Schooling

[astrajl]

Hi All, I will be moving to New Zealand with my 2 children around October 2008. My Husband is currently out there working. I am looking for any information anyone can give me on good primary schools in the North Shore, which ones should we look to get the children into. They are 4 and 9, my daughter will be 5 in November but will start school here for 8 weeks then move to New Zealand.

The road for this hasn't been a smooth one as many of you will probably be aware of, I want to make sure when I put them into school out there I'm not going to be moving them in 6 months time as I have chosen the wrong area to live in or put them to school in.

My husband is working in Mount Wellington but doesn't mind if he needs to travel further to allow the kids a better education.

Please help

[MichelleAlison]

Originally Posted by astrajl

Hi All, I will be moving to New Zealand with my 2 children around October 2008. My Husband is currently out there working. I am looking for any information anyone can give me on good primary schools in the North Shore, which ones should we look to get the children into. They are 4 and 9, my daughter will be 5 in November but will start school here for 8 weeks then move to New Zealand.

The road for this hasn't been a smooth one as many of you will probably be aware of, I want to make sure when I put them into school out there I'm not going to be moving them in 6 months time as I have chosen the wrong area to live in or put them to school in.

My husband is working in Mount Wellington but doesn't mind if he needs to travel further to allow the kids a better education.

Please help

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You have posted in the right place, so I am sure one of our NZ experts will be along to give you some advice.

Regards

Michelle

[Dolly]

Hi there,

Here's a list of schools in the North Shore area TKI - 3. Schools Graphical Search

I did a search on yellow pages and came up with this Primary school in North shore - YELLOW™ New Zealand

The two schools closest to Northshore are Onepoto Primary and Northcote primary.

I'm sorry I can't give any personal recommendations as I live in Victoria, Australia.

Have a look at the school's websites and see what you think.

Dolly

[TGM]

Most of the schools on the Shore operate zoning policies, although it is possible to apply for an out of zone place (usually around July-Sept before the year of entry) and you can apply for as many places as you want.

Use the links that Dolly gave you as a start for your research but have an eye on what intermediate/high school you want your children to feed in to too.

Schools are inspected and reports published on the ERO website ERO - Kia ora - welcome to the Education Review Office - Te Tari Arotaki Matauranga - be advised that these reports are very seldom critical.

You'll need to read between the lines and look for the things that the report isn't praising, for example it may emphasise how well a school is doing with its reading programe but will not say anything about maths. The question you need to be asking is "how good is maths at this school?"

They'll also use faint praise as an alternative to open criticism. Terms such as "excellent" and "high standard" are what you should be looking for rather than "acceptable" or "good".

I'd strongly recommend that you don't make your mind up until you've arrived in NZ and visited all the schools on your list. Also, take some time to visit the fee paying church and private schools in the area and compare them to the state schools.

Ask the principals how they measure pupil attainment, if they have written polices on student safety, welfare, anti-bullying, discipline, pastoral care, etc. how often reports are sent home...all the usual stuff.

Finally, before you settle on a school ask if your children can spend a day there to see how they like it.

[CdnKiwi]

And in addition to the good advice TGM has given, I would suggest you ask for a tour of the school. The teachers your kids would be working with should not object to a visitor for half an hour so that you can see how the classes are run, the children's behaviour/attitudes, and the positive disciplinary system that a school/teacher uses. These things can vary greatly from area to area.

[loopylinda]

A better education!? What's that then? The New Zealand curriculum is "2 years behind" the UK.