Getting OP1-14 without a school uniform

[Billabong]

Hi folks

We are moving to Qld in Jun/Jul 08 –

My oldest son will then be 16 having just finished his O levels and won’t want to go back to school - (he would have gone to sixth form college here)..

 

He wants to train as an army officer at the Australian Defence Force Academy with a degree that has an entry requirement of UAI 80/OP 1-14…?

 

How/where can he get the necessary grades for university entry (with Maths and English a necessity) without going back to school?

 

My oldest daughter is hoping to go to Sydney and as she will have just finished her A levels, I’m hoping it should be fairly straightforward for her to start if A levels can be transferred to UAI points?

 

My other three will then be aged 10 and 8… in Y's 6 and Y4 so am I right in thinking they will start the new term at primary school in the same years?

 

Any advice will be much appreciated!!

[samozsoon]

Hi Billabong

Dont think I can help much other than to say, have you checked out the local Tafe's in the area where you want to settle? You could try emailing some of them to ask their advice. I've emailed a few schools & a Uni a few times and they have been really helpful.

 

I'm having the same dilema with my daughter at the moment, she has just finished her GCSE's and will return to school in Sept to start A-Levels which she thinks is a total waste of time as we plan on moving by xmas. Then she doesnt want to return to school in Oz and re-do all the subjects that she thought she had finished with (mainly maths!).

I'm now at the stage where I'm not giving her any options anymore, I'm just telling her, shes going back to school and thats that. If she works hard then hopefully she can complete the HSC in just one year (yr12), then she can go to Uni and do what she wants (Dance Degree).

 

I also think they need to go to school so they can make friends with kids their own age which will make them setttle in easier and hopefully ease the homesickness.

 

As for your daughter, if you check out the Uni websites you should be able to find a comparison chart for her A-levels. I've done this for my son. It takes a while though but its there somewhere. I've also emailed the Uni and asked them direct what grades he needs for the course he wants to do. They were very helpful.

 

Your younger kids should go into the same year as they are in here except they start in Jan instead of Sept, ie, if they go into yr 6 here in Sept they will go into grade 6 there the following January. Hope thats clear.

 

Good Luck

 

Sam xx

[Billabong]

Thanks Sam

I haven’t contacted the Tafe's I must admit so I will follow your suggestion and email them for info although when I’ve checked the websites, Tafe’s seem to offer vocational related training and not unfortunately the specific subjects he’ll need to be eligible for university.

Once my son has finished school here I think he will be very against starting school again in Australia – going into established groups, wearing a uniform etc and I sympathise with this.

As for my daughter, I have contacted Sydney and they said “Prospective permanent residents do not have permanent resident status unless they have actually landed in Australia and their passport has been endorsed to indicate that they have taken up residence... Your daughter will therefore need to initially apply through the university’s International Office” . I’m slightly confused by this as I thought once we’d validated our visas with a holiday this Oct she would be in a position to apply anytime so will need to clarify this as she planned to apply before we moved.

Hopefully the ‘International Office’ will be more forthcoming as the ‘Local Office’, apart from offering the advice above, simply referred me to their website which doesn’t unfortunately give all the answers, or at least not in language I can understand.

Thanks for clarifying the position for the younger ones… Hopefully things will be straightforward for them.

Good Luck and thanks for your help

Billabong xx