Hi, I've been following the threads that relate to the strengths and weaknesses of education in NZ. We are currently looking at Christch (maybe Auk). We are from the west coast of the U.S. but have been living in Europe for the past year. Our daughters (ages 6, 10, 12) attend an international school that they do not find challenging (especially in math where they are being taught stuff that they learned 2 years ago)- so I can see that our situation may be similar to some of the folks who have relocated from the U.K. and have found the NZ state schools to be a few years behind. (which is fine if the kids are happy and they aren't stressed about going back and being behind their peers).
So at this point, we have concluded that a private school is the way to go for our kids. Are the private schools more academically rigorous/challenging than the public schools and comparable to U.K or U.S. schools? (we are looking at Rangi Ruru, St. Andrews...in CC). Is there anyone out there that has had the experience of relocating to NZ from the U.S. or U.K. and could comment on how the private academic standards compare? THANKS!