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Original poster

What age do children start school in Melbourne? My dd is five in November.

25 replies

savoycabbage · 02/09/2008 08:43

She is supposed to start school here in the UK in two weeks but my husband has been offered a job in Melbourne. To start in six weeks.

OP posts:
ghosty · 02/09/2008 08:46

If she is turning 5 in November she would start school in January '09 (the beginning of our school year).
They start school if they are 5 by April 2009.
My DD turns 5 in Feb and she will start school in January too
So if your DD starts in two weeks she will only be one term 'ahead' if you see what I mean ...

ghosty · 02/09/2008 08:48

You could not let her start in the UK (save yourself the cost of uniform etc ) and then start her here.
Where will you move to [nosey]

Original poster
savoycabbage · 02/09/2008 09:36

I don't have a clue! Where do you think? We have never even been.....we have lived in Sydney before.

To be honest I am feeling sick about the whole situation. I don't know if it is the right thing to do.

We have already got her uniform and she thinks she is going to school with her friends. But dh's new job starts on Oct 21st.

OP posts:
ghosty · 03/09/2008 09:25

Melbourne's a big place - there are lots of nice places to live, but it depends on your budget etc and whether you are renting or buying and all that.
It is normal to feel sick about it all ... I know that feeling well as we moved from the UK to NZ and then 5 years later to Melbourne ...
Where is his job based?

kitty1kat · 04/09/2008 20:06

IMHO, the bayside suburbs are a fantastic place to have kids in Melbourne - Elwood, Brighton, Sandringham, Black Rock etc. All depends on ghosty's questions though - important to be easy commute to work. And also, do you know any other people in Melbourne? Good to be close to anyone you know. And then, also good to be near a good primary school (if you are planning to send her to a state school)...

chloeb2002 · 05/09/2008 01:53

hi i started my dd in school before we left for aus similar to you we left nov 1st. wished i hadnt as she was just that bit further in front of her peers when she got here and had expectations of what school is like.. it is certainly very different here in qld. good different i think but hard for dd. so id sit tight and involve her in the move instead.. lots of packing looking at the net etc...

Original poster
savoycabbage · 05/09/2008 08:19

Hi, we have got the job contract this morning. The job is in Richmond. The total salary is $115, 540.

We want to rent as we already have a house and a morgage here which we are not going to be able to sell in the next month. So we need to live somewhere with a good primary school - that is going to have space for January! When do the school holidays start for summer?

I don't know anyone at all in Melbourne I am terrified and I am unhappy. It is such a massive thing to do. He hasn't signed the contract yet......

OP posts:
tilbatilba · 05/09/2008 08:46

Melbourne is fabulous and Richmond is a great area to work and live. Schools break up around Dec 18 and start back at the end of January.
Areas close to Richmond are Sth Yarra East Melbourne Hawthorn if you want to start looking for property.....look on domain.com
Melbourne is full of great schools, you will have masses of choice...don't stress about getting a place.
We moved here 4 years ago and just love it
Tilba x

eidsvold · 05/09/2008 09:11

here is the education website This might be a good help for info too.

tilbatilba · 05/09/2008 10:55

shoud be www.domain.com.au

One of the best state primary schools near Richmond is Auburn South Stae School.......might help you make a start. Good luck and happy to help in any way. Tilba xx

ghosty · 05/09/2008 12:29

Hi Savoy ...
My DH's office is moving to Richmond later this month ... it is a brill place to work ... but (sorry Tilba) I wouldn't want to live there as it is very 'city' and therefore not much space.
We live in a suburb called Ivanhoe (north) and it has a bit more space than the suburbs that Tilba mentions. Sth Yarra and Hawthorn are absolutely lovely though - lovely houses and good schools .... just a bit crowded.
The salary sounds good but rents are still high here (we rent in Ivanhoe)
If you want to email me at ghostyandmeg1(at)bigpond(dot)com (put in the right symbols and remove the brackets obviously) I can chat to you more about it. I know how scared and unhappy you feel (I have been there a couple of times now) and just want to reassure you ....
{{}}

tilbatilba · 05/09/2008 21:39

Hi Ghosty....I agree Richmond certainly is very close to the city but I guess I was thinking of avoiding a commute for Savoys dh as Melbourne's traffic is certainly heavier than I ever remember.
I was thinking more of all the beautiful parks like Fitzroy Gdns in East Melbourne and the Botanical Gardens in South Yarra. If you like living in suburbs Melbourne certainly has loads of them and yes you will get a bigger garden, leafier area etc .

ghosty · 06/09/2008 00:21

Hi Tilba ... yes, DH And I were just talking about it and we do agree Richmond would be ACE to live in, we would love it ... if we didn't have kids though . The commute to our place might be a bit of a killer when DH moves - he is in Kew at the moment and it can take him up to 30 minutes to drive a distance that should be no more than 15

Hethbell · 06/09/2008 00:58

Hi I moved to Melbourne in Jan 2008 with a 4 year old and 8 year old. Didn't know anyone and to be honest it was super stressful to start with. My DD started school end of jan before she was 5. As long as your child is 5 before the end of April she will start in Jan. Probably the best time to start as this is the start of the school year. Melbourne is a fantastic city. Look on realestate.com for property. A good book is Living and working in Australia recommended by the immigration department. You could also try Poms in Melbourne. Haven't been on this forum but i have been told it is a good way to meet people. We have been sent to Adelaide with my husbands work otherwise i would have met you. Good Luck! You will love it.

tilbatilba · 06/09/2008 02:21

Ghosty....on reflection we came from Hong Kong to Melbourne so East Melbourne was almost rural! I take your point! We have now moved to the Surf Coast and love it.

Just want to say to SavoyCabbage that we moved to Melbourne when my dd's were 5 and 4 just 2 weeks before school started for the first time for the 5 yr old.
She too was sad to leave her friends in HKG but the excitement of starting school and all the new friends she made was wonderful for our transition here. It made it so much easier moving with little children as everyone was so welcoming and we had an instant net work.

My dd's are 8&9 now and we are an hour out of town but very happy to meet or help in anyway I can. Tilba x

ghosty · 06/09/2008 03:26

Lol Tilba ... we moved to Melbourne from Auckland, NZ and felt we were country bumpkins moving to a bustling metropolis so yes, I suppose it depends on how you look at it ...

Original poster
savoycabbage · 06/09/2008 08:23

Thankyou everybody! This is all great information. I am going to look at all of these areas and websites tonight. Do you think I will be able to get my oldest dd into a school in January? Will there be places?

The company my dh got the job with are going to give us somewhere to live when we first get there close to the job. I still feel like we will need to decide where we want to live though because of the school thing.

We still haven't decided if we are doing this. My dh wants to. He has always wanted to live there and isn't happy here. He is from Trinidad and is only living in the UK because of me. He is cold and he misses the beach. We haven't had a summer here for two years now.

I however am really happy here. I have got friends and a life. I have a sister and a niece and nephew the same ages as my children and I am very close to my sister. She is having another baby in March. I also have a mother who is on her own and who has just had to move out of her house because it was flooded. If we go I won't be here to help her with all of that and I want to be.

My children are happy. They play out and go to activities. I have chosen and got my dd into a lovely school. She knows other children who are going. She is not at all a confident little girl and starting school is already going to be hard for her I think.

I feel like in a month I am going to be standing in Melbourne in a lovely park or at the beach but I will not have my family.

OP posts:
tilbatilba · 06/09/2008 21:13

You will certainly get your child into a school! The private schools may well have a waiting list but a Govt school ....called State Schools here will def. take your dd. It just isn't the big deal here.

How long is the contract? Is it something that you can look at short term...like an extended holiday or a bit of an adventure???

Can you find out where the company house is and I can send you a list of near by schools.

Good luck with your decision making

Original poster
savoycabbage · 07/09/2008 22:29

The house the company has is also in Richmond, where the job is. I have had a look at the school. It looks great but I can't see us living so close to the city. It's almost impossible to look for an area to live in though. We are looking at the Domain website at areas that he could commute from. We want to live somewhere a bit on the multi-cultural side as our dc are mixed race.

The job contract is permanent! I have already told him I can't say that I am going to live there forever. I am totally and utterly terrified.

OP posts:
tilbatilba · 08/09/2008 08:54

Well Richmond would be the one of the most multi cultural places in Melbourne! What about starting off in Richmond and then deciding where appeals to you? Less stress that way. There is a great little Steiner School in the old Convent in Abbotsford, next suburb to Richmond. Masses of beautiful grounds and next to the most beautiful childrens farm I've ever been to. A really fabulous community. Have a look at Sophia Mundi or the Collingwood Childrens Farm .
Don't be terrified...if it's awful you can always bolt home again. Melbourne really is a magic place to live.

northernrefugee39 · 09/09/2008 13:38

Just do your research on thee "great little Steiner school" tho' won't you?
Plenty of threads to look up on mumsnet etc....

kitty1kat · 12/09/2008 22:13

agree Richmond is certainly a multi-cultural place, have no problems on that front! There are some gorgeous places, and heaps of parkland around, although it is def more urban than other areas like Hawthorn, Kew, South Yarra. Hawthorn has some of the best state schools in the country. And agree with TilbaTilba, the Collingwood Children's Farm is AMAZING!

PS - TilbaTilba, where is your nickname from? My anscestors are from Tilba Tilba in Aus!!

tilbatilba · 18/09/2008 07:11

It is from Tilba Tilba on the South Coast of NSW It's one of my favourite places. With a population of 44 your ancestors shouldn't be hard to trace !!!!!!

MelbourneMum · 23/09/2008 10:35

ooooh tilbatilba, that's one of my favourite places too, its gorgeous!!

Hope its all coming together savoycabbage, I'm sure there are lots of us who would be happy to meet up with you in the playground to reasure that we have stood firmly in your shoes before and survived and even come to completely love it here!

Please don't be lonely, its awful, get online and ask for a meet up, you will definitely get takers. I remember feeling like I was stalking other mothers in playgrounds I was so desperate to make friends and then I joined this ground and that and it all came together (and of course ghosty turned up and life was complete! I still so fondly remember our first meet up at Collingwood Children's Farm). Mumsnet is such a gift

xxx

MelbourneMum · 23/09/2008 10:36

whoops, I meant joined this 'group' not this 'ground'.

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