Please Help: Need Perth Advice or it's back to Canada

Hello. We have arrived in the Sunshine Coast in January.

Before we throw in the towel, we're trying one more shift over to Perth, so we're flying out there this weekend to see what it's like there.

Can anyone offer advice on:
1) primary schools in Perth - what you think is good and why (comparing state and private schools)
2) Cuisine in Perth - is the variety better there than on the Sunshine Coast
3) Accessibility to bike paths

I have so many questions. We had our son in a private school here in the Sunshine Coast, and it ended up being a nightmare and we just pulled him out of school. The teachers are nice, and the children are pleasant but the curriculum is nowhere near the quality of the education our son was getting back in Calgary. In fact, the words they are learning in grade one is what he did in ECS (pre-primary) in Canada. I have been home schooling him in addition to the pseudo schooling he's been getting. I have been following the curriculum from Canada just in case we go back. The words my son is doing in his homeschooling spelling tests are what the students in grade 4 are doing here. I am astonished to find that there is no homework in grade one, and a far too 'relaxed' attitude about what children learn.At this rate, I fear stunting his educational growth, so hence, I am homeschooling him.

Has anyone else had this experience?

Thank you for your help in advance.

We're not in Perth so I'm afraid I can't help out with comparisons.

I suggest you have a look here:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54

It's most people from the UK but there are people from all over. You'll certainly find someone to answer questions about Perth and schooling. There's a Canadian on there named Dorothy who lives in Perth and she's got school aged kids.

My only word about the schooling is that private schools are not necessarily better. Have you checked out the other schools and their curriculum. Maybe checked into some advanced or gifted schools so your son can stay ahead.

My last comment I hope doesn't seem like a criticism. I know you're concerned that Australia be at the same level as Canada at all times, but I think that's unrealistic. They're too different countries and the curriculum is likely to have differnt focuses at different times. So doing a constant comparison to where your son is in Canada is not particularly helpful unless you will immediately be returning.

I've heard similar complaints from the people from the UK. There are those that just go with the flow or will continually complain about it while hear and might even return to the UK.

My daughter will be going into Prep next year. I'm a teacher and I actually like the slightly slow approach and focus on other social type skills earlier on. I'm sure I'll probably teach my daughter some things on the side as well. The no homework thing is interesting too. That does vary teacher to teacher and I've heard some at early grades doo and some don't.

I'm a high school math teacher and haven't taught yet here. But I've had a look at the curriculum and I can tell you it's more or less the same as Canada. So they get there eventually even if they start out a bit slower.

I don't mean all this as a criticism. Mostly my point is if you're planning on staying then you should be looking for the best education by Aussie standards, not compared to Canada (in my opinion).

Also, why Perth? Have you thought about moving to Brisbane? It would be a much smaller move and there's a lot more here than on the Sunshine Coast.

I should add that my daughter will be in Prep next year and that we will be going back to Canada in about 2 years. It was always the plan so has nothing to do with Australia.

But she'll be going to regular state school and when we go back to Canada I'm sure she'll be behind a bit. But kids are very resiliant and I'm a teacher, so we'll start preparing before hand and we'll return at the beginning of summer so we've got a couple of months to prepare.

Hello! Thank you so much for your insight! How lucky am I to get this perspective from a teacher too!

I know one must wonder why we'd move from Sunshine Coast clear across the landscape rather than investigate the closest city, but we do have a logical reason.

We're here as a student currently, and the prospect of a potential job may change our situation to permanent residency. However, before we make the commitment to try to settle there.I've said I want to ensure that the schooling there is better than what we've uncovered here. I understand countries differ in standards, and we're certainly not strangers to here as we've been here a number of times.however, this is the first time we've had a child in school and we've experienced it in private and charter schools in Canada and now we've tried our hand at a private school here.

My discovery is that where we had our son in a charter system far exceeds the performance of where kids are his age and grade here. Out of 48 kids in the combined classrooms, only 2 can write their own names and our child is one of them.

It is my hope that the schools in Perth are better than here. The trick will be to find one that has a better level of expectations by the end of grade one. I've learned to ask what the achievements ought to be when they complete grade one here.

At this point, I am unsure if we'll head back. I've met 2 families here. One family is from the UK and they refuse to educate their kids here. So, they're homeschooling and making plans to return to the Uk. The other is a family from UK whose child was entered into the school system from Prep school, so they say they've got nothing to compare a standard to.I suppose it's fair to say this since they can't compare it to anything previous but once you've tried another sort of education, it's natural to compare. This itself is learning. I know our child is getting a great experience regardless. There's not alot of kids who can say they've walked past a kangaroo on the way to school, who've seen a koala in the wild, and the sorts of things typical to Aussie kids and I am glad my child is getting this experience.

If I can find a school which instills good values (respect for other children and self) and promotes a healthy environment to excel in, encourages homework from grade one and on, then I think I can feel like our child is being placed in a solid learning environment.

Good points there. I would be concerned as well by the kids not being able to write their name by grade 1. My daughter just turned 4 at Christmas and is now in pre-prep two days a week. She can print her name (first name only) and so can another 2 kids in her class. This is not because I've been working on her, more just general curiosity on her part. She just started asking me how to spell all sort of things, but so far all the only other things she can spell or read is mom, dad & cat.

I would definitely hunt around for different schooling options. I absolutely love the kindy (pre-prep) place my daughter is at right now. When we sign the kids in in the morning there are also clipboards for the kids to write their name next to their picture and printed name above it. So at least they're starting to try and get them to read and write. They also send home "homework" once a week. Which is basically just an outline of that weeks topic that they discussed and ways to get your child thinking about it. Last week was about feelings and how to understand body language so we were to have a couple discussions with them. They're also very big on environment stuff and they do a bit of work in the garden and talk about recycling etc. After my daughter came home from school last week she kept telling me instead of putting the paper in the recycling we should be trying to make something out of it so it could be usefuly again! So I think she's picking a few things up from school.

The moving to Perth makes sense now. I'm sure there a few good schools there to choose from. If you have a look at the website I gave you I'm sure you'll find more information on schools and everything else.

I've seen a lot of discussion about schooling on that site from people who came from the UK. It does seem as those some parents look down on the schooling and prefer the more rigid academic driven style of the UK. Then there are others who are happy it's not the same and are thrilled their kids are enjoying school and starting to enjoy learning.

I tend to fall into the semi-relaxed category. I'm not a big fan of strict learning styles and heaps of homework, at least not in the early grades. I do tend to like an approach that encorporates learning to be a good person, physical activityy, good values and instilling a lifelong enjoyment of learning. I do believe in homework that is age appropriate though, a small amount in the early grades working up to high school and at a level that the kids can do (not the parents). So for me, homework has it's place but I know some teachers tend to over do it and others are too relaxed.

I'm a high school math teacher, so I am a big believer in practice makes perfect. But when I assign homework (or rather used to) it was generally a medium amount with an optional extra practice section if students are struggling. Sometimes there's no point in doing an hours worth of math if after 20 minutes you understand perfectly and can get 100% on everything. So in my view, sometimes less is more. I liked to teach the students to do as much as they needed to do to understand everything perfectly, then do a little more just to be sure. I taught mostly adults though so this principle was easier to teach than with high school students who probably can't be trusted!

Anyway, I wouldn't get down on schools as a whole. It sounds like maybe the schooling aspect needs to be adjusted to better fit what your needs and wants are.

What sort of job are you hoping will bring PR sponsorship? I'm just curious because most people don't go the student visa route unless they didn't qualify for PR.

Just another thought. How close in age is your son to the students in his class? It might be worthwhile having him testing to see if he could be bumped up a grade if that's something you'd consider. If you do put your child back into the regular school system and he's more advanced than what is being taught he could get bored and just stop trying. So maybe you could look into that or enriched programs to give him a bit more.

I know my daugher will be starting school her 5 months later than she would have in Canada. So when we go back there will definitely be some catch up work to do. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. My son will even be more screwed up when he makes it to school. He will start prep when he is almost 6 (3 months under) so he's probably starting a full year later than he would in Canada. I'm hoping we would be back by then so it doesn't screw anything up though. If we were staying I probably wouldn't worry about it though, although if he was ready I might try and push to get him in early.

Anyway. time for me to go to bed. Good luck with your decisions!