what do the kids think of the australian schools?

[wyles family]

Hello, going to live in adelaide on 25th oct and just wondered what the kids that have moved over already think of the australian schools compared to british ones?? what are the differences etc? thanks v much

[JD97]

Hello! I am currently attending an Adelaide school! I much prefer English schools and in Australia you finish 2 years later than England. Apart from that, the schools over here aren't all bad. You can choose to attend private schools, but it is around $18000 a year to attend, per child. The education is to a much lower standard than the English education, with a much more relaxed atmosphere. I hope this helped! What school are you looking to attend are how old is/are your child/children?

James

[Diane]

Hello! I am currently attending an Adelaide school! I much prefer English schools and in Australia you finish 2 years later than England. Apart from that, the schools over here aren't all bad. You can choose to attend private schools, but it is around $18000 a year to attend, per child. The education is to a much lower standard than the English education, with a much more relaxed atmosphere. I hope this helped! What school are you looking to attend are how old is/are your child/children?

James

Sorry, no offense meant but I disagree with just about everything you have said above!

My daughter is currently in Year 11. The friends she was at school with in England went into Year 12 there in September, but Lucy will actually finish all her schooling six months before they will. This is because Australian schools mostly end at the end of Year 12, when kids do their SACE qualifications at the age of 17/18, rather than the English system of O Levels at 15/16, then A Levels at 17/18. There seems to be a bigger focus on things like community service and volunteering here during the higher school years than there seems to be in the UK.

Private schools vary a lot in price - $18,000 is definitely at the high end of the scale. There are many private high schools that cost a lot less. There are also a lot of excellent state schools, some of which have specialisms in such subjects as performing arts, sports, languages etc.

I think at primary level the education might be less pressured, but at high school (in my experience as a parent of a 14 yr old and a 17 yr old) the standards are extremely high and the pressure quite considerable. Sometimes too much so. From reading in the UK papers, it seems that nowadays in the UK if you don't get at least 15 O'Levels, all with A's and 5 or 6 A Levels, equally all with A's, you are really at the bottom of the barrel. This could mean of course that the UK education is fantastic and turns everyone into a genius, on the other hand it could mean that the UK exams are getting too easy and the qualifications devalued. You certainly don't hear of Aussie kids getting hundreds and hundreds of top scores in their SACE exams - again, could be that they are all not very bright, or it could mean that the exams are a lot more challenging.... I know which I think!

Children who have been through the Australian school system for a large period of time though do seem to end up as articulate, confident, multi-skilled and multi-faceted human beings though! There is a big focus right from the start on presentation skills, standing up in front of the class and doing show and tell, drama and performance etc, so that even the shyest kids can hold a civilised conversation with you, and because of the ways of socialising here, they seem good at mixing with all age groups - with older ones helping out younger ones at sports clinics etc.

I actually think that the standards of education here are much higher than in the UK - mind you, I did live in quite a crowded part of the UK (Chelmsford/Colchester area) where only a very few of my daughter's friends managed to get into the school of their choice, and the only ones that seem to have reached their potential are those who managed to pass their 11+ and get into a grammar school, even though that meant an hours travel each way to the school sometimes. Where we live now, there are at least 5 state high schools that I would be happy for my children to attend, and maybe the same number of private schools, with fees as low as about $7,000 for a year, up to about $15,000. Scholarships are also widely available for any kids that might have particular talents or skills. It's just a matter of asking around.

[JD97]

No offence taken! I was just telling her from my experiences at a Grammar school in England. Which was voted the best 'Boys school' in the country. Maybe it was because of this that that I was taken down a notch when I came over here. I am extremely happy with where I am attending, I just felt a lot more pleased with the school I was at in England! I am glad that you have your own opinion on the schools and the Australian education but we just seem to disagree with each other somewhere along the way!

Thanks

[ajford]

My son is in year 3 at primary, he had just finished year 3pm the uk. He says that the work they are doing is what he has already done in the uk. So I would say they are on par with the uk, but are more relaxed here and do more sport which is better.

Lisa

[mydearboy]

No offence taken! I was just telling her from my experiences at a Grammar school in England. Which was voted the best 'Boys school' in the country. Maybe it was because of this that that I was taken down a notch when I came over here. I am extremely happy with where I am attending, I just felt a lot more pleased with the school I was at in England! I am glad that you have your own opinion on the schools and the Australian education but we just seem to disagree with each other somewhere along the way!

Thanks

So just an everyday experience for most uk kids then lol ;)

[amk7]

Hello, going to live in adelaide on 25th oct and just wondered what the kids that have moved over already think of the australian schools compared to british ones?? what are the differences etc? thanks v much

Hi Newbie to the forum..

If it helps, I moved here in 1990 and went to 2 public and 2 private schools here... Dover Gardens Primary School (public), Scotch College (Private), William Light R-12 (public), Eynesbury Senior College (Private)..

In terms of the content delivery, private school is much better (due to funding), but BOTH have compassionate and dedicated teachers (from my experience Public School staff were slightly more devoted to students progression)

Unfortunately bullying on campus was present at all of the above schools... Majority of which went unknown to the staff. For students safety I would also suggest private schools, and in terms of getting a headstart on technology I would also suggest a private school.

It also depends on the age of the student(s) attending, I enjoyed being in public schools in my younger years but to go from a private to a public in Year 11 it is VERY daunting and EXTREMELY intimidating (in my experience anyway)

If your kids will be enrolled into year 11/12/13 I would definately recommend Eynesbury Senior College.... a mix of public/private/o.seas students with a large focus on the transition into University (ie Teachers are called by their first name, casual clothes, only required to be on campus for your classes).

If you get the chance, walk around the potential school(s) during 'lunchtime' with a teacher/principle... you will really get to see WHO and how your students will be interacting with one another.

I can't speak about 'all' the public and private schools but if your kids are into sports... Scotch College was an excellent school to attend with a large focus on sports, education (up to date delivery of education) and presentation... however from what I saw from my peers... at the expense of some basic skills such as spelling and handwriting (due to laptops being the standard means of education.. when i was there tho.. pre <98).

I saw my peers excel both in public and private schools; not just with their SACE but also UNI and in their Careers.. comes down to the individuals discipline and drive I believe.

My son is in reception at a public school down south and at first I think I was just as anxious as he was (bullying etc) but after a few months in he seemed quite happy...

The only thing I can personally suggest is to research which schools you would like your children to attend and to be sure that you can fund them through to completion at that school... At any age, be it 7 or 15, changing schools, making new friends and fitting in CAN be quite complicated depending on the students personality (outgoing, shy, insecure etc)..

Good Luck with your choices

I hope the perspective of a British Born Aussie Raised (& Educated) helps...

EDIT: One other thing to definately look into is Scholarships... I had a couple of friends who attended Scotch College on Scholarsips and I would definately recommend this as an option.. GL :)

[Adelaide_bound]

No offence taken! I was just telling her from my experiences at a Grammar school in England. Which was voted the best 'Boys school' in the country. Maybe it was because of this that that I was taken down a notch when I came over here.

If its the Boys school I think it is, then you certainly will have been very very very, extremely, lucky with your experience of education in the UK, and this is in NO WAY representative of education in the UK as a whole.

I am a teacher, my entire in-laws family (and there are loads of them lol) are teachers, my brother went to the school you are talking about and a friend taught there. Between us, over the span of our careers, we have taught in an insane amount of schools, of all different types, and generally schooling in the UK is pressure filled, led by OFSTED and the league tables and bears no resemblance to 'doing it for the kids' at all. One of the main reasons for our move is because we want to have children and there is no way in hell I would let my children be educated by the state system in the UK, and we could not afford private here (and I'm too selfish to get a job in a private school to ensure the kids could be educated there, as I would prefer to not work if possible when they are little).

I'm also an examiner, and whilst I know this is very controversial, Diane is completely correct when she says exams are getting easier here in the UK. It doesn't mean students aren't as clever now, nor do they work any less hard, it just means we (as a society) are cheating those who work even harder, or want to work even harder, as the grade boundaries are set lower and lower and things allowed to slip through that wouldn't have even 5 or 6 years ago. This is a massive post in itself to be honest, but I have no reason to make this up, so why would I if it weren't the truth?

Sorry if that takes anything away from the OP - I just wanted to chip in as I would say I have a large amount of knowledge about the UK system and how things actually work here, hopefully I will soonish have some limited knowledge of Aussie schools too :laugh: I know you wanted first hand experiences, but just thought I'd add - everyone that I have talked to in person (parents, children and teachers) that have experienced Aussie (and specifically SA) schools, mainly primary, have told me one over riding thing again and again 'Children are allowed to just be children, unlike in the UK'. At the end of the day, we are adults for a very long time, I want my kids to be able to be just that whilst they can, so its music to my ears.

[Anne B]

It's impossible to generalise - some schools here will be better than the UK, some worse.

The state primary school my children go to here is considered to be good, and parents who have experience of other schools in Adelaide sing it's praises, but in my opinion, compared to the primary school my children went to in England, the academic standards seem lower and the discipline seems quite lax. My kids have learned words at school here that they never knew existed in England! They do very little history or geography so there isn't as wide a variety of subjects, my son is finding school pretty boring at the moment (it doesn't help that his teacher this year seems very unmotivated). In England they did a lot of drama and school concerts, also cooking, nature studies and a lot more art. There is a big emphasis here on spellings!

However both my children like the more relaxed atmosphere in general here and I think it is good that children don't go to high school until they are 12 or 13, which must help keep them children for longer.

[Jennet]

I find this all rather interesting to read about schools, i am hopefully moving in 2012 and looking into schools, using the ranking system etc brighton school is my option due to the performing arts and a good ranking school. I work in Further Education as a lecturer and i am now finding the UK education system rediculous, regarding different courses, they do not mean anything for the pupils when they leave school, when they now come into FE most of the students can not think for themselves, lazy and choose an easy course to just get by, so they are not really bothered about there learning. My daughter was doing GCSE's at 14 yrs old as she is one of the youngest. we cannot enrol students anymore just on GCSE as they also have level1 and 2 certificates to back them up, those students are showing huge difficulties in FE. I have friends in SA with 2 daughters who are my kids age and they cannot believe the exams that my daughter has already sat through and the amount of certificates that she has already gained. UK schools are starting them far to early and over 2 years before year 11 starts, I like the OZ schools due to the enrichment that they do and include in the pupils learning, going on the beach surfing and marine biology stuff that's what i call inclusive learning!!!