Settling in well - jobs secured, house purchased, family visiting!

[Guest lyn]

Hello!

 

Just read a couple of "settling in" posts and felt a bit guilty that I hadn't contributed much on here for a while!

 

So here goes a quick update! We've now been here since March this year, so we could say 9 months in and still loving every minute! Hubby is loving the job we came out here for and I have just secured a Primary School teaching contract for next academic year (Feb 2013) after 6 months of relief teaching, which I'm delighted about.

 

We have also just signed the contract to purchase a beautiful (well, we are probably biased!) house in Flagstaff Hill and the settlement date is mid-January 2013. We are so excited to have bought our dream home after several months of searching and a degree of disappointment after a few possible homes fell-through. However, the Aussie house-buying system seems to be amazingly straight forward once you agree on a price. We had signed the contract and all inspections and finance sorted within a week. The Aussies can do some things quickly!!

 

Our 6 year old has settled like a dream into his new school and life down under. My sister-in-law and her family have already visited us back in August and my parents are currently here for a 2 month house swap which has worked seamlessly! They will stay with us for a month once the house swap is finished and return to the UK at the end of January. My in-laws have also booked to visit us in Feb/March next year so this keeps us busy but it has been wonderful to know they have all been planning their first visits to see us. We have very little intention of returning to the UK for the next few years!

 

We have also just returned from a fantastic weekend on a Murray River houseboat just a couple of hours drive from here but we had the place to ourselves - so idyllic! So much to see and explore on our door step! And, of course, the sun is now shining continuously!

 

Anyway, that is where we are at right now. Life. Is. Good.

 

Good luck to everyone making the move here...the hardest part for me was the final few months in the UK. Once we arrived, we never looked back!

 

Love Lyn x

[Guest jones1541]

Hi Lyn

 

We are a family of four arriving 1st of Feb, its so nice to read your post as I'm finding it a bit hard at the moment! Sounds like its all going to be worth it

 

Claire

[Guest moonraker1959]

Congratulations on your new job!Thats great news hey?Also best wishes for the move into your new home,you must be very excited.It seems life in Adelaide is working for you,and its reasurring for other immigrants to read a positive happy post!Good luck and have a great new life down under.

[Karen_Jon]

Lyn, things seems to be falling in to place - wow! If you have any advice for a fellow primary teacher who is arriving 29th Jan I'm all ears. I'm just about to book my redcross course so the first aid is covered. How did you find the relief teaching? How easy / difficult was it applying for a contract post?

 

Also HI to Claire as I know exactly how you feel. Our belongings were packed up today so it feels a little weird - I'm definetly feeling wobbly with everything happening. I hope we have good last xmas in the UK then it's here we come on the 27th - yikes!! Do you know where you are staying when you arrive? We have rented one of Tamara's properties in Christies Beach so we are looking forward to that.

 

Karen

[Guest NatsandSteve]

Hi ,

We leave in just over 3 weeks and are feeling very nervous, excited, anxious, scared and everything else in between! I am also a primary school teacher so would also be all ears if you have any advice.

So great to read positive posts...its that reinforcement that we are doing the right thing that we need right now...the nerves are really starting to kick in!

[Guest jones1541]

Hi Karen

 

We are staying in Morphet Vale, we havn't booked flights yet but are hoping to fly 27 or 28th Jan, with Singapore airlines, so we may be on the same flight!!! Our house sold out of the blue so its all moving quickly, stuff gets packed 7th and 8th of Jan (get all the xmas stuff in lol...), I bet that was scary for you!!! Would love to meet up when were there or before if you want.

 

Good luck Nat and Steve, where r u heading too?

 

Claire

[Guest Sachertorte]

Fab news Lyn- all the best!

[Guest Paula H]

Great post Lyn xxx

[Guest lyn]

Thanks everyone for your kind wishes and good luck to you all with the next stages in both the UK and Adelaide.

 

Karen and Nat (or Steve?), you ask about Primary teaching over here. My experiences have been very positive so far. I only started my paperwork to register once we arrived here as my OH had a job secured (not in teaching) before we came. It was a little slow and frustrating at the time but now seems to have all happened quite quickly in the grand scheme of things!

 

So you need to be registered with the Teacher Registration Board before you can apply for any teaching job. The first stage is getting your qualifications assessed by the TRB which you can do whilst still in the UK but they do need to see original documents which I didn't want to post from the UK so I waited until I got here and handed them in in person in the city (it takes several weeks to process once they receive your paperwork - I think mine was about 4 weeks) but after that, you will need to complete the child abuse course (mandatory notification course...see the TRB website for recognised courses) which can only be done once you're in South Australia. Once your qualifications have been assessed by the TRB and you submit your registration paperwork, it just takes a couple more weeks to come through. The first aid course is not needed for TRB registration but is needed once you start looking for work in schools. Once my registration came through, I went round to about 20 Catholic and Private Schools in person (you also need a Catholic police check for Catholic schools but that is very easy - I am not Catholic, either!) with my CV and teacher registration paperwork and registered with those schools for relief work. I have had 2 or 3 days per week relief work from about 6 of these schools - which is how much I wanted. I'm sure you could get more work if you kept getting back to all the schools (I stuck with those schools nearest where we live). Also, you could sign up with a relief agency but I chose not to as I had enough work and they obviously take their cut. I got a 5 week full-time contract from one school back in August and then kept checking the press and Catholic website for longer term contracts for 2013 and applied for a part-time job that came up and was offered the job after interview last month. I avoided the state (public) school system as it is via a very complicated website where you have to complete loads of info/questions and upload all your certificates, resume and registration docs and then you are put into a pool for jobs. I spent hours on it one evening and then never went back to it to complete as I got enough work from the Catholic and Private system.

 

There is work out there and many teachers seem to start, like me, by doing supply/relief work which gets your foot in several doors and allows you to get some Aussie experience and can lead to longer term work.

 

Good luck with your exciting journeys and feel free to ask any questions as you go through the TRB process (I also phoned the TRB many times to ask them silly questions about what I needed to do next and they were always very helpful!)

 

Lyn x

Edited December 11, 2012 by lyn

[Karen_Jon]

HI Lyn,

 

Thank you for the feedback, i feel a little helpless not being able to get the ball rolling from the UK. Your advice is greatly received - thanks!

 

Karen

[Bevev's]

Hi Claire,

 

We are arriving on 11th Jan, from south wales. I can see your staying in M Vale to start, have you got any children? Was speaking to a high school there yesterday re: a place for my son. Same as you our house sold out of the blue, waiting to exchange...scarey stuff, eh!

 

Karen_Jon - We are staying in Tamara's Christies Beach until the 29TH!! You must be going in after us.

 

Maybe we'll all have a catch-up on the other side of the world.

Bev

[Guest jones1541]

Hi the Bevev's

 

Exciting stuff and so scary, we have 2 children Jac (6 March) and Ela (3)! Ive got a job in Burnside hospital, i see your a nurse too, where have you found work? I would love to meet up over in Adelaide, or before (although there is probably no time now lol....) How old is your son? Any luck with schools? xx