:mr man: The Mann Clan is hoping to join you all in Adelaide in February next year. We too are finding it hard to choose a suburb.
Our number 1 priority is to keep the kids happy-Calum will be 6 and Lachlan will be 4.
Barry,my hubby was born in Elizabeth Vale - should we rent here to start with?
Ploughing through school websites to try and find class sizes of 25 or under, wondering how far out we'll have to go to get that and how far Barry will then have to commute to find a job as an IT Test Analyst.
Happy for any opinions and not too worried about hearsay etc. Just thought you were a good avenue to explore.
Just thought - anyone got kids with similar birthdates so I can keep track of this year's schooling. Calum October 1998
Lachlan November 2000(Where will he be in the whole Kindy/School system??
So glad I've found this site.
I'll be back..
Gils ;)

hi mann clan , how old was barry when he left, "the vale"?..........MM

Just when I thought I'd been far too chatty for a first question...
Barry left at the tender age of 2 and a half but has some fab old cine film of him getting an orange boat off of santa in the sun.Calum and Lachlan will be bringing the said heirloom back to it's rightful resting place!!!!
So what do I need to know about 'the Vale' in 2004?
Gils

Hi Gils
We found that with UK kids starting school at 4 and Oz kids at 5, both ours were 'moved up a year' from the Oz point of view when we got here - ie they are in the same school year they were in UK but in with kids a year older than them. However their birthdays are July/Aug so can't comment precisely on yours.

There's quite a lot of schools info over on the general section, it's worth taking a look at the SA govt education site. If class size is so important to you it is worth noting that our daughter is in a class of 16 at Seaview High - but they put 2 classes together for teaching! We are not concerned though, it is a very good school.

We found schools very flexible about weighing up an individual child and putting them in the right year for them. Our son was moved up a year within 2 hours his first morning. Many schools have classes of mixed years - our son is in a mixed year 5/6 class so being moved up a year he didn't even have to move class from the teacher he'd already met. Schools here have a much more shifting population than in uk, between immigrants and families moving interstate where the systems are sometimes quite different, and they are used to coping.

Hope this helps!
Elaine

barry would ,nt remember to much at the age of 2, my wife and her family lived in the vale from 1962, all 10 of them arrived from Stevenage in 1961, the vale today is a lot quieter area ,than then ,with most of the 10 pound pom familys either passed on or in nursing homes, housing is very affordable, and Holdens [gm] have a huge car plant nearby , so work is not to hard to come by, also the defence research facility is situated at Salibury, lots of hi-tech...............mm

Hi to the Mann Clann
We have two boys. My oldest Ryan will turn 6 on 8/4 and my youngest Jack will turn 5 on 21/4 . Ryan has gone in at year 1 having done a full year and a bit of school in uk. Jack has had one term at kindy and is due to start full time school on 27th April, the term after he is 5. They normally have 4 terms (1 academic year) of kindy (4 sessions a week) plus a term before just getting used to kindy.
Also one thing to bear in mind is that although you might get a class of less than 25 children there is normally only one teacher and no classroom assistants (they just don't have them here). So you might not be that better off ratio wise.
Anyway good luck with your research
Rach :bouncy:

Thanks to all - this is so much quicker getting answers from real people who know what I need to know.
What are the highlights of the weekends for young kids? Other than the beach of course! B)
Gils

Saturday the kids played cricket (9 o'clock-nuch too early for my liking but they are keen!) and then we went for a bbq. Our kids love playing with the other kids, exploring the gardens etc.
Then yesterday went to see a model jet plane show out in the sticks somewhere, sounds boring?, well it was quite interesting and Daz and the boys seemed to enjoy it and again we went with friends so we all had a good chat.
Rach :D

Just noticed that your wife's family is from Stevenage, where we currently live. I bet it;s changed a bit since then!! :) Not for the better I hasten to add...

It's a small world after all!!!! medium 137

Rachel, you've got nothing to worry about - our little darling is playing for the school cricket team, EVERY Saturday at 8.15am!!!! I'd love to only have to be out for 9!

Elaine

mmm 9 doesn't seem so bad now!! :o

Hah! Try 6.45 for swimming each saturday! I laugh at your 9am early starts! Ha ha ha!