[Debs]

Hi,
We are emmigrating hopefully Spring 2007. Our little girl is 3 years old and our main priority at the minute is to look into the best catholic primary schools in Auckland .....any advise would be much appreciated as we don't know where to start? !!!!!
Also - do we need to live in the same area as the school - if so - which is best ???

Thanks so much !!!

[willowshouse]

Hi Debs,

That's a big question!

In my (little) experience ... most schools in Auckland generally have a 'zone' you have to live in to attend the school BUT I think when it comes to Catholic schools there are some which have a broader enrolment policy - obviously the most important criteria being that you are a practising catholic. I have looked at a few sites of primary schools - one said you needed a letter from THE parish priest but had no geographical zone and another had just a vague .. we take children from x, y and z areas.

I am returning to NZ in 4 weeks time but will not attempt to sort out schools till we arrive - there is only so much you can tell from a website and I have found that the schools really don't want to know you until you are in NZ.

For a list of schools have a look at:

http://www.nzceo.catholic.org.nz/pages/schools/schools-auckland.html

As for which area to settle in - that is such a difficult thing to decide before you get to NZ. But for my two-pennorth - Remuera, St Heliers, Meadowbank, Ellerslie, Kohimarama are all lovely - if a little more expensive than some others. The only catholic primary school I know of is St Ignatius in St Heliers and it seems lovely but I have no personal experience of it.

Good luck

[Carol]

Until you walk through the doors of the schools - you wont know.
What is a "good school" in one person's opinion simply may not be for another.
I have had experience of that very fact this week - and I am a primary school teacher!


It is crucial to go and visit - and get the "feel" and the "vibes".
ERO will only tell you so much....what a school is like on a particular week in a situation where they have a term to plan the visit.

My advice would be - wait - visit and rent until you are completely happy.
Carol

[Diny]

Until you walk through the doors of the schools - you wont know.
What is a "good school" in one person's opinion simply may not be for another.



This is very true. We visited quite a few schools before our boys actually started. The feel of the school they attend (when we visited) was great, we were very happy with everything we saw, heard and experienced. The boys did a couple of 'floating days' before we actually commiitted to anything - to see whether they felt they could be happy there.

Everything was fine, our eyes told us so, our ears told us so, the 'official facts and figures' told us so ..... more importantly our hearts told us so.

I have to say, 15 months down the line we still feel that school 'life' is wonderful.

As for the school 'work' ...... not good. It's the national curriculum we have a problem with more than the actual teaching methods (which have taken some getting use to but on the whole are good). We personally feel that it's nowhere near challenging enough and should we decide to return back to the UK there's not a shadow of a doubt that 'academically' our boys would be way behind their UK peers.

Diny