Hi, we live in Christchurch. We moved out here at the beginning of January and we love it here. I have a 4 year old, 2 year old and a 5 week old (who is officially a kiwi!), and we haven't had any trouble settling here. Yes, there has been several earthquakes which has meant the city centre is cordoned off and there has been a lot of damage to old buildings and many houses to the east of the city. However, it is a big place, and most of the city is open and working - in fact in many parts you wouldn't know anything had happened. We have lots of malls here that you can go to for shopping, so we don't miss being able to go into the centre. There is also a lot to do here, far more than in the uk where we lived (Gloucester). Hagley Park is fantastic, with huge play area, paddling pool and lots of gardens for the kids to explore (my 4 year old calls the NZ gardens "the jungle"!), and through Nov to March there is an event on there pretty much every weekend. The beach is a 15 minute drive from us, and we have year membership to Orana wildlife park and Willowbank reserve (google them) for only $50 each for a whole year - at Orana my kids love hand feeding the giraffes - all less than half an hour from the centre, so we go out there a lot. Banks Peninsular is beautiful, and 20 mins from our house takes us up the Port Hills with stunning views across Christchurch to the Alps one side and various bays the other side. I could go on and on...!
We missed the major earthquakes, but you will feel some shakes here, but they are becoming less and less - we've only felt about 3 little ones in the last month, and my kids don't even notice them. All kids here are taught what to do if there is one, as they are in the rest of NZ. Yes there could be another big one (although apparently unlikely) but the buildings have been assessed here and anything that wasn't up to code has been cordoned off or already restrengthened, so we do feel safe - despite two fairly big ones since the feb earthquakes no one else has died, which shows the precautions that have been taken. Don't listen to people who say it's a horrible place to live in (mainly seems to be people who don't live here!) - listen to the people who live here - the other expats we know love it here too, and we have met lots of people that have moved from other places in NZ to here and love it too. Most people you talk to around Christchurch are very proud of where they live and have no intention of leaving.
We live in St Albans, which is north of the CBD and very nice and has nice schools. There are lots of nice suburbs about, which I can list some of if you like, but I would stay in a motel when you first get here and have a look around to get an idea of where you like. We were lucky and managed to get a nice rental within a week of looking, but you really do have to be here to see them, don't try from uk, as some can be very dated, bit damp etc - have a look on trademe.co.nz for an idea.
Kids start school here on their 5th birthday and go into year 1 - the school year runs from January to December. Most schools have a website which gives you an idea, but they do have quite strict zoning here for schools so you do really need to decide on an area first. My daughter will most likely go to St Albans school next year. Schools don't have ofsted here, but have a decile rating between 1-10, this shows the social make up of the area but exam results etc don't have any effect on these.
Lots of work for a QS here!
Any more questions don't hesitate to ask!