Should we relocate to Sydney?

[Pilch]

Hi,

for all those who’ve made the decision to move to Australia with kids - please help!

my husband has been offered a good opportunity to relocate to Sydney for 3-4 years to help grow the business over there. Before we had children we toyed with the idea of living / workinG in Sydney but decided  at the time we wanted to have children close to family In the UK. We have close family in Sydney (husbands brother) and friends. 

we have 2 children - 12 and 9. The 12 year old has just started a new (private) school in year 8 after being unhappy in year 7 at the local state school. She is adamant she doesn’t want to move to Australia despite us having been offered a place for her at Kambala from Jan 2024 which is a great school/ opportunity. 
we currently have no schooL place secured for our son in Sydney (all seem full) so we have been told we’ll have to wait until we have moved to apply to a local state junior school. 

We have a great life here in the UK and are part of a wonderful supportive Community - the kids have their passions football (soccer) and horse riding. However is this an opportunity / family adventure not to be missed?

biggest concerns are transitioning there and back within a relatively short space of time and whether the kids will be able to settle / Be happy and the potential Impact of moving back to the UK and re entering the UK education system - No guarantee of spaces in good schools and our daughter will either have no GCSEs on return making further education difficult or will have to drop down a year to take them. 
any advice on how kids have settled? Is it worth the initial upheaval and the potential impact on both of their education (lots of school change in small space of time).
we are really torn with the decision because of this. Any advice or even help with deciding appreciated! 
Thanks 

Claire 

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

Hi Claire,

I can see why you would be struggling with such a decision.   Living in another country for a while is a great adventure and would be an experience that broaden your kids horizons, which can be a great thing.  On the flip side of that coin you have two completely different education systems that don't align in content nor in terms of the children's age when they achieve the recognised qualifications, meaning they are not interchangeable.

I've had two kids go through GCSE's with a third entering her final year now.  Our choice has been to delay our return to Australia until the youngest finishes A-levels.   From our research we came to the conclusion that it would be damaging for our kids education to switch systems mid-way through.  The curriculums aren't the same.  GCSE's spend two concentrated years building towards those final exams.  The content of those exams are the topics covered across those two years.   It's possible but unlikely that those exact topics will have been covered by the Australian system resulting in knowledge gaps.  I personally think it would be a real struggle to drop back into GCSE's for the final year only and get decent grades.     You know your kids best and their academic ability.  It could be that a bright kid with a strong work ethic and a tutor could get to a good result.

If it was me (and assuming I am correct in thinking your kids are 3 academic years apart), I'd be staying in Australia until the eldest gets their HSC/ATAR at 17 and returning to the UK just in time for the youngest to begin GCSE year 1.  However......if your eldest wanted to go to university they would not be recognised as having 'home' status (because you must be resident for the 3 years prior) and thus would have to pay higher fees.

There are other options like the international baccalaureate, but from exploring this myself, this considerably narrows your school options and hence where you can live.

A difficult decision with pro's and con's each way.  

Edited September 7, 2023 by FirstWorldProblems

[Marisawright]

You posted this question already and got 5 replies.   You may find you get the same people replying this time.    

I know FirstWorldProblems has researched this topic very thoroughly and I agree with his reply.

 

[Quoll]

Another alternative would be for you and the kids to stay in UK and your DH to commute to work in Sydney - you could go out for holidays and he could come home in between if only for a week - there is always FaceTime and the odd get together could work especially if it was built into his contract.  I answered the last time and I wouldnt be moving a kid at this stage of their education, I would be boarding them if I had to move (we almost did this with our kids once).   I certainly wouldnt be coming over and waiting until the end of year 12 here before returning to Uni in UK - Aus year 12 results dont move as well in that direction as A levels do coming here (its 13 years of school vs 14 years in UK so they arent equivalent) and often a preparatory year is required especially for the more highly sought after courses in popular universities and, added to that, you would be up for international student fees in UK universities.

[can1983]

2 hours ago, Quoll said:

Another alternative would be for you and the kids to stay in UK and your DH to commute to work in Sydney - you could go out for holidays and he could come home in between if only for a week - there is always FaceTime and the odd get together could work especially if it was built into his contract.  I answered the last time and I wouldnt be moving a kid at this stage of their education, I would be boarding them if I had to move (we almost did this with our kids once).   I certainly wouldnt be coming over and waiting until the end of year 12 here before returning to Uni in UK - Aus year 12 results dont move as well in that direction as A levels do coming here (its 13 years of school vs 14 years in UK so they arent equivalent) and often a preparatory year is required especially for the more highly sought after courses in popular universities and, added to that, you would be up for international student fees in UK universities.

Commute to Sydney that's a new one

Seriously to do that kind of severely compromised family life it had better be a $500k a year job.

 

[Quoll]

1 hour ago, can1983 said:

Commute to Sydney that's a new one

Seriously to do that kind of severely compromised family life it had better be a $500k a year job.

 

Dunno, service personnel do it for much less than that and with less rec leave contact.

[Grabri]

We moved to Sydney with no jobs (husband is Australian and I am Italian), after 17 years in London/Essex. That was 8 years ago! Don’t regret it one bit. I’m a teacher and I worked in private/Catholic and now state school.

if you live in a good area state high schools as well are excellent. Same goes for primary. I do understand that you might still need to pay fees as International students.

when we arrived youngest went in local state primary and oldest in Catholic. The kids settled in very well. At the time my oldest was 12 and she adjusted to Sydney high school with no problem. Youngest had a similar experience.

We love it here, my story is slightly different as we only left friends in the Uk (my family is whole in Italy) . Don’t miss the Uk at all, just miss vicinity to Europe to be honest. 

 

 

[Pilch]

1 hour ago, Grabri said:

We moved to Sydney with no jobs (husband is Australian and I am Italian), after 17 years in London/Essex. That was 8 years ago! Don’t regret it one bit. I’m a teacher and I worked in private/Catholic and now state school.

if you live in a good area state high schools as well are excellent. Same goes for primary. I do understand that you might still need to pay fees as International students.

when we arrived youngest went in local state primary and oldest in Catholic. The kids settled in very well. At the time my oldest was 12 and she adjusted to Sydney high school with no problem. Youngest had a similar experience.

We love it here, my story is slightly different as we only left friends in the Uk (my family is whole in Italy) . Don’t miss the Uk at all, just miss vicinity to Europe to be honest. 

 

 

Thank you for this insight. Did you have the schools sorted before you moved?

and was your 12 year old positive about the move or worried/ negative about it? 
 

thanks 

[Marisawright]

@Grabri, I just wanted to point out that the OP is not planning to move permanently. They'll be in Sydney for 3-4 years and then the children will have to slot back into UK schools.  

If they were moving permanently, I'd be warning them about house prices but otherwise I'd be saying, the kids will be fine even if they're unsettled at first, so why not go for it.  But if your 12-year-old had had to leave school in Australia at 16 and move to the UK, do you think that would've been a problem?