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Thread: Moving to Wellington with teen

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    United Kingdom
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    1

    Default Moving to Wellington with teen

    Hi everyone.
    I'm looking for some advice. I've been offered a job in Wellington and initially I was pretty excited, because I visited it last year (albeit briefly) and loved it.
    But I've been doing some research and now have some doubts, largely related to my family, who are not quite so thrilled. Appreciate if anyone can offer advice on the below.
    1) I have a 13 year old daughter. She liked Wellington too when we visited but is now saying she is afraid it will be too small and isolated. We have always lived in big cities. How do other teens coming from big cities find it?
    2) I'm a little worried about the schools. It seems that the schools that offer international qualifications like IB and Cambridge are all single sex and my daughter is adamant she doesn't want to go to a girls' school. Does the NZ certificate offered by the state co-ed schools allow kids to apply for university in the UK, US etc? I mean, she might want to stay in NZ but I'd like her to have the choice. The NZ exam board says it is recognised abroad but is that in fact the case? Anyone have experience of this?
    3) Is Onslow College a good school - open minded, no bullying, outward looking etc? What are class sizes like? How about the private schools like Queen Margaret, which seems to the only one doing IB? Much difference? I heard there was a private co-ed out in Whitby, but that sounds like too much of a commute each day, right?
    4) Daughter has done some movie auditions and wants to do more (I know, I know). I know Wellington is quite a creative city with a movie industry but does that translate into opportunities, even for small parts? If I can give her good news on that front I am more likely to win her over...but obviously I want to tell her the truth!
    5) I also have a trailing spouse....he has trailed before, and always got a job, but again those were large cities. He works as a claims adjuster at the moment and has various kinds of legal type experience. English is his second language. He's not really keen to be a homemaker and too young to retire. Anyone else been in that position? Is it tough to find professional work in Wellington, assuming you have the visa in place and are in the city already?
    Many, many thanks for any help!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Scotland to Wellington
    Posts
    1,454

    Default

    Hello and welcome,
    Re acting possibilities have a look at the starnow.com site, they are a casting agency in Wellington (a friend of mine works there).
    As for schools, Queen Margaret is a lovely and very friendly school. Depending on where your daughter has been in the UK, she will find it a bit different and possibly quite traditional. To be honest there isn't much choice about going to a girls' school or not. If your daughter's 13, I would get her into the system sooner rather than later. It's not as data and target-driven as GCSEs in England though!
    Re university, something to be aware of is that currently you need to have lived in the UK for 3 years before going to uni to qualify for domestic fees otherwise you pay international fees regardless of being British or not. At least that is what the situation was last time I checked.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    36

    Default

    1) Wellington is not a big city, but it doesn’t feel small and isolated to me. I don’t know about teens coming from London or some other big cities but think most teens here are very positive about it.
    2) There are a plethora of good girls single sex schools which are better academically than co-eds like Onslow; Samuel Marsden in Karori is the top school academically and offers the Cambridge exams (as do three others); I stand to be corrected but think NZ qualifications are sufficient for overseas university entrance if good enough.
    3) My son went to Onslow (academically ok school) and it would have been much better if my daughter had gone there rather than Wellington Girls; Onslow is pretty openminded eg no uniforms, Queen Margaret (girls only) is a nice school but costs a lot more than State school Wellington Girls which also has good academic results. It really depends on the child; we sent my partner’s daughter to co-ed Wellington High which is an extremely liberal school; it was great for her as extremely accepting, but requires students to be self motivated for academic achievement.
    4) Don’t know much about this but do recall that when the Lord of the Rings movies were being made there were several auditions for bit parts.
    5) Others in that field and with eg English as second language would be better to comment

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Scotland to Wellington
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    Bear in mind that to get into Wellington Girls you need to live in the zone.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    France
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    134

    Default

    Hello Rooby,

    Since we are now 4 months from the day you started this thread I just wanted a little update which could help us about the schools..
    Have you made the move to Wellington by now ?
    Have you daughter started her year 9 or year 10 ?
    Which school has she chosen finally and what are her first impressions ?

    We have the same questions as you had (with the extra "problem" that we do not live in an english speaking country so she is not yet fluent in english) : co-ed/single sex, private/state, Cambridge/IB/NCEA, academic level

    Many many thanks in advance.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    37,822

    Default

    rooby hasn't been back on the forum since this post, so may not see your question.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    France
    Posts
    134

    Default

    Thanks JandM, I will try my luck with PM to him then. Have a nice day

    edit : oops...no possibility to PM, probably not enough messages on his side, too bad...
    Last edited by nzfrog; 10th April 2017 at 11:12 PM.

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