Hockayak

Hi,

I can't speak for everyone on here, clearly my experiences are vastly different from some of the people posting on here. My wife and I are both teachers, both primary, and both pretty much walked into jobs. That's not us floating our own boat, it was lots of work and we had to send a lot of CVs out and network quite a bit. We arrived in January, my wife had 3 job offers before the terms started in February, she had an 'interview' in a florist/coffee shop/fashion shop - thingy. Stupidly casual! As for the others,one was just offered and one she met with the principal first. My experiences were that I did relief (supply) teaching for the first term, then was locked into a contract for terms 2,3,4. And then was picked up again for the following year. Again, much less 'interview' more like "which class would you prefer?"

The only things that are different for us, are that we are in Tasmania and that we were going for primary/SEN positions. Don't get me wrong, you take what you can get, but if you take your CV to the schools close, ask to see the person in charge of relief teacher appointments etc. FYI, by doing relief teaching, I had employment almost every single day and ended up being asked to take a contract. Once you get in, you're in. Its way less what you know, more who you (maybe that's Tassie specific).

I think we got pretty lucky, and we do appreciate that, but don't lose hope. Keep going! Do some research and be willing to email 50 schools, take CVs in person etc, 5 or 6 interested replies then generates job opportunities. I even got a call from a school offering a job (that I didn't take), that I didn't send my CV etc to, the principals passed my details along. If you want to PM me then give me a shout, there are a few things to know if you want to do relief/get contracts.

Hope you work everything out,

Hockayak - www.abritintas.blogspot.com

So why Tasmania?

Why NOT Tasmania more to the point! :jiggy: I don't speak as someone who was born an raised here and as i've shouted out on a different forum, we've been here 18 months and it's been an incredible experience. That said, we have also made sure that we make to most of every weekend. We head out and do something, go somewhere every opportunity we can. We began with the 60 Great Short walks, hit the beaches in summer, Salamanca for culture and evenings. We're pretty sad so we got the Entertainment book to see what voucher savings we could make. In short, we love it, but i guess its all something that you MAKE happen, not just fall into.

Hope your move(s) all happen when and how you need them to,

Hockyak - www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au

Stevenkaz,

How strange, we moved 18 months ago from Hetton-Le-Hole (Nr Hartlepool). I used to work in a school there.

Hockayak - www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au

MaryRose02,

Did your friend ever end up in Fingal? Its a pretty small place, with one single main road. It has a few attractions, library, bottle shop, pub etc but it isn't a big village like you expected. Fingal in my experience tends to be a through route for somewhere else, even though it is picturesque around there. It is pretty isolated from major locations and is a LONG way from a real 'city' (even anything close to what you'd get from a UK city).

Hockayak - http://www.abritintas.blogspot.com.au