Hi, we're planning to go to NZ first week of November. I have 2 kids, 7 & 6 yo. Do they need to go to school right away and finish the 2012 school term?
Thank you very much.
Hi, we're planning to go to NZ first week of November. I have 2 kids, 7 & 6 yo. Do they need to go to school right away and finish the 2012 school term?
Thank you very much.
I would call the school they will be attending. I did this for my kids and they told me that my son can start school in Jan/Feb with the new school year. I would definitely call the school for advice. They were so nice and gave me a ton of other info about the school at the same time. Good luck!
Thank you for the advice LVKris. I appreciate it a lot.
A thought - arriving then, there will be maybe five or six weeks of the term still to run. Then there are holidays for another five or six weeks till the new school year begins. If you are going to be in your new home area for all this time, it could be a helpful thing to do, to let your children start school for some of the time this year, because that way, they would have a chance to meet some people (and you would therefore meet their new friends' parents). You would then all have some familiar faces to say hello to in the area all through the holidays, and might also have got some introductions to activities, play-dates, etc..
good point JandM. Thanks. I still have to check with the schools, but you may have an idea, will they accept new students at that time?
Normally, yes, if you've come to live within their area, and I'm sure they'll see the point of wanting the children to be integrated as soon as possible. Some NZ schools are zoned, and they HAVE to give a place to any child within the zone. If it doesn't have a zone, they may refuse if the class for the age-group is overcrowded. http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducatio...20Parents.aspx As LVKris said, talk to the school you'd like them to go to, and see what they say.
If you are arriving early November then I would definitely put the children into school. It is a few weeks from the end of term, which being the last term of the year means that there will be lots of fun stuff going on. Much better way of getting them settled into a new country, they will meet lots of other children they can then meet up with over the summer holidays. Otherwise they will have a very long time at home from early November to the start of Feb. It does of course differ from school to school but we arrived in Wellington on a Friday, made an appointment to visit a school on Monday before the term began and then my child (8 at the time) started the new school on Wednesday at the start of the new school year. And then she moved schools a month later when we moved areas.
Yes, as mentioned above, there's something to be said for putting them in school. My sons arrived here in November, too, and went to school for the last six weeks. It helped them settle, get used to the way things work without having any pressure (being end of term and all).
It also gives you a few hours to organise things and get settled yourself.
Good luck,
Daniela
Another thing to consider is getting your children acclimatised to the accent. We came from the US and my daughter brought her mostly Chicago accent with her (I'm English and had tried to stop it being complete, with a degree of success tee hee!). She had problems at first with getting her ear used to the different twang, so having her in school from mid-October was extremely useful. Plus of course it's a really fun time of the school year - ramp up to long summer holidays, plus christmas parties going on, she had a blast!
Agree with all pp's. And maybe you can have them start in the classrooms they will be in for the next yr so that can get to know the kids. My 6 yr old started in Sept in yr 2, spent 1 term with them and then started back in Jan in year 2/3 with same kids in classroom. My 5 yr old started end Sept in New Entrants, did 1 term there and then was in class with same kids in Jan (1st yr) so he also new lot more people. Plus it gives you some time to settle yourselves in. And the kids a sense of routine.