[Hannah]

Have any of you found out about schools from the UK before you went to NZ? How did you get on?
I'm wondering if it's easier to 'look' at schools (via internet, phone calls, brochures in post) beforehand or is it a waste of time, ie. am i just better waiting till we turn up and visiting schools.
Do we need any particular documentation to get our children into school (we will be on visitor visa initially, and paying for children to attend school).
Will they need student visas for this???? (They are 9 and 6 yrs old)
Thanks!
Hannah

[Wannaway]

Hannah,

Do you have a good idea about where you are going to settle? Schools here have pretty strict boundary rules and where you plan to live will have a major bearing (unless going to private school?). There is a website where you can get access to the last Inspectors report on the school to give you an idea of relative strengths/weaknesses. Can't locate it at the moment but it has been posted on the forum before (try the Health/Education headings).

Don't be swayed to much by the decile ratings though, as these tend to be as much a reflection of the socio-economic groups the school's pupils are drawn from rather than an absolute guide to pure educational quality. Having said that a Decile 1 rating is probably going to have more than its fair share of, er, challenging students than, say, a 7 or 8. Also the higher the decile rating the less central funding the school gets and therefore the more in "donations" the school askes from pupils' parents. Bear that in mind in terms of household budget etc.

Can't help on your other questions but sure there are a number of forumers who can.

Good luck.

[Hannah]

Thanks Wannaway.
Must go to bed now, I'm falling asleep at my keyboard!

[veronica]

My own feeling on this is that you really can't tell what a school is like until you walk around it when the children are there. That gives a much better idea than the stuff that the marketing people have put on the net. Word of mouth is a good place to start the search with. My own inclination would be to leave it until you get here.

[chips]

Before we went to NZ ,we spent alot of time looking at ERO reports and school websites. Fortunatly we don't live in a city ,so school bounderies aren't as strict. The school we thought might be good for the kids , higher decile and Catholic(not too differant from the one they were attending in the UK), actually turned out to be completely differant.
We finally opted for one which was lower decile score (2), but which felt better on gut instinict and boy's point of view. And so far they have enjoyed everyday, and it proved difficult to keep one son at home when he was ill, as he loves it so much.
So i guess what i am saying is , do your homework, but don't be too hastely or set in your discussion before you have seen the school, and kids that attend.
Good luck- Happy kids at school= :P

[wilson182]

I would say wait until you are here, as others have said you can get a much better feel for the school that way. When we went to visit my daughters school, we were taken around by the deputy principal. He was a lovely man who spent as much time discussing things with Autumn as he did me. We also went into the class she would be in, and immediately the children came over and introduced themselves to her. She loves school and the way she has settled in has far exceeded our expectations.

[jthavh]

Hi Wilson182,
We're heading for Christchurch May2005,just wondering which school does your daughter attend.? It sounds great! Also,which other schools did you visit before you finally made your choice and how did they compare?

Thanks,jthavh

[Hannah]

Thanks All,
Sounds like a lovely school Wilson, and good to hear that there are schools in NZ that children want to go to even when ill !! Will wait till I get there I think (one less thing to worry about now)
Hannah

[wilson182]

She goes to Christchurch South Intermediate. Its decile 7, and after checking it out and going to have a look, thats the one we went with. Its an intermediate school, which means she goes there until next January and then goes to Cashmere High, Also a decile 7.
In regards to my younger daughter, she starts school in June, and their are a couple of schools available. We decided with Somerfield, which is in the same area as Cashmere. Addington School was closer, but good old word of mouth and checking lead us to believe that Somerfield was the better school.