School after 16 in Aus

[Troy&Kim]

Hi to you all,

 

we have had visa (176) application received by immigration since June 7th/08 still waiting for case officer, but we hope we will here from our agent some time soon.

 

Tonight I was talking with my daughter who will be taking her GCSE's this year, her education is very important to us and to her. She has heard from a friend who has returned from Australia after a year who says that she will have to do the Australian equivalent before she could carry on with her education.

We had a bit of a row, she was saying we will be ruining her life and will ruin her education, she wants to go and do 6th form etc. We don't want to wait another 2 years and she will be able to take her exams before we go. We should have come last year on a 457 visa but got mess around that much we had to give up on it and decided to go for permanent residency.

 

please could anyone shed some light on what she will have to do, will she have to do more exams etc.

 

cheers

 

Troy :wink:

[Guest michelle in Havant]

Hi Troy

 

If you look on the Education section of the forum, you should find the answers to your questions. I do know that she would have to do Yr 11 and 12 in to gain her oz certificate to be able to go on to college etc!!!

 

I know how you feel we have a 15 year old and one minute we are the worst person on the world for taking her away from her friends etc, and the next minute all she can talk about is moving to oz!!!

 

Good Luck!

 

michelle x

[Guest prettyinpink]

We moved to Oz after my son had chosen his options at the end of Year 9 in the UK.

 

He is doing the last 2 years in school over here, picked better options and gearing up for his last 2 years in school.

 

From your post I gather that your daughter would be in the final year of secondary education?

If so, and if you know what area you are going to live in, I would be inclined to email the school and see how it would lie for your daughter.

 

No point arguing over something you're not sure about.

Hope you manage to find some answers out for you all. Good luck x

[Quoll]

Generally she would be expected to do the final two years of school (11 & 12) - you are always best doing the full two years because the assessments are both continuous and in some states there are final exams as well. Once you have a year 12 cert the world is your oyster educationally. If you want to go to uni then you get a university entrance score (called different things in different states) which will dictate what course you get into. However if the plan is to leave school and get a trade then although year 12 would make you competitive amongst all the other school leavers who are also wanting positions, it isnt absolutely vital and you can go to TAFE (Technical and Further Education colleges) without it.

 

It is however a difficult time to move - so many kids want to finish their GCSEs in UK and then when they arrive here they find they are older than the cohort who are beginning year 11. Of course the different starting times for the academic years dont help at all and the loss of the 6 months when they could be starting year 11 with their age cohort can disadvantage them. Going straight into year 12 is not going to work unless the state will give credit for AS level studies.

 

Another option would be to get her to validate her visa but then stay in UK (with rellies?) to do her A levels. That would then give her the option of UK university without having to pay overseas student fees if that was what she wanted, or an Aus university. You never can tell with kids which way they are going to jump - some of them love it here and others loathe it. If you tell her that years 11 & 12 are the (vague) equivalent of A levels then she may be mollified.

 

BTW each state is different so it all depends on where you go as to how they will deal with it.