Schools in NZ and Australia

Hi there,
I am new to this board but am in a real jam and need everyone's expertise please! My husband and I have an opportunity to do a deferred leave program through our jobs where we pay in for 4 years and get the 5th year off. We've always dreamed of moving to NZ or Australia and see this as our chance. The problem is our 2 boys are doing french immersion here in Newfoundland and I can't seem to figure out what to do. I have done countless net searches and requested info from school boards and have gotten nowhere.

I know there is an american school in Australia that has the same calendar year but they don't appear to do french immersion. And I have found a few french immersion programs but I have no idea how hard it is to get in, and they follow the Jan/Feb-dec calendar year. With the calendar year different I am trying to figure out when to start our leave (because we'd start paying in now for that date!), in order to not mess up the years school. I don't want them to have to repeat a year because we got a travel bug.

I'd REALLY REALLY appreciate communicating with anyone who has experienced this mess. Because it will just be for a year, 2 at the max we have to be mindful of fitting back into french immersion and the canadian schedule. I am also considering going back to school in NZ but I can't see any french immersion programs there. Here's hoping someone can please help me.
Thanks,
Elizabeth

Oops.should have added that my boys will be looking to start in grade 6 and 1 when we are there. Thanks!

I can't answer your question, but I was wondering what kind of visa will you have when you come?

If your coming on a temp visa in Oz you might have to pay for the kids schooling in some states (like NSW). In other states it might be free. If you will have a permanent resident visa then the state (public) schools would be essentially free. Private schools would always have a fee.

If you're coming on a tourist visa I would expect to pay for schooling no matter where you go, although I can't be certain. I would expect about $4000-5000 as a starting point. If you're coming on this visa you would not be able to work either.

Not sure what the rules are like in New Zealand though.

I can't comment on the french immersion. I've seen lots of other languages offered, but french is not as common.

Hmmm I also can't answer your question unfortunately, but I'm thinking maybe you should try contacting either the NZ or Aust Consulate or pick a state and contact their Education Department.

I'm in Sydney and I haven't heard of any French immersion schools either. Best advice is to call each state's school board.

My husband and I are social workers and it looks like that's one of the professions identified as a high need. We only hope to come for a year or 2 , and to be honest know almost nothing about the visa process. For us, we need to know the kids will be ok in school first then we work on getting there. Hadn't realized about paying for school though.so thanks comet555, I'll definitely check into that. I have contacted the state education authorities for one school that looked promising and have not gotten an answer.
Thanks everyone!

If you come on a permanent working visa like the 175 then state schools would be free for your kids. If you choose to send the kids to a private school then you would have to pay for that (everyone pays for private regardless of visa).

As far as the allergies go, my daughters preschool (called kindy here) is very sensitive to allergies and has banned some nuts, and even eggs depending on the classroom. It seems pretty standard around our area to have peanuts banned and if a child had another allergy I'm certain other things would be banned as well.

Thanks everyone.I guess the whole visa thing is new for me. If we only plan to come for a year or 2 would it be appropriate to apply for a permanent visa? I guess anything's possible and we could decide to stay. What has been your experience.I certainly don't want to pay for education if we don't have to. We will still have property in NL however.
Thanks!

I definitely don't think it's inappropriate, that's exactly what we did and why!

We went into the whole thing knowing that it would likely only be a 2-3 year stay. But while we were there we didn't want to worry about health care or school for the kids. Plus, we wanted the option of staying as long as we wanted if we chose to stay.

Getting a visa can be very difficult for some people and we figured if we qualified now then we should get the permanent visa. If we went on a temp things could change in a year or two and we might suddenly have found ourselves wanting to stay but unable to get a visa. So getting the PR visa upfront is the best way to keep our options open. Plus, when we applied the wait for citizenship was only 2 years but it has since been changed to 4.

I don't see anything wrong with getting a permanent visa right away. You are committing to living & working in Australia (and paying taxes) for a year or two. If you don't like it you can leave and your PR will expire. If you do like it you can ultimately apply for citizenship.

Have you checked to see if you qualify for a skilled independent 175 visa? There are other visa options but that is one of the most common.

Hi comet,
Boy you are a fountain of information, thanks so much! I did check into the visa you mentioned and yes we do qualify. Is this the one you went on? I am assuming this is a permanent visa.So strange to be completely out of my depth! Does it take 4 years for all the visas?

While I would love for the boys to continue with french immersion, most critical for our budgets is ensuring that we don't have to pay over $8,000 each for public education. That's what the school I checked with told me! We don't do that here in Canada.I don't know if we'll fall in love with Australia, but certainly has been a dream for my husband and I forever, so we are going for it. Do you or anyone know if all the states have the same policy with regards to international students paying their own costs for public schooling?

Thanks again.this board has been such a Godsend!