Dilemma and advice please

[Guest kenmcfadyen]

Here's the deal:

 

My son has finished year 7 because of the summer holidays and is due to start year 8 at the beginning of September, however, we leave the UK on the 2nd October. He tells me the first two weeks of the new term will be introductions and baseline assessments which seems pretty futile as he will not be there to continue the curriculum anyway.

 

We arrive in Adelaide on the 8th October, which I understand is during a two week school holiday, so he would actually start on the 14th October. We have reserved a place for him to start at Woodcroft College, Yr 8 in January and they do not have any places for the 8 weeks of Yr 7 from October to December.

 

So the dilemma is that I don't want him to start at a school for 8 weeks in October, and then another one in January, having just moved half-way across the world, but this effectively means that he will not attend school from July to January, which of course, is too long of a break (although funnily, he's not complaining!!!). Having thought about it, I wondered about some home tutoring and I have gathered that some of you good people are teachers. Any advice on this would be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

[Rachiegarlo]

alternatively you could find out from Woodcroft which schools their yr 8s are coming from and send him to one of them. 10 weeks in school will help him adjust and get some reference points, make contact with some kids so that over our long summer break, he may have some people to do things with. When I arrived as a child I started school in the November and had 6 weeks before the hols, it was very helpful. The last term of yr 7 is usually a very enjoyable social one anyway and by the end of it he will probably feel part of the group and enjoy all the graduation ceremonies etc. and other events.

[Guest Aussie pat]

Unfortunately I can't be much help as we are in the same position as you. Our daughter has also just finished Year 7 in the UK. We have decided to delay our departure until mid Nov purely so our children don't have too much time off school. It's a problem isn't it. I agree July til late Jan is far too long without school.

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

I guess Woodcroft starts in yr 8 then? In which case I'm with Rachie, find the local feeder school and send him there, he will make friends and move up with them. However much he is looking forward to so long off school, he will change his mind after a few boring weeks traipsing around with you doing boring medicare and searching for cars!!!

[Rachiegarlo]

The new rule is what to do on day of landing ......find school and deposit child there, go home and sleep , leave money for taxi at school office so child can get home. They learn this way that their new life is not a holiday camp but hard labour!

 

Seriously though the routine of school helps kids to settle in and adjust quickly, so even a couple of weeks is beneficial, especially if they are still primary school age. They can just sit back relax, no exams etc, all the national testing has already been done for this year and enjoy the approaching summer and the end of school year events. Then next year when they start at their new high school some things will already be a bit more familiar. If they are going to a state high then all the kids will be new, as all the kids from the feeder schools will start then, but often the primary school groups are kept together as a class at least for yr 8 so they have some familiar faces. If your child's high school is part of an r- 12, there will still be a cohort who begin at yr 8 coming from other schools.

[Guest kenmcfadyen]

Thanks for the advice. I will contact Woodcroft College to find out their feeder schools and send him along. It didn't really occur to me that because it will be the end of primary school, that there could be some really fun stuff going on for him.

 

I do like the suggestion about the taxi, but he'd only come home again!

 

Thanks again,

 

Ken