Getting children into schools

[ag28com]

Can someone please advise on how we can get our sons into schools in NZ.

We have two sons, one will be 11 when we hopefully arrive, and te other will be 13. Do we contact the schools directly, or do we have to go through an education authority to get a place allocated?

Also, are many schools over-subscribed like here in the UK, or will most have available spaces?

[driver]

I think that you have to live in their catchment zone for a start.
Most places have websites, and you could contact them through there.
I'd guess that it would depend upon the school as to whether or not they are oversubscribed.
hope this will help for a start.

[MotherBear]

If you are entering NZ with PR, you probably won?t have to pay fees to put your children in school, although you may be asked for a ?contribution?. This varies according to the decile rating of the school. The more affluent a neighbourhood is reputed to be, the higher the decile rating of the local schools and, therefore, more money is expected to be contributed by the parents, as those schools will not have such a large amount of funding from the government. For the secondary schools, at least, you will be expected to supply uniforms and quite possibly for the junior schools. Also books, stationery and other necessary nic nacs will have to be bought.

The idea would be to select the area you wish to settle in and research schools in the neighbourhood once you?ve decided. Many of the schools have their own websites, as Driver says, so you could contact them via email to find out whether they would accept your children.

http://www.schoolzones.co.nz - Looks useful for finding schools in the area you want to settle. (I couldn?t get past the first couple of pages. Perhaps the site isn?t functioning fully today).

Or you could try looking on the map sites where a lot of the schools are shown. http://www.wises.co.nz shows school, but can be a bit out of date, in my opinion, as it doesn?t keep abreast of the new developments.

http://www.ero.govt.nz/reports/searc...Search%20title ? for looking up reports on various schools, although word has it that these aren't always entirely accurate.

I?m sure others who already have children in NZ schools will be able to add a bit more to this or correct me if I?m wrong.

[Glenda]

I think Mother Bear has covered all angles. ::): As soon as we knew where we were going to live I checked the schools in the area - zones, government reports - and emailed them saying we were moving to the area and when we would like to enroll our children. They emailed us back and told us which days would suit us visiting them. On enrollment you will need old school reports, birth certificates and passports with PR sticker in or work/student visas. A lot of primary schools do not have a school uniform - the more formal city schools and some private schools do tend to though.

Do check the government reports as there are a few schools which are predominantly Maori and may be Maori speaking or bilingual with a lot of emphasis on Maori traditions.

::):

[Daisyspop]

The school's allocated decile rating will give you an idea of how suitable it is going to be. You should be looking for a high centile rating ( 1 - 10 Is the scale I believe). A high dectile will have plenty of equipment and facilities and will most likely be predominantly paheka (white NZ born) or european types. My wife teaches at a decile 2 in South Auckland and it is almost 100 per cent populated by Maori and Pacific Islanders with a sprinkling of Asian and Chinese. It isn't racist to want to have your child taught in a school where most of the time is not spent teaching english as a second language

[MotherBear]

This looks quite a useful site for finding schools. You can click on the region you intend settling in and then go further into it to find the schools in that area or use the advanced search facility to bring up the type of school you're looking for. It also gives email addresses for contact purposes and, in some cases, the website of the school.

http://www.tki.org.nz/e/schools/

[MotherBear]

[b:7f46b5e7d2]State schools charge $5000 fees[/b:7f46b5e7d2]
12 February 2006
By EMMA PAGE

Some state integrated schools are under fire for charging up to $5000 in school "fees".

Most integrated schools charge about $500 in attendance dues and ask for several hundred dollars in voluntary donations, but some are asking for almost 10 times that. Independent Schools of New Zealand executive director Joy Quigley said it was unfair some integrated schools asked for such large donations when they were almost fully government funded. "They're taking the state funding, then getting a very big second bite of the cherry from parents who are prepared to pay more."

State integrated schools are special character schools that get operational funding from the government. They own their property and fund capital developments but otherwise are funded on the same basis as traditional state schools. Integrated schools are legally entitled to charge an attendance fee that must be approved by the Ministry of Education. Some also include "voluntary" donations of up to $4500 on their fee list.

Nga Tawa, an Anglican girls school in Wellington, asks for $4099.58, of which $600 is a compulsory attendance fee. Principal Roz Mexted thought the donation was fair and said the school did not have many problems collecting it. "I'm convinced we offer a good education. The parents have the choice to go somewhere else."

Waikato Diocesan, an integrated Anglican school in Hamilton, asks for $4472 a year for its day students. Of that, $560 is an attendance fee and $3912 is a "donation". Principal Gillian Simpson said parents were happy to pay the donation. "That's voluntary but very willingly paid and there's a huge waiting list of people wanting to come." She said Waikato Diocesan provided the special character independent schools offered but at a much lower rate. She said the school wanted to be affordable.

The average fee at independent or private schools was about $8000 a year, said Quigley. Independent schools also get some government funding. Quigley said it covered about 20%-25% of the average cost of educating a child in an equivalent decile state school. Not all state integrated schools ask for large donations.

Campion College in Gisborne charges $500 in attendance dues for year 9-13 students and asks for a $35 donation per family. Principal Paul McGuinness said the amount related to the community the school was in. "You have to be mindful of what the community can afford," he said. St Dominics in Auckland charges $560 in attendance dues for year 9-13 and asks for voluntary payments of about $340. Quigley said there was only a handful of state integrated schools that charged what she called "unjust fees".

The CEO of the Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools, Pat Lynch, said the law allowed schools to seek donations, but parents needed to understand the donations were voluntary. He said schools responded to parents' expectations for their children and asked for donations accordingly. "Schools are increasingly responding to the aspirations of their parents." Ministry of Education operational policy manager Marilyn Scott said all schools were legally allowed to ask for donations. "If parents believe they've been pressured to pay a donation, or believe a donation's been misrepresented as some sort of compulsory fee, they can take that up with the school or make a complaint to the ministry," she said.

[Daisyspop]

You will find out which are the best schools when you actually live in the area. If, like us , you rent for a while you will soon hear and learn all there is to know about local schools. The trick is not to rush the process by dashing into a school as soon as you touchdown. The kids will thank you for a couple of weeks break. At 11 your youngest will be in an Intermediate and, if you choose, your other child in a High School. Drive around and have a look at the exterior of the school, always a good indication. Call in and chat, the doors are always open here, that way you can get to make up your own mind about what suits your children best.