Making the move with 2 little ones.

[Guest graemepugh]

Hi,

 

Just wanted to hear from couples with small children who have made the move. Our 2 are 4 and 6. How have they settled in? How did you choose schools etc.

 

We are out end of august. Would love to meet up with likeminded people.

 

Regards

 

 

The Pugh family.

[Guest mez10]

The hardest thing coming here is the worry of dragging your kids half way round the world leaving all their friends and they hate it! The pressure was on to find them a good school and hopefully some good friends.

We looked at two areas (Golden Grove and Flagstaff Hill) we drove around them both and when we looked around Flagstaff hill the school was on holidays but they had a Art exhibition on in the school, so we had a sneaky look round the school and loved the look of the facilities.

We arranged a meeting with the school head and again we loved it. We then started looking for a rental, we had 8weeks in a service apartment that the company paid for. The kids started school and when we went to collect them after the first day and they both walked out with 3 or 4 friends each (pressure off)

We try to get to the 'first Sunday meet up' which is a good place to meet like mind people.

Might see you there in September

Good Luck with your move

[Guest Jack Frost]

Hi

We moved here 7 months ago with 2 children (2&4). In our experience childcare (nursery) is not the same standard as England ie more children to carers and its difficult to get the days you want. It costs about $70 a day per child. So i decided to look after the kids myself as my wife has the visa with her job. I have loved every minute. We go to playgroups and there are lots of parks and the sun is nearly always shining. Dont hesitate to contact for advise etc. Cheers Chris. ps your 4 y.o. will be eligible to 2 days free kindy care.

[Jez0207]

Hi there. We moved here 2 years ago. We had a 3 year old at the time and I was 6 months pregnant (my children will be 5 and 2 this year). My 3 year old took everything in his stride and loves the outdoor life. We get to the beach every week (summer and winter) and manage to play outdoors most days. Having children provided a great start to meeting other parents (playgroups and then kindy). We did most of our school research on this website. We bought the book 'where to live in Adelaide'. Once we had some idea of where we wanted to live we researched the local schools. There is a website (think its 'my school' but not sure) that provides information similar to the UK league tables. We found that we got a feel for each school when we visited though and ultimately made the decision based on this. Adelaide is a great place for raising children. Good luck!

[Guest ROBERT]

Ours were 4 and 16 months.Never had a problem with the settling at all.The 4 year old just got on with it,even though she had started school in England and had to go back to kindy here, and the youngest didn`t know any different.They are far more resilient than us weedy adults.

A big pat on the back to the fella who looks after his kids also.Well done mate.

[Guest browny_oh]

We came over at the same time as Jack Frost with a 6 and 3 yr old.

 

Our 6yr old is having a fab time (school really gets him), so much so that he had his first Footie match this morning (and won )

 

3 year old has missed the UK more, but more because he spent alot of time with child minder back in UK.

 

The struggle is more for the person (if there is one) that isn't working, in getting a circle of friends

[Guest markandcate]

We are due to fly in September with our 2 kiddies, eldest will be 6 in October and youngest will be 2 in November. Little man (eldest) is really excited, we keep telling him he's going to have a new school, new friends etc, not sure how he will feel once we go but I'm sure he will be fine, he makes friends anywhere!! We've been looking at schools but think we're gonna leave it til we arrive as not sure where we will be living yet. I'm quite looking forward to getting out and about with the youngest, hopefully I will make new friends as easily!!

[Guest Allie Bloss]

We came over 20months ago with 3 little ones (At that time Matty was 3years, James was 2 years & Will was 8months)

They adapted fantastically!! We were amazed and revealed.

I think the trick is to make it exciting, make it an adventure. They will pick up and respond to your emotions and feelings, so if you are sad and anxious then so will they be, If you are excited and enjoying it all they will be as well.

Our children (we have since had a "true Aussie" Amy now 11months) all go to childcare while my husband and I are at work and yes its different from the UK - but not worse (apart from the ratios) you just have to except it for what it is, after all this is Aus not UK. The staff have been really helpful with all the questions we've had about settling & life in general when we first arrived. and my children made really good friendships quickly which helped them.

My eldest starts school next months and due to the large number of schools in the area it was challenging deciding which school to pick but we just kept looking (with Matty) & asking questions until we were all happy.

A. x

[Guest graemepugh]

Thanks to all that have replied. It is nice to know the little ones have settled.

 

Our Visa's were approved this morning so there is nothing stopping the move at the end of August 2011.

 

We will try and attend on the Sunday meets and may see some of you there....