Secondary School question.

[BuddysMum]

I have heaps of questions about education in Australia. Many of them were whizzing around my head last night but I bet I won't remember half of them now.

 

Please bear with me.

 

1. My son is 11 and started secondary school here in UK last September. Am I right in thinking that if we were in Oz he would start in February next year? Or would he have started just now? His birthday is in June.

 

2.What is the title of the certificate of education they are aiming for? i.e. here it is GCSE. What do you call it in Oz?

 

3.At what age are these exams taken?

 

4.What is the Australian equivalent of A levels?

 

5. At what age do they choose their GCSE equivalent options?

 

6. How many subjects do they study at this level?

 

 

We aren't sure when we are going to be able to move over. In a way we are panicking that we should try to get over in the next two years before he has to choose his options, but we are stuck for the time being due to family issues. Has anyone got any experience of this sort of transition at various stages of secondary education?

[Quoll]

First thing - dont panic. Second thing, dont look for equivalents, they dont really exist. Third thing - this is a totally new and different system, well actually a mish mash of systems because there is no "Australian" system, there are just different state systems and the answers to your questions will depend on which state you happen to be going to.

 

Only constant is that the academic year runs from January to December and in all states the grades that matter are the ones that you get at the end of year 12.

 

The main thing to consider is that you should get him here in time to do both years 11 and 12 - if you come part way through the final two years then he could be disadvantaged if he wanted good scores to go to uni.

 

Most kids start year 11 when they have either just turned 16 or are about to turn 16. In some states your son would be 15.6 at the beginning of year 11 and in other states he would be 16.6 because his June birthday is a bit of a trick - some states have an April cut off and some have a June/July cut off. Education in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[BuddysMum]

Thanks for that info.

 

We think we will probably be going to NSW (Sydney) but there is a chance we might go to Brisbane. A lot depends on how jobs are going at the time. OH is in a very specialised field.

 

The other thing I wanted to ask was:

 

Is there a system similar to OFSTED which inspects schools and publishes reports we can see when we are deciding on suburbs etc. It was really valuable to us when we were returning to UK after several years in Ireland as we were unfamiliar with the area we were moving to.

 

We are heading over in the summer hols so would love to have some idea of which areas to visit "with a view".

[Quoll]

No no Ofsted type reporting for comparison purposes, the Unions dont like it. You can get a glimpse of "schools with best outcomes" for year 12 results if you hunt around in the various states and some states are reporting on the NAPLAN assessments in years 3,5,7 &9 but they dont really tell you much. The individual school websites will give you a picture of the school as they like to paint it.

[Guest rachyh]

Aussie's don't have league tables because they believe it puts too much pressure on students and teachers. However, you can usually get a god vibe just by going to see what different schools have to offer. If you go and see a few, then one is bound to stand out. That is probably the best way to find a good school. Just ask lots of questions and if the place has good facilities, is clean and has friendly staff, then the school probably has a good reputation. You can also compare results of different schools. Hope this helps.

[Guest Angela Barker]

Hi please could any one give me some advice on schools for my son who is 14. We are moving hopefully end of may to Townsville .