Skani Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 "Scripture" is taught in public school. It's part of the curriculum. Religious instruction is not part of the curriculum in public schools in this state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairystar32 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Its not curriculum in ours either, my son has just sent a form saying he opts out. It is taught seperately and you do not have too do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maruska Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 "Scripture" is taught in public school. It's part of the curriculum. Can't get away from it here....there is not a separation of church and state like in the US. We aren't church goers so it's a bit of a thorn in our side. I see you are in Houston right now. We are from Austin. On a total side note, don't expect to see any kind of Texas style BBQ here. Not even the cuts of beef to make it yourself. I can't find a proper brisket to save my life! I am not really that big fan of a BBQ and when I came to Texas I did not like the brisket the first time I ate it - seemed tough meat with no flavor. Then we visited a ranch a had a brisket cooked the traditional way - hours and hours - with sauce, baked beans... the highlight was a peach cobbler yummy:wub:. We visited Austin several times and also the state parks around it, very nice place, really liked it. I looked at Kororo school and Narranga school in Coff`s Harbour, one of them said that they DO have a time in the afternoon to learn scripture and parents who don`t wish their children to attend have to send a paper to the school, in that case your child spends the hour at the playground it seems:wubclub: So what about catholic schools ( Bishop Druitt school was mentioned here)? The religion will probably be part of the curicullum right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 We opted our daughter out of scripture too. She sits in a classroom with the other children, and does word games and puzzles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maruska Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 That sounds very reassuring. I would hate for my kids to have problems because they are "unbelievers":wink:. Seems there are a lot of people in Australia who do not practice either. Here in Texas I am rather careful and try not to get involved in discussions about religion, a lot of people have very strong faith and religion is part of everyday life for many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 That sounds very reassuring. I would hate for my kids to have problems because they are "unbelievers":wink:. Seems there are a lot of people in Australia who do not practice either. Here in Texas I am rather careful and try not to get involved in discussions about religion, a lot of people have very strong faith and religion is part of everyday life for many. Religion is far less pervasive in Australia...more similar to the UK though we do have some politicians trying to change this. Many only tick the religion box on the census in Australia as that is their cultural background and the way the question is phrased. Church attendance is very low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernbird Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I am not really that big fan of a BBQ and when I came to Texas I did not like the brisket the first time I ate it - seemed tough meat with no flavor. Then we visited a ranch a had a brisket cooked the traditional way - hours and hours - with sauce, baked beans... the highlight was a peach cobbler yummy:wub:. We visited Austin several times and also the state parks around it, very nice place, really liked it. I looked at Kororo school and Narranga school in Coff`s Harbour, one of them said that they DO have a time in the afternoon to learn scripture and parents who don`t wish their children to attend have to send a paper to the school, in that case your child spends the hour at the playground it seems:wubclub: So what about catholic schools ( Bishop Druitt school was mentioned here)? The religion will probably be part of the curicullum right? If you send your child to a catholic school you have to consent to the child being involved in religious instruction. No consent, no admission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 We're in WA and RE isn't taught in the public system. Australia has no official religion therefore not on the curriculum as compulsory education. Of course if you enrol in a private faith school that's different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maruska Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Religion is far less pervasive in Australia...more similar to the UK though we do have some politicians trying to change this. Many only tick the religion box on the census in Australia as that is their cultural background and the way the question is phrased. Church attendance is very low. Politicians in the US drag religion into the open at every chance they get, especially now with the election coming and republicans are picking a favorite:dull: . I do have a US citizenship and just waiting who is going to run for the republicans, if it`s Ron Paul ( unlikely) I probably won`t bother to vote but if by any chance it`s Santorum then I am making a point attending and voting for Obama:wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maruska Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 If you send your child to a catholic school you have to consent to the child being involved in religious instruction. No consent, no admission. Thank you, good to know. It makes sense, it`s a catholic school after all. So that`s out for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernbird Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Thank you, good to know. It makes sense, it`s a catholic school after all. So that`s out for us. Any private school will be religiously affiliated. As a result you will need to consent to some form of religious content in the curriculum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Thank you, good to know. It makes sense, it`s a catholic school after all. So that`s out for us. Religious schools have huge govt funding in Australia and in many respects have become the unofficial grammar school option....ie non church goers who don't live in a good public school catchment often send their children to the local low cost religious school if that is all that is available when searching for good academic record or reputation or what not. Because of the schools need for students and the parents need for a good school a mutual understanding is formed where the school knows full well many of the parents have no religious interest but the game must be played. This varies from school to school of course. The school obviously gets access to prothletise to far more young people than they would under a system where people always had access to high standard publicly funded schools. Of course some people like the religious side of these schools and I am not talking about them at all. It is a system that causes a lot of lying and omitting of the truth just to get a good education which is a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpot Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Any private school will be religiously affiliated. As a result you will need to consent to some form of religious content in the curriculum. Not all are, but the vast majority We have our son's name down for a secular private school. It's the only one I've seen in Sydney, but I haven't done an exhaustive search. Its locality and ethos were more important for us. Although I'd be reluctant to send him to a religious school, I think my wife would do it. Hoping it doesn't come to that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest famousfive Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Thank you so much for the info!!The place itself sounds fabulous. About the schools - I need a school which is not religiously affiliated I am afraid. Me and my husband come from totally different religious backgrounds ( don`t even know if I should say that since neither of us ever practiced religion, just our family members) and we prefer for our kids to attend school that does not teach scripture. Your experience with crime is reassuring.... meth sounds nasty but I guess you can find that anywhere if you look for it:confused: Medical facilities is what first brought me to look at Coffs Harbour, they advertise big time for staff:biggrin: May I ask, why back to Ireland and not elsewhere in Australia? Job market would be better in bigger cities right? Have tried a few other places before and decided aus is not for us long term,with kids best to scoot now while they still want to.My OH is an aussie but prefers ireland now too.We are fortunate to be returning for a business oportunity. Just to add....the schools I listed before are pretty easy going with the religious side of things.I know families whose kids attend those schools and their kids have never attended a religious service.Both schools are anglican I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpot Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 It is a system that causes a lot of lying and omitting of the truth just to get a good education which is a shame. The same thing happens in the UK, with some subtle differences UK state schools are a mix of (mostly) secular local authority schools, but also Catholic and C of E "grant maintained" schools. These are part of the state system, so non fee-paying, but the catchment areas (which are a lot greyer/more flexible anyway in the UK) work slightly differently and they favour taking children from that denomination. These schools *tend* to get better results, many would argue this is because to get in them in the first place requires a fair amount of commitment and work from parents, and families like that are going to be a lot more oriented around learning and educational success in the first place - you won't get many kids in them from families where the parents don't give a toss. So, lots of non-religious people go to some extraordinary lengths to make out they are religious when they're not, in order to get their kids in the school that's perceived to be better. My B-i-L for one - not religious in the slightest, his missus is nominally Catholic, they had their kids baptised as Catholics, in Sunday school, doing the whole altar boy thing in order to get them in the Catholic high school rather than the comprehensive A similar effect occurs in Wales where you can choose (supposedly) to be educated either in English or in Welsh. People want to get in the Welsh schools because they are perceived to be better, again I'm sure it's because if a family cares enough to be interested in having two languages, then they're going to be much more involved and oriented towards education. At least it's a bit more honest there though - getting in them doesn't require you to lie, but it does make the parents who want to get their kids in learn some Welsh themselves even if they weren't speakers before. Which is probably a good thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NowPerth Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 My daughter wants me to add that her school in Oz is way better than the one in England because the canteen sells slushie drinks and whippy ice cream cones. So that is now our household's benchmark for academic standards. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronS Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 "Can't get away from it here"...scripture is only meant to be taught in a separate voluntary session run by a chaplain, not in the curriculum except as a comparative study of religion? Up to 60% of parents/children now opt out of the scripture session in nsw. Maybe you could talk to the school about what is going on as some schools are more lax about informing you than others and some religious groups are doing their best to take advantage of this. Even though the rules are similar up here in Qld the waters are muddier due to churches in 1910 pushing an amendment to the education act to remove every mention of the word secular. It would be great to have true constitutional separation of church and state like the US. Lucky you guys have it or you would be overrun by the massive religious lobbying you have there I imagine. This is the best our constitution does which is not true separation: The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance We were told it was mandatory...either Catholic, Protestant or Nondenominational scripture every Friday. I'm going to have to go speak with the school about it. Not that it's a huge deal since we are planning to return to Austin by March or April next year, but religion is a very personal thing and shouldn't be taught outside of parental guidance. I have no clue what religious ideology is being taught to my kids....but I do know that I don't agree with what orgnaized religion has to offer. To put it in the words of a friend of mine, "I may believe in god, but I'm not a member of any of his fan clubs" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronS Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 We opted our daughter out of scripture too. She sits in a classroom with the other children, and does word games and puzzles. I'm going to have to check into opting out. We were told opting out was not an option at the orientation this year. Wasn't happy with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronS Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 That sounds very reassuring. I would hate for my kids to have problems because they are "unbelievers":wink:. Seems there are a lot of people in Australia who do not practice either. Here in Texas I am rather careful and try not to get involved in discussions about religion, a lot of people have very strong faith and religion is part of everyday life for many. In Houston I totally understand that...if you were in Austin it would be very different. It's a very progressive and diverse city. Can't wait to get back there. Oh, and on the BBQ front, you had some bad brisket sounds like! Doing it right is an hour per pound on the smoker with a spicy dry rub for seasoning. Comes out melt in your mouth tender and moist and absolutely full of flavor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest anitaw Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I'm going to have to check into opting out. We were told opting out was not an option at the orientation this year. Wasn't happy with that. I work in a Primary school and opting out of Scripture should always be an option. Children that don't go to Scripture are instructed to go to the school hall where they are supervised. Their teachers have work for them to do while they are there for the 40 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronS Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I work in a Primary school and opting out of Scripture should always be an option. Children that don't go to Scripture are instructed to go to the school hall where they are supervised. Their teachers have work for them to do while they are there for the 40 minutes. OK...I'm feeling better about being able to opt out now. My daughter in kindy came home saying "god's love for us is bigger than the universe" and frankly that creeped me out....I got a dose of religious poison when I was young and don't want that for my kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maruska Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Not all are, but the vast majority We have our son's name down for a secular private school. It's the only one I've seen in Sydney, but I haven't done an exhaustive search. Its locality and ethos were more important for us. Although I'd be reluctant to send him to a religious school, I think my wife would do it. Hoping it doesn't come to that Good morning, I see that discussion is still going strong Would you happen to know if there are any Montessori schools in the private system? I mean primary, not daycare. Or Waldorf? Aaron, I agree, Austin is soooo different from Houston in every aspect, real nice easygoing city it seems. Very outdoorsy too. I am going to miss the mexican food I guess:laugh: famousfive, good luck on your move back to Ireland:wubclub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josetann Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I'm still torn on the religious instruction in the class. For now, our son is opted in. It's supposed to be non-denominational here. I do want him exposed to different religions, just don't want him taught that only one way is right and every other way is wrong. Back in Tennessee (and much of the US I'm sure), it's very fragmented. There's dozens of denominations that really only have a small difference from one another. I mean really...what's so important that you had to separate from the standard Baptist Church and form the Southern Baptist Church? I'd love to have him taught the fundamentals of different religions, and let him pick which (if any) were right for him. So far, the school here is working really well for our son. They took time to give us a tour, explained how the school worked, actually acknowledged my son was there and included him, etc. They have these red dots everywhere, if a kid feels he/she is getting very upset, they can curl up on a red dot. Principal showed my son how it works, got down and made like a turtle. Later when our son was being evaluated, the teacher asked what expectations we had for the year, then asked specifically about reading. Told her I had no expectations...he's only 5, it's a bit too early to expect so much for him. The only thing I was concerned about was that he enjoyed his time there, made friends, etc. Apparently that was the right answer She said they don't expect them to be reading/writing at the end of prep...they may be worried if he wasn't by end of 1st. But right now they're focused on making school enjoyable, and get them used to the idea. That's not something that would happen back in Tennessee. There we were basically a bother to their day. Kids expected to be like little robots. Principal grabbed our son's arm and brought him about ten feet to where we were sitting, because he was being too loud (#1...no shouting, only talking a bit loud and #2...he was still in OUR care, he hadn't been officially turned over to the school, so he should have talked to us if there was a problem). Teacher freaking out because he had a problem sitting still (previous school...they were only expected to sit still for small periods of time, and were generally doing something fun). Wanting a psychiatric evaluation because he didn't know when his birthday was (which he had not been taught). Had three phone calls that day...and he didn't even start first thing in the morning, and we took him home early! Anyways...I only have experience with one school in Australia, but I like how they're basically adapting the school to the kids needs, instead of vice versa. Our son gets so excited when it's time to go, and is upset when he has to leave. He's happy, so we're happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 We are very happy with our daughter's school in Adelaide. We were also very happy with her school in the UK. I imagine that we are pretty demanding parents. We chose a school for her in the Uk which was in the top 100 schools in Britain. She did very well there and had outstanding SATS results. We did a lot of research into schools before she moved and enrolled her in a private anglican school in SA before we arrived on the basis of her SATS results. When we arrived we took her to the school for a tour and to meet the other students but also went to see several other schools that had been recommended. She absolutely loved the school in which we had obtained a place for her and although the other schools seemed good we went with that as her happiness was the most important concern. We are nominally Anglican (Church of England) but do not practice. We have brought our daughter up to be open minded and she can chose if she believes and what she believes. At school they have church once a week for half an hour and can chose to be confirmed. The morning assembly is non-religious. RE is multi faith and there are several children in her class from different religions. We can live with this level of religiousness as it provides moral guidance without indoctrination and in fact our daughter maintains a healthy level of scepticism about the whole thing. As British we do feel we are also maintaining cultural links for our daughter. The school is very British in many ways which we feel is down to the Anglican influence. There are also a lot of British teachers in the school. As our daughter had done so well in her SATS we were surprised to find that she was behind in Maths (although ahead in English) when she started school here. We found this was down to the rigidity of her British school and the national curriculum. In her Australian school they teach maths on a group basis, so the more able students are in a group which extends them while those less able are not overstretched. In the UK the whole class was taught what the Government set down for her year. She found it easy and others found it difficult to keep up. After 3 years she has now worked her way up to the top group and is doing Maths 3 years ahead of her chronological age. Those in the bottom group are doing maths designed for their age group so they are not behind either. Our one criticism is the standard of English in the school (and Australia actually) is very poor. Her Australian teachers seem to have a very loose grasp on spelling and punctuation compared to their UK educated colleagues in the same school. I think that this is a cultural difference due to Australian English diverging from English in the way American English diverged from English. It makes me laugh to think I had to take the IELTS test and yet most Australians, including those in the media appear to have very poor English. My daughter recently took her Naplan tests and scored so highly in English her score was off the scale for someone 6 years older than her. As the scale didn't go any higher we don't know her true score. yet in the UK her English was good but not exceptional. This suggests the bar is very low. In all other educational aspects the school seems to be on a par with it's UK counterpart. However in co-curricular activities it is miles ahead. Talents which we never knew our daughter had, have been discovered and she is excelling in music. In the UK this was taught as an after thought and a tiny part of the national curriculum. Here it is an intrinsic part of school life and all the children are encouraged to participate what ever their ability. Our daughter has taken up 2 instruments and has got up to grade 4 level in 3 years. She plays in several orchestras at school and also sings in 4 different types of vocal group. She has also competed in debating contests and the Tournament of Minds competition which has seen her travelling to other parts of Australia to compete against children from other states and countries. If she had the time she could also participate in numerous sports both for fun and competitively. This week she is going away for a school camp where they will learn to sail and windsurf. With regard to languages, you will find different schools teach different languages. Our daughter learned Italian and is now learning Chinese and Japanese. Next year she will learn French and Chinese. I am not convinced this constant chopping and changing does much good and explains why not many native born Australians seem to be able to speak a second language. (This does not include those from non-English speaking back grounds who speak their native tongue/s and English.) During our time here I have heard about lots of different schools and all I can say is chose carefully. It sounds like there are some shockers out there as well as some good ones. This of course is no different to the UK. Apologies for the typos - wonky keyboard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Would you happen to know if there are any Montessori schools in the private system? I mean primary, not daycare. Or Waldorf? There are both Montessori and Waldorf (Steiner) schools in the private system throughout Australia. More info here: http://www.montessori.org.au/ http://steinereducation.edu.au/about/member-schools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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