Dorset

Most DET e-courses are very straightforward. If I remember the last time I did this one it was multi-choice "what would you do in this scenario" sort of thing but then they regularly change and update them so that may not still be true. Have they told you how to access the course? For me I would go onto MyPL (my professional learning) from the DET staff portal and it is free, but I guess you won't have access to that. I would look it up but this weekend the DET staff portal is down with an upgrade going on. Are you already in NSW? If so, if you get in touch with some of the local schools they may well allow you to go in to their staff training days and there may be one that is doing the face to face child protection update (but this tends to be done on the first day of the first term). There is one coming up on the 26th April, but as it is presently the holiday you may well struggle to get in touch with anyone to say yes. We regularly have casual teachers coming to our training days. Are you yet a member of the federation? (teachers union) It is worth getting in touch with them as they may well have good advice and may even run a course themselves. All the best, you are welcome to PM me if you want to ask anything.

In state schools there is only really the one in NSW, the Teachers' Federation. Don't know if there are any specifically for the independent schools. Would recommend you join it though.

Kimbobalina could you teach Engineering Studies? If you could then this would open up many more opportunities. To see the syllabus go to the BOSTES website.

Have you seen the doctor's thread in the jobs section? To the OP it was three years ago that we went through the system and it was the full 6 weeks for us. I hope they have made the process faster since ....

Macca is right ... There are different requirements for the different organisations you may apply for. Some require documents notarised, some signed by someone in the legal profession - but the good news is that I think AITSL accept documents certified by a wide range of people. This comes from the AITSL Secondary School Teacher Application form. Your school HT should be able to sign them off for you. Saves you £200 I think!Certified documents Certified copies of all original documents are required for the assessment process. Only documents certified by one of the following authorised persons will be accepted for this assessment: [TABLE=class: MsoNormalTable] [TR] [TD=width: 373, bgcolor: transparent] · Certified Practising Accountant · Chartered Accountant · Commissioner for Oaths · Justice of the Peace · Notary Public · Magistrate [/TD] [TD=width: 317, bgcolor: transparent] · Judge · Registered medical practitioner (Medical doctor) · School principal · Solicitor · Australian Embassy/High Commission staff [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

We moved out 2.5 years ago with three children 17F, 16M and 14M. Our daughter actually stayed in the UK to finish her A Levels first. My older son had just completed GCSEs and my youngest son hadn't done anything. Each state has a completely different education system - so some of the advice above won't apply if you are in a different state. In NSW the GCSEs don't hold any interest for schools as NSW got rid of the equivalent a few years ago. When you enrol in a school they will be keen to see the most recent school reports from the UK but that is about all. The NSW schools are incredibly flexible and most will try to take your son/daughter from where they left off, wherever that may be and will fit them into the best possible fit of program. Our children have done very well out of the move. My older son and daughter are now at a world class Australian university one on the basis of her A levels, the other on the basis of his NSW HSCs. My younger son is happy and doing very well in his preliminary's. With hindsight, I might have tried harder to persuade my daughter to have come over after the first year of A levels instead of staying in the UK as she hasn't got any friends in the Australian town we live in because she didn't go to school here. However, she is happy at University and so I can't complain at the decisions she took. It is likely that coming from the UK your kids will have a far higher work ethic than many in rural Australian schools, so should do well academically if they maintain this. Our kids found the Australian youngsters incredibly friendly -warn yours to expect to have to say vitamin, data and yoghurt many times for the interest of their classmates. It would help if your children are sporty and get involved in local sports teams. The culture where we live is to respect people who have a go, so it doesn't really matter whether they are good at the sport or not. Cherries recommend you get in touch with schools asap and urge them to accept your daughter into the end of year 11. The (Australian) year 12 HSC course actually starts in the last term of (Australian) year 11.

My wife (GP with GMC registration but a long way from you!) suggests that you contact the UK DVLA and check with them whether they would accept someone registered with AHPRA instead.

The Patrol/Landcruiser debate is a bit like the Holden/Ford discussion - it is expected everyone takes sides. We went looking for a second hand Patrol/Landcruiser and took the best deal on offer and at the time it was a Patrol. Our Patrol has done us proud, but like others have said if you are not going to go down roads that require the higher ground clearance you may as well go for an AWD - they generally have better comfort, handling and fuel economy. Which ever one you go for, if second hand, I suggest you get someone who knows what they are doing to look for corrosion underneath the car. If people have driven on the beach or dipped the back end into the sea to launch boats the car may have a rust problem.

DMUK I went through about 2 years ago in NSW, so my experiences may not hold for your OH as things have changed in that time and some of my comments may be incorrect. I needed to apply to the NSW board of studies for approval to teach. They wanted to see transcripts of my degree courses to see that my background knowledge was equivalent to those in Australia, and that I had done the right amount of university study. After I got approval to teach I was then able to apply to the NSW Department of Education and Communities and to the private education authorities as someone they might potentially emply. At that time, the DEC ran a 5 day Overseas Trained Teacher followed by a two week school placement course that I had to attend, but I think they have got rid of this course now. I also think that from now on (in NSW from the start of 2015?), prospective teachers have to apply to the AITSL rather than the NSW board of studies. I am guessing it will be provisional registration initially. I had to do lots of paperwork with examples of how I met the teacher standards to change my provisional into a full registration, but NSW may be different. All the best, but be aware there are many more teachers than jobs in many places at the moment ......

Visitors to the Whitsundays can read how Aboriginal tribes used to walk to the islands, but within a few generations the sea level rose dramatically to create the islands. Or read that a few centuries ago the Thames used to freeze over regularly so that Londoners had parties on the ice. I don't think anyone denies that climate change has happened over the generations, but differ over the extent to which mankind is contributing besides our planets natural rhythms and processes. If humankind want to reduce greenhouse gases without losing what most of us consider civilisation, there is only nuclear power. At the moment there is no practical technology that would save solar, wind, tidal, etc power for nights when it is cold, dark, in between tides and without wind.

Different universities have different policies and conversions. University of Queensland is one of the top Aussie universities and this is theirs. http://www.uq.edu.au/study/docs/domestic/gce.pdf My daughter got in no problems with her A Levels.

When the missus lies back and thinks of Australia ....

There used to be a really useful page on the immigration site that said all this, but I can't find it. Here is one from the trades unions. http://www.actu.org.au/Images/Dynamic/attachments/6638/457_Factsheet_Workers_Rights_in_Australia_310712_v2.pdf Our sons got jobs when we were on a 457, but you may need to argue the case with some employers who are nervous of employing anyone they shouldn't.

I don't know if this suggestion will help, but have you considered speaking to your local politicians? They can often help out in unusual cases by speaking on your behalf to the right person.

Chrisnlinz, I would suggest you have a look at the AITSL website. http://www.aitsl.edu.au/assessment-for-migration