Christchurch?

TraciGood · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 4:13 am Post subject: Christchurch?

Hi Guys,

I have been able to secure another job offer - this time in Christschurch. I had not considered the South Island - does anyone have any expreience of the area? Schools / people etc?

Thanks

karltsmith · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 4:42 am Post subject:

A lovely city and our second choice after Auckland...JCM lives there I'll leave it to him to extol it's many virtues!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice One

JCM · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:59 am Post subject:

Yes, Karl, I'll happily bore anyone to death talking about Chch. Laughing

Bear in mind that everything I say is seen through the eyes of a married man in his late thirties with two primary school aged children.

If you tell me a little about what you need to know specifically Traci, I'll be pleased to drone on about it. Yes

veronica · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 8:28 pm Post subject:

I'd like to know lots about Christchurch too. We should be out there by the end of April or beginning of May.
Whats the local council like with new business set ups, are they fairly supportive of the entrepreneurial spirit. We will be setting up a two way business so finding the right premises could be tricky. Know anything about the wintersports industry there.
All that aside the most important thing is what are the people like there. cheers Veronica

TraciGood · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 9:06 pm Post subject:

I am looking at it from a married thirty something point of view. I have 3 children ( 2 teenagers and one 5 yr old). My husband would be looking for an IT type job out there.
I hadnt really considered the South Island, my first choice being Northland (in particular the Whangarei area). So I know virtualy nothing about C/Church.
Is there plenty of IT type work there? How does the weather compare to the UK? Are the schools good? What is life in general like in the area?
Anything at all really JCM Wink

Thanks,

Traci x

JCM · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 11:38 am Post subject:

Hi Traci,

There is generally plenty of IT work in Chch. Depends on speciality to some extent. There is more commercial/financial associated work in Wellington and Auckland but software develpment is an important part of Chch's economy.

How could I describe the weather? Summer is similar to SE England but it's usually drier here, while spring, winter and autumn are usually much more pleasant and warmer than anywhere in the UK. Winter mornings are often frosty with blue skies. There is little wind in winter, which combined with the sunshine and the stronger sun, can make it feel pleasantly warm during the middle part of the day. The lack of wind combined with lots of wood-burning stoves causes a winter smog on cold nights. If you're in Chch you can't see the smog, but if you're in the hills above the city you can. You can smell the woodsmoke on cold nights. Seriously, it's pretty negligible but some people get quite concerned about it. It's worst in the middle and eastern parts of the city. Better to the west.

The summer weather here is more variable than, say Nelson - even though both have an average daily max of around 22 - 23 C. Nelson tends to be 21 - 25 almost every day. Chch in summer varies much more - say between 16 and 32C.

If you've not looked already, you can compare CHch with London, Birmghm and Edinburgh's climates here. (Chch's months have been flipped so you can compare Chch winter directly with British winter etc.)

http://www.emigratenz.org/NewZealandClimate.html#christchurch

Your children will be able to attend top state-schools provided you live in the right zone. These schools are very good and, on average, their pupils attain marks quite close those scored by pupils in private schools - in the UK most state school pupils score way below the private schools.

If you have girls, the top state school is Christchurch Girls' High School.

For co-ed, the best in terms of marks and student behaviour are Burnside High School and Riccarton High School.

Burnside High is generally regarded as best but there's a good argument that Riccarton produces better exam results.

NZ schools are rated from Decile 1 to Decile 10 in terms of the socio-economic profiles of the students' parents. Decile 10 is tops. Christchurch Girls and Burnside are Decile 10 and Riccarton is Decile 8.
All of these schools lie more or less directly west of the centre of Chch, between the city centre and the airport.

If you want a good, academic education for your children, these are the schools I'd aim to get them into through living in the correct school zone.

Life is good as far as we're concerned. Attractive play parks and green (or brown in summer Laughing

) places where kids can play are numerous. The primary and high schools mostly have very generous playing fields. All of the primary schools have clean, attractive play parks that kids can go to out of school hours. Public transport (buses) are good and cheap. We have vines over a pergola in our garden to give us shade in the summer and lemon and grapefruit trees in the garden. Gardening is great but everything seems to grow twice as fast as back home so you need to keep on top of the weeds. Town houses (detached houses with easy-care gardens of about 400 sq m) are becoming ever more popular. Summers are dry so it's easy to plan to have a barbecue and not often be disrupted by rain.

Although it's described as an English city, the suburbs around us don't feel British - there's too much space, the gardens are too pretty and the roads are too wide. Spacious is probably the best way of describing it.

Take care buying a house. Winter nights are cold. We bought a double-glazed house but still suffer from condensation. (Double glazing here has aluminium joinery as opposed to wood Rolling Eyes

) Single glazed houses can suffer from bad condensation and electric de-humidifiers seem popular.

There are plenty of British people here most of whom are very happy.

I'm probably just scratching the surface, so please fire away if there's anything else you're interested in.

JCM · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 11:40 am Post subject:

veronica · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 4:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks for taking the time to reply... where are you from originally.
I've always felt that people are pretty much the same mix everywhere and with that snippet about the taxi drivers, you've confirmed it.
By a two way business I mean that we will be operating a retail outlet for Winter sports stuff in season and a Backpackers hostel all year (not much of a living to be made from skis or warm clothes in the summer). So the property has to have a duel function. Cheers Veronica

Moorf · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:51 pm Post subject:

Hi Veronica

Just noticed your intended 2way business - sounds great - we are hoping to get over via the WTR (hubby in IT) but eventually to open a business similar to yours as we are both snowboarders (hubby more so!!).

I gather you have to have previous experience in the industry into which you want to build your business - where do you work at the moment?

Can't wait to hit those slopes! Razz

Moorf

veronica · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:53 pm Post subject:

Hi, I work down in very flat essex where I run a ski/snowboarding retail and rental business from home. It has taken over completely so perhaps I should say I run a home from the business. If we get there before you I will let you know what the hills are like. I gather the slopes are very different from Europe as a whole but maybe they are more like Scotland. cheers Veronica

minnieuk · Testing The Water Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 5

I just found this thread and am very interested in Christchurch schools - do you have a view on Christchurch Boys High? My son is a cricketer and this looks like a great school from both an academic and sports point of view. What are Riccarton and Burnside like for sports?

I have maps of the school zone for CBH and Burnside - what is the actual area like to live in?

Thanks

Robert · Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 8:17 pm Post subject:

I have had the advantage of quizzing pupils and parents from almost all the local secondary schools as they all get injured at some point....

I have yet to find a pupil who is not happy in his or her school. You will have to take this at face value but I have spoken to over 50.

Ch Ch boys has a very good reputation here as does girls and burnside. Lincoln is also very good. Burnside is considered too large by some though.

Private education costs a maximum of $12000 per annum which buys contacts, a thick accent and nice boats for the rowing team. A curly hairdo is almost mandatory though. Christs college boys were off to Tibet this year so some small additional expenses can be expected whip

Apparently the education at St Bede's (boys, generally catholic) is superb too although there has to be some compensation for the awful uniform Wink

The less well thought of schools tend to be in the poorer areas although that is relative and nothing like the same as UK 'sink estate' schooling. I would avoid Linwood and Aranui unless you have been to check them out. It is not that they provide poor education, just that they have high truancy rates and the teachers have to work harder on basic discipline than might be ideal. Small class sizes though and good principals are an advantage and both schools can point to good results for good pupils.

You would be well advised not to make final decisions until you arrive. Moving school is not as traumatic as you may think and housing in any good school zone is affordable by UK standards. Why not see what you can rent easily and quickly then move? Your kids will almost certainly find it easier than you will! Do ask your friends and neighbours here - everyone in Ch Ch has an opinion and most are more than willing to share it (so good news for me then!)

Best of luck

Rob