[Teabaglady]

Does anyone know if a "Good schools guide to New Zealand" book exists?
or decent websites to look at?

thanks!

[larac]

I don't know of any guides but if you want to know about Auckland I can give you some general info.

[Teabaglady]

thanks Larac
any advice you can give might be useful - not even sure if we are going yet! My children are 7,9 and 12 and been educated with Uk National Curriculum.
I believe we have to apply for private schools unless i can get a job teaching in which case they can attend local non fee paying school - are there any good ones?

thanks for your help!

[larac]

So your kids are in Primary School which are either for ages 5-10 or 5-12. Some areas have a seperate intermediate school for 11-12. I don't know why your kids couldn't go to public school. I have teacher friends whose classrooms are very international and in my opinion at the primary school level the public schools are generally very good and they are all co-ed. The schools work on Zoning so you need to consider schooling at the same time as considering where you live. The Eastern Bays is the most expensive area but also has the best schools. The schools work on a decile system so in the richer areas less money is provided by the government and in the poorer areas the government provides more. But in a poorer area the schools can be stretched for resources and the teachers have to play social worker alot. My friend has just moved from a huge very forward thinking school in a lower decile area to a small school in a nice neighbourhood and enjoys it alot more because she doesn't get paid any less but has alot less stress.
Where are you looking to live?

[Teabaglady]

no idea yet - would choose schools first then house
not sure if we wil end up in nz even.

can you give me the names of a few of the better schools and I can check them out on the web


many many thanks for your help!

[larac]

I don't know how many would have websites but you can give it a go plus there are hundreds so these are just ones I know close to where I grew up. My friend taught at Gladstone School in Mt Albert - huge and progressive. Now she teaches at Churchill Park in Glendowie which is where I went - lovely school with huge grass fields. Near to there you've got Glendowie Primary and St Heliers Primary, Kohimarama Primary, St Thomases, Meadowbank Primary, Remuera Primary and then Remuera Intermediate, Victoria Avenue Primary, Gladstone Primary in Parnell. Basically if you take the suburb name and add Primary there is a school with that name and the better areas tend to have the better schools.
For private schools I think they are all single sex I think and mainly located in the Remuera area. Remuera is the most expensive suburb of Auckland. For boys there is Kings Prep (most expensive and exclusive) and St Kentigern Prep. For girls there is St Cuthberts, Diocesan, Baradene and Corin. If you have church connections you are more likely to get in and generally the kids have to have some kind of religious education every day but other than Baradene which is Catholic and staffed with alot of Nuns religion is more of a foundation and education and sport are really the core.The girls seem to have primary and secondary at one location but the boys have separate secondary schools and now let the girls in at the senior levels.
If you are planning to be there for a while consider the Grammar Zone - it is in Epsom which is a really good areas but you also pay to be in the school zone because probably Aucklands 2 best state secondary schools are located there Auckland Boys Grammer and Epsom Girls Grammer. This is by no means comprehensive. Traffic in Auckland is terrible no matter where you live especially if you work in the city but the trains are improving so considering commuting by train is a good option but you will need a car. From Meadowbank the train takes 8mins to the city and whilst it is not clean or efficient it beats an hour by road.

Check out this site/book: http://www.wheretoliveinauckland.co.nz

I had a copy in NZ when we bought our house and it was really good.