Schooling

[aussie1984]

Both my husband and i are british citizen. our children are australian coming to the UK under child visa ILE - can they access free public schooling?

[CR001]

Schooling is free for all children at government schools, regardless of visa status.

I have answered your brnefits question in your other topic.

[jkproperties]

Is there a section to the forum to discuss schooling?
in the sense of children coming from South Africa or other countries fitting in, level of education comparison, should we keep them back a year? etc...

[CR001]

Is there a section to the forum to discuss schooling?
in the sense of children coming from South Africa or other countries fitting in, level of education comparison, should we keep them back a year? etc...

No there is not as schooling is not an immigration related query.

Likely they will be kept back a year and the council and/or school they get into will be able to advise. Brace yourself for difficulties due to being different. Level of education is not as good as SA (in my opinion) or schools as disciplined.

[jkproperties]

Is there a section to the forum to discuss schooling?
in the sense of children coming from South Africa or other countries fitting in, level of education comparison, should we keep them back a year? etc...

No there is not as schooling is not an immigration related query.

Likely they will be kept back a year and the council and/or school they get into will be able to advise. Brace yourself for difficulties due to being different. Level of education is not as good as SA (in my opinion) or schools as disciplined.

Thank you for your reply CR001,
I expected the discipline to be lower, but am truly surprised that you feel education standard is lower.
I have prepared them that they might have to be kept back, but the uk finishes high school earlier so I suppose not to bad.

Thank you again.

[CR001]

Is there a section to the forum to discuss schooling?
in the sense of children coming from South Africa or other countries fitting in, level of education comparison, should we keep them back a year? etc...

No there is not as schooling is not an immigration related query.

Likely they will be kept back a year and the council and/or school they get into will be able to advise. Brace yourself for difficulties due to being different. Level of education is not as good as SA (in my opinion) or schools as disciplined.

Thank you for your reply CR001,
I expected the discipline to be lower, but am truly surprised that you feel education standard is lower.
I have prepared them that they might have to be kept back, but the uk finishes high school earlier so I suppose not to bad.

Thank you again.

They finish A levels when 18, so no different really to SA. GCSE's usually finish when 16 but A levels required if planning to attend University.

My daughter joined school here after Grade 8 in Joburg and she said the difference in teaching and quality of work is vast, especially English. She had a rough time when she started school (started school almost 5 weeks after arriving in the UK due to delays in getting a place offered in a school - you don't get to choose and go straight to the school to enroll like SA. You have to apply through the local council authority for a place with 4 or 5 choices of schools and they decide where you go or get a place based on school space availability etc). It took her 18 months to settle (longest 18 months of my life!!!) and that only after one of her teachers (a Ghanian lady) took her under her wing to help her.

Quality and availability of space in schools depends massively on where you plan to settle.

[jkproperties]

Is there a section to the forum to discuss schooling?
in the sense of children coming from South Africa or other countries fitting in, level of education comparison, should we keep them back a year? etc...

No there is not as schooling is not an immigration related query.

Likely they will be kept back a year and the council and/or school they get into will be able to advise. Brace yourself for difficulties due to being different. Level of education is not as good as SA (in my opinion) or schools as disciplined.

Thank you for your reply CR001,
I expected the discipline to be lower, but am truly surprised that you feel education standard is lower.
I have prepared them that they might have to be kept back, but the uk finishes high school earlier so I suppose not to bad.

Thank you again.

They finish A levels when 18, so no different really to SA. GCSE's usually finish when 16 but A levels required if planning to attend University.

My daughter joined school here after Grade 8 in Joburg and she said the difference in teaching and quality of work is vast, especially English. She had a rough time when she started school (started school almost 5 weeks after arriving in the UK due to delays in getting a place offered in a school - you don't get to choose and go straight to the school to enroll like SA. You have to apply through the local council authority for a place with 4 or 5 choices of schools and they decide where you go or get a place based on school space availability etc). It took her 18 months to settle (longest 18 months of my life!!!) and that only after one of her teachers (a Ghanian lady) took her under her wing to help her.

Quality and availability of space in schools depends massively on where you plan to settle.

wow, it is incredible how experiences differ, sorry to hear it was so rough on you and your daughter.
My son is in Grade 8 and Daughter in Grade 6, so we are quite stressed.

We have not really decided where to settle yet, but we are looking at Reading seems like there are really good schools there, and the weather is better in the South and its close to London, but this is just somewhere we are looking, not necessarily where we will settle.

I joined a Facebook group and everyone only had good things to say about the transition, however The GCSE's are apparently tough to get through because according to the group we are behind.

But I believe we will deal with it which ever way it comes, we will have to.