Relocating with 16 year old daughter

[Kareng83]

Hi!

We are hoping to move to sydney from Glasgow by the end of this year. 

I have slight concerns about our 16 year old settling in. She is an only child so wouldn't have the comfort of siblings. 

Can anyone share their similar experiences and how it went? 

Thanks in advance 

 

[Marisawright]

Where in Sydney will you be living?   

[Kareng83]

Not sure yet but looking at suburbs near St.George's hospital as that's where I will be working. 

[Marisawright]

7 minutes ago, Kareng83 said:

Not sure yet but looking at suburbs near St.George's hospital as that's where I will be working. 

Oh good, that will take some pressure off your budget as you don't need to worry about the commute to the city,. You should be OK finding a suburb in the catchment area for a decent school.  Any idea what your budget for housing would be?  I'd say finding a school and activities where she'd feel comforrtable are the most important things.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Marisawright

[Kareng83]

Probs around 800-1000 a week initially I think. Shes into music and plays guitar so that's what I'd be hoping to have access to. 

[Quoll]

Are you moving on a temporary visa or do you have permanency? If temporary, I'd suggest letting her stay with family /friends to finish her A levels. In fact I'd  probably be tempted to do that any way because she's 16. NSW starts the HSC course when kids are 16 in year 11 and you're saying you'll arrive by the end of the year by which time she will have missed most of the first year of a 2 year course - she would really need to arrive in the next couple of weeks to be able to fit into the system.

If you are temporary and will be returning home at the end of a contract there are a couple of issues - one is that HSC results don't travel well back to UK Uni entry requirements and the other is that she will be stung for international student fees because she won't have been resident in the country for 3 years before uni starts.  The other whammy for temporary visa holders in NSW is that education costs you - its $6kpa for the lower years and I think it's more than that for senior years.

If, however, you will have PR or expect to apply for it one day, having A levels will keep her options open as A level results travel well to Australia for Uni entry or she keeps her options open for Uni in UK.

16 is not a good age to be chopping and changing education systems unfortunately.

Apart from all that, how well kids settle really depends on them. For some kids it's  the end of the world and for others it's a good adventure. If they're resilient with the capacity to make friends wherever they go or  they're resilient and happy with their own company they'll probably do well but if they're secure in a long standing cohort it'll be much harder.

[thebigmove2017]

we will be moving with 3 teenagers, 1 is being very difficult about it, she will be almost 17 when we move, i have asked her to come for a year and if she really hates it she can come home to my sister (she is super close to my sister) i have also told them they are welcome to have a friend for a month at a time in the first year. we have all lived in oz before (home 4.5years now) and she was devastated when we returned, hoping she will love oz again tho, i dont think i would be able to be that far away from any of my children but i wont force my dreams on them either.

[Kareng83]

5 hours ago, Quoll said:

Are you moving on a temporary visa or do you have permanency? If temporary, I'd suggest letting her stay with family /friends to finish her A levels. In fact I'd  probably be tempted to do that any way because she's 16. NSW starts the HSC course when kids are 16 in year 11 and you're saying you'll arrive by the end of the year by which time she will have missed most of the first year of a 2 year course - she would really need to arrive in the next couple of weeks to be able to fit into the system.

If you are temporary and will be returning home at the end of a contract there are a couple of issues - one is that HSC results don't travel well back to UK Uni entry requirements and the other is that she will be stung for international student fees because she won't have been resident in the country for 3 years before uni starts.  The other whammy for temporary visa holders in NSW is that education costs you - its $6kpa for the lower years and I think it's more than that for senior years.

If, however, you will have PR or expect to apply for it one day, having A levels will keep her options open as A level results travel well to Australia for Uni entry or she keeps her options open for Uni in UK.

16 is not a good age to be chopping and changing education systems unfortunately.

Apart from all that, how well kids settle really depends on them. For some kids it's  the end of the world and for others it's a good adventure. If they're resilient with the capacity to make friends wherever they go or  they're resilient and happy with their own company they'll probably do well but if they're secure in a long standing cohort it'll be much harder.

Thanks. It will be PR we come over on. She started school early at aged 4 meaning she will have completed some of her highers this year in may. So would only be her 6th year she would miss out on. 

[Quoll]

1 minute ago, Kareng83 said:

Thanks. It will be PR we come over on. She started school early at aged 4 meaning she will have completed some of her highers this year in may. So would only be her 6th year she would miss out on. 

Well, no, if you arrive at the end of the year she will have missed out on one year of the 2 year HSC course.  Foreign country, totally different system.  If she has aspirations of Uni she would be better to hang on and finish her schooling in Scotland - when she started schooling in Scotland will be irrelevant in Australia.  Her age cohort will be starting year 11 at the end of this month and she will be disadvantaged if she doesnt do the full 2 year course (they talk about conversions but if you want a good grade for Uni, there is no telling how effective "conversions" are)  - if she would be Uni ready after just one extra year in Scotland, I would definitely leave her to finish that year there then bring those scores to Aus for Uni at that point if she wants an Aus Uni - or, she's taken a belt and braces approach and kept her options of a (isn't it free?) Scottish Uni open as well.

[Quoll]

2 hours ago, thebigmove2017 said:

we will be moving with 3 teenagers, 1 is being very difficult about it, she will be almost 17 when we move, i have asked her to come for a year and if she really hates it she can come home to my sister (she is super close to my sister) i have also told them they are welcome to have a friend for a month at a time in the first year. we have all lived in oz before (home 4.5years now) and she was devastated when we returned, hoping she will love oz again tho, i dont think i would be able to be that far away from any of my children but i wont force my dreams on them either.

Hmm, 17 is a really bad year educationally to move a kid.  As mentioned to the OP, finishing up education in UK is by far the most sensible option - 17 is even worse than 16 tbh! She would be more sensible to finish A levels then move. With that bit of extra maturity and all her options kept open you might be pleasantly surprised to find that she actually is ready for the adventure and that would fit in nicely with starting Uni.  She's got time enough to move

[Kareng83]

2 hours ago, thebigmove2017 said:

we will be moving with 3 teenagers, 1 is being very difficult about it, she will be almost 17 when we move, i have asked her to come for a year and if she really hates it she can come home to my sister (she is super close to my sister) i have also told them they are welcome to have a friend for a month at a time in the first year. we have all lived in oz before (home 4.5years now) and she was devastated when we returned, hoping she will love oz again tho, i dont think i would be able to be that far away from any of my children but i wont force my dreams on them either.

Thanks. My daughter is really up for it some of the time then other times a bit aprehensive which is totally understandable. Leaving her wouldn't be an option for us so if she was to be really against it we wouldn't go . Realise it's such a difficult age anyway just think it's a great opportunity so hopefully we can all give it a go! 

[thebigmove2017]

Hmm, 17 is a really bad year educationally to move a kid.  As mentioned to the OP, finishing up education in UK is by far the most sensible option - 17 is even worse than 16 tbh! She would be more sensible to finish A levels then move. With that bit of extra maturity and all her options kept open you might be pleasantly surprised to find that she actually is ready for the adventure and that would fit in nicely with starting Uni.  She's got time enough to move

She will have finished school. We are Irish so will have done her leaving certificate in Ireland, which is recognised in Australia.

[thebigmove2017]

Thanks. My daughter is really up for it some of the time then other times a bit aprehensive which is totally understandable. Leaving her wouldn't be an option for us so if she was to be really against it we wouldn't go . Realise it's such a difficult age anyway just think it's a great opportunity so hopefully we can all give it a go! 

I genuinely hope that by giving it at least the year she will love it all over again and hense im kind of calling her bluff that she wont want to move back. Perhaps wishful thinking but we will work it out as a family together. Oz for us has much better finacial prosepects as well as our love for the sun and the way of life.

[Kareng83]

12 hours ago, Quoll said:

Hmm, 17 is a really bad year educationally to move a kid.  As mentioned to the OP, finishing up education in UK is by far the most sensible option - 17 is even worse than 16 tbh! She would be more sensible to finish A levels then move. With that bit of extra maturity and all her options kept open you might be pleasantly surprised to find that she actually is ready for the adventure and that would fit in nicely with starting Uni.  She's got time enough to 

 

[Kareng83]

Appreciate your input thank you. My original post though was just looking for people to share their personal experiences. 

My daughter will have finished most of her highers/A level equivalents by this may. 

At present she has no intention of starting a uni course as she is unsure what she wants to do. As she is so young she has plenty of time to return to study be that here or in Australia.  

My main concerns are socially how she will adapt . Sorry for any confusion on my post. 

[elizawho77]

 

I have a 16 year old just about to take her GCSEs in May/June. Our nomination was approved today so we’re hoping the visa will be shortly after. She isn’t particularly academic, and will just scrape by in her GCSEs. She has applied here to college to do travel and tourism. Has no plans to go on to uni. 

It will be a PR visa. We were planning to let her finish her GCSE here and then come. We knew the school system was different and her age group wouldn’t finish until Dec. But I didn’t know if we went earlier if they would put her back a year so that she could do her Australian qualification and make friends..... now not sure what to do for the best for her. 

We did apply way back in 2016, but it took 17 months to be opened and refused immediately by immigration in Feb 2018. 

[Quoll]

3 hours ago, elizawho77 said:

 

I have a 16 year old just about to take her GCSEs in May/June. Our nomination was approved today so we’re hoping the visa will be shortly after. She isn’t particularly academic, and will just scrape by in her GCSEs. She has applied here to college to do travel and tourism. Has no plans to go on to uni. 

It will be a PR visa. We were planning to let her finish her GCSE here and then come. We knew the school system was different and her age group wouldn’t finish until Dec. But I didn’t know if we went earlier if they would put her back a year so that she could do her Australian qualification and make friends..... now not sure what to do for the best for her. 

We did apply way back in 2016, but it took 17 months to be opened and refused immediately by immigration in Feb 2018. 

School leaving age in Australia is 17 so she will have to be in full time education somewhere until she is 17.  As she's not heading to Uni she should probably enrol in TAFE - Australian employers are still going to ask for Year 12 so she could do some yr 12 subjects at TAFE and then add something career specific as well.  I wouldn't bother with a school in this instance as she will be a year behind her peers, HSC is stressful and she will be looking towards employment rather than study.  I wouldn't be too concerned about the friends - they're all going to go their separate ways at the end of year 12 anyway and she could make friends in other venues like sports, arts, other interest.

[tab]

Hi I moved to Perth in January my girls are 15 and 14. My eldest isn't very academic and was struggling with gcses  in UK wasn't going to pass any to be honest. High school have been amazing and recommended going straight into year 11 and skipping year 10 as is mainly academic courses. Instead she is on a certificate programme studying things she loves art music sport and maths and English. Socially I've encouraged both girls into social groups they go to two youth groups and venture scouts.  Not made friends yet but early days and both settling well .good luck 

[elizawho77]

Thank you both for your replies. I will have a look at Tafe for her. 

[Jimmy P]

We came out with our 16 yo daughter, arriving in June.  She should have slotted in to Y11, but didn't want to have missed half of that first senior year, so she had just over a term in Y10.  She was one of the eldest in the year, but it really helped her to find her feet, and now has a great bunch of friends from both school and Tafe

[cybervoodoo]

I moved to Australia with my parents aged 16 after I finished my GCSE's, and I wont lie, it was difficult. I had to go back a school year due to needing to complete both year 11 and 12 in full in order to get my ATAR. With the way the WA school year was structured then, it meant that I was put into a year with people who were 14 and 15 years old. It doesn't seem like a massive issue, but I noticed a massive difference in maturity. Don't get me wrong, I met some lovely people, but I never really made any proper, lasting friendships in school. I went from being outgoing and sociable to fairly withdrawn, and whilst I was doing well academically, I really resented being in Australia and would constantly compare myself to what my friends in England were doing. It wasn't until I finished school and started uni that I actually made some real friends and gained a social life. 

I understand not everyone's experience is like this, I know some people who moved at the same age as me and slotted into school/social life fine, but that unfortunately wasn't the case for me.