Family Friendly Suburbs and Schools in Auckland - please advise!

[eyky]

Hi there

I am a Singaporean living in Hong Kong (moving to Auckland next year). I am looking to rent a home for the two years whilst my daughter starts Year 7 and 8 there.

I have limited time in Dec for a recky to check out the schools and neighbourhoods. I am aware of the decile ratings and the school zoning system so I shortlisted schools based on these in the three neighbourhoods in Auckland that I am considering renting in. I only have limited time about 10 days to fly from HK to Auckland for interviews so can anyone give me an idea of which schools to shortlist from the list below and let me know if I have missed any thing out in my considerations?

Also do Primary schools have affliations to certain secondary schools and is Mandarin offered at a primary school level or do I have to get supplementary lessons at a private class somewhere - any one have a recommendation where to go?

1.Central Area
(Mission Bay, Glendowie, Remeura, St Heliers, Mount Wellington, Meadowbanks, Ponsonby, Parnell)
and from these I shortlisted Churchill Park Primary, Kohimara School, St Thomas Primary, Stonefields Primary, Remeura Intermediate, Glendowie Primary, St Heliers Primary, St Michaels Catholic. Victoria Avenue School, Ponsonby Intermediate, Parnell School and St Josephs School)

2. North
(Forrest Hill, Belmont, Beach Haven)
shortlisted Belmont Intermediate, Takapuna Normal Intermediate and Wairau Intermediate

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Oregonkiwi]

Also do Primary schools have affliations to certain secondary schools and is Mandarin offered at a primary school level or do I have to get supplementary lessons at a private class somewhere - any one have a recommendation where to go?

Primary/intermediate schools don't have affiliations to secondary schools beyond being in the same area / enrolment zone.

The Confucius Institute provides Mandarin programmes in a few schools http://ci.ac.nz/chinese-in-schools/confucius-classrooms

I don't have any personal knowledge of the schools you've listed, but as the parent of an intermediate school pupil, and having experience with both a full primary and an intermediate school, my preference would be for a stand-alone intermediate school rather than a full primary.

[eyky]

Thanks so much for your reply Oregonkiwi and the link to the confucius institute - I will def check that out.

Can I just ask why you would do the stand alone as opposed to the full primary? I am trying to get my head around all the info I am reading so any help would be great!

Have a nice day!

[Oregonkiwi]

I don't want to generalise about all full primary vs intermediate schools - this is just my observations of the schools my son has attended. The intermediate school has much better resources. The staff at the intermediate school are experts in teaching and supporting adolescents. The intermediate school has a large block of specialist classrooms for teaching the art and technology subjects, along with specialist staff; at the full primary, the Year 7&8s had to travel to another school to do the specialist subjects. The primary school had one small hall for assemblies and performances; the intermediate school has a hall, a gym and an auditorium. There seem to be a lot more opportunities for extra-curricula activities, lots of different sports, an in-school TV station, extension programmes (my son is loving learning Korean), etc.
Good luck with your search, feel free to ask lots of questions

[eyky]

Well noted - thanks for the good feedback.

[toandfro]

I suspect you will have have found this already through your research, but just in case:

http://www.ero.govt.nz/Early-Childho...School-Reports

These are the official government reviews of the schools. Their frequency is variable, depending on any perceived issues with the school which need monitoring.

Also as you may well have read, it is important to note that the decile rating for a school is not a measure of the quality of the school. It is solely a measure of the average wealth of the catchment area and deciles are used to determine the level of funding provided by the state. (Poorer areas get more state funding.) That said, there is a correlation between the area's wealth and a school's educational outcomes - not necessarily due directly to the school but due to the well-known link between home life and parental support as a determinant of educational outcomes. Here is a recent newspaper article on the subject. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11539592 However, I imagine that the problems really only escalate in deciles 1-4 and you have shortlisted schools in good areas so I think you will be 'safe' from such problems. The differences between deciles 7-10 are probably immaterial.

Good luck.

[eyky]

Thank you for this toandfro - this is the first time I have come across what you sent so am going to digest and read it through - thanks so much for the links.

[djadzyh]

Hi there. I am Australian with Singaporean wife. After 10 years in Singapore we moved to NZ for a change of scenery and to put the kids in local Primary school. We chose Glendowie and Glendowie Primary School we love it. Welcome get in touch with us, this is Elisa my wife http://harcourts.co.nz/People/30576/Elisabeth-Hampson Elisa was agent in Singapore and recently started working here. Would be nice to meet other Singaporean here.