Which school year to move, 6 or 7?

[vinylwasp]

Hi, from peoples own experience when is the best age to move a girl from the Junior school in the UK to either Junior, Senior or Intermediate in nZ?

To clarify what are the pros and cons if;
a.) Moving at the end of UK year 5 before NZ year 6 starts so she can assimilate into a smaller group at a primary school, or
b.) Move after the end of UK year 6 straight into year 7 in NZ?

Our daughter is neither outgoing or shy and the added bonus of moving into NZ year 6 would be that she'd have her younger brother in the same school in year 4.

That would mean bringing forward the timeline though.
Anyone else faced this dilemma and been through the same transition with schools?

TIA

[dharder]

I'm not sure I entirely understand your timelines. You will always miss half a year, regardless of what you do. In principle, purely from a social dynamic point of view, I would think it is always easier to start the new thing at the beginning. So I would aim to get the start of the NZ school year.

Ours finished Year 2 in the UK, had a little bit of Year 3 here in NZ and then moved into Year 4.

Do you know that the area that you are moving to has an intermediate school? Where we live, there aren't really any, all primary schools are full primaries, so go from Years 1-8. That might make the decision easier.

[relocate2014]

Our son left Secondary school in UK and slotted into year 8 (intermediate) in New Zealand.
From his experience, all I can say, is kids adapt and he is happier at school here than he ever was at secondary school in UK. Although we found a good school in UK, the kids could be mean, grown up too quickly and far too materialistic. Here kids seem to remain kids for longer, the strict uniform helps level things too and they all seem to get along fine.

[dharder]

the strict uniform helps level things too and they all seem to get along fine.

Considering not all primary schools even have uniforms, this might be something that only applies to your school and not generally to NZ.

I also very much doubt that there is any place on earth where 'they all seem to get along fine', you get the same issues here that you get anywhere else when you throw a large number of pre-teens and teens together.

[vinylwasp]

I'm not sure I entirely understand your timelines.

I see you point. My dream was to have an extended period of travel over the UK summer but at best I'm thinking the budget would only stretch to 8 weeks so I guess she may either repeat part of a year (move from the end of year 6 back into term 4 of year 6 in NZ) or enter the year 7, 3/4 of the way through.

[vinylwasp]

I'm pleased to hear you've found the pressure less intense for your kids in NZ.

My wife and I are both Kiwi's who have been on our OE for 17 tears now, with 2 kids born in Sydney (now 6 and 8) but currently living in Newbury, West Berkshire in the UK.
We both grew up in the far south and came back at Easter this year to visit family, which made us realise its time to come home.

Skills and career experience dictate Auckland, so here we come.

Thanks for sharign your insights.

[Oregonkiwi]

(move from the end of year 6 back into term 4 of year 6 in NZ) or enter the year 7, 3/4 of the way through.

We had to make a similar time-frame decision (although our move was much smaller, from east to west Auckland). Our son changed schools during year 6 which meant that when he started intermediate school, he already had a group of friends from his new primary school. It made the transition from primary to intermediate school easier. As pointed out above, if your local school is a "full primary", then it won't matter so much.

[JandM]

I see you point. My dream was to have an extended period of travel over the UK summer but at best I'm thinking the budget would only stretch to 8 weeks so I guess she may either repeat part of a year (move from the end of year 6 back into term 4 of year 6 in NZ) or enter the year 7, 3/4 of the way through.

The two national systems are different, anyway. Even when there is the same subject matter in both programmes, it won't necessarily have been tackled in the same order, or in the same way. You and your daughter will have to be prepared to put up with some repetition of things she's already done, and some tough times where everyone else is building on previous work that she hasn't covered at all yet. But teachers are used to helping incomers from abroad make these adjustments.

[dharder]

I see you point. My dream was to have an extended period of travel over the UK summer but at best I'm thinking the budget would only stretch to 8 weeks so I guess she may either repeat part of a year (move from the end of year 6 back into term 4 of year 6 in NZ) or enter the year 7, 3/4 of the way through.

Ok, maybe it would be easier to approach this from an age angle: they will most likely put your child into her cohort here. So if she finishes Year 6 in the UK in August, they will be half way through year 7 in NZ, starting Term 3 out of 4. I don't think schools in general are very keen to have children not within their particular age group in one year (there's obviously some variation due to different birthdays), and I think you would have to make a very special case to have your daughter essentially go back a year (i.e. finishing Year 6 in the UK and going back into Year 6 in NZ).

The school will in all likelyhood determine what year your child will go into. For you to decide is then only the time when you want to go. And of course if the school you are considering in NZ is a full primary or an intermediate school.

[Hagabel]

Not sure which but I would try and have her start at the beginning of the NZ school year, ie Feb so she will not be the only 'new' kid.