can easily find a job in the UK on your return.

If you do decide to do it in NZ, it might be a good idea to get permanent residence first so that you don't have to pay any international fees. As for whether they give you a stipend while training or any benefits/bonuses I'm not sure but that is definitely worth finding out before you decide. Perhaps there will be someone on the forum who has trained in NZ.

Hope you find all the answers you need on the forum and good luck,
Cheers,

Justine

[cathgates]

Hi Helen, and welcome we've never been to New Zealand before, and we have to gamble the job offer when we get there as oh is not on the long term endangered species list!!!
I'm sure all your questions now and in the future will be expertly answered by many people.
Apparently the April expo isn't as good as the October one, but it is a time to have a chat with the government immigration people as there are less people there.
We have found out so much on the internet its quite scary to imagine how people did it before the internet was born!!
You don't say where you are from. We live near Nottingham in a place called Ilkeston, we have only found one other couple in Ilkeston, but have met up a couple of times. It is good to talk to others who share the same goal.
Good luck with your plans.

Cath X

[river11]

Helen,
we're in the same position, never been, only 120 points but I thought what the hell, just go for it, we've thought about it for 2 years. My job is on the ISSL but this doesn't get extra points. Just in the middle of a getting all info together for NZQA etc, the list goes on.....

[Mickstim]

Hi Helen - we have been to NZ a number of times as our son lives there and we LOVE it and can't wait to get there. Good luck and welcome to the forum!

[Mickstim]

Hi Helen - we have been to NZ a number of times as our son lives there and we LOVE it and can't wait to get there. Good luck and welcome to the forum!

[castleclan]

The population of Suffolk seems to be on the move! We are on the Suffolk coast and have begun the process of looking into whether this is for us or not too.
You will have to do your research on the training as I had heard that the money has been cut from a lot of the Post grad teacher training courses in UK. It will probably depend on which of you can get the points. I think that experience is also important for the points.
Good luck with your decisions:)

[5kings]

The population of Suffolk seems to be on the move! We are on the Suffolk coast and have begun the process of looking into whether this is for us or not too.
You will have to do your research on the training as I had heard that the money has been cut from a lot of the Post grad teacher training courses in UK. It will probably depend on which of you can get the points. I think that experience is also important for the points.
Good luck with your decisions:)

Hi

We are also Suffolk coast! We will probably be applying with my husband as main applicant, or going on a work visa and applying for PR once in NZ.

I am seriously thinking of trying to get teacher training once in NZ, but again this needs a lot of research as I know we'd have to fund it, and we will be coming over with a relatively small amount of money for a family of 5, so need to be careful. If I did teacher training here in UK (and you are right, funding has been cut) we could not start move to NZ until around 2010, and right now we just want to go asap.

In these early planning stages I feel like I don't know enough about anything to make informed decisions, and spend ages researching etc! I am looking forward to the Expo in April for more info.

Made one change yesterday with NZ in mind, changed our mortgage deal so no penalties if we do sell up, although an extra £20 a month to pay, should save us in the long term. And I have a list of things we need to locate, full birth certificates etc so I feel I am doing something pro-active. (as well as finishing my degree and tidying up the house for sale)

Well, good luck with your plans,

Helen

PS Meant to add it is Early Years education I am really interested in, hence my idea to study over there, I don't think there is an equivalent UK qualification and I figured if I want to teach that age group, may as well be trained the NZ way if we can afford it.

[Hippywench]

You have a lot in common with us, too. We've never been to New Zealand, believe that life is too short not to have at least one big adventure and also have a lot to do to the house before we can sell. We won't have huge sum of money to bring over, either.