MNetters in Auckland - ABetaDad may be joining you

[ABetaDad]

I never thought I would ever post here but hello to all NZ MNetters and especially to anyone in Auckland (Sibble?).

I promise not to keep bugging with questions about emigration but me, my wife and 2 DSs may be coming to Auckland for 18 months and would be ever so grateful for a few tips on schools/housing.

We have been doing a lot of Googling so know a fair bit about Auckland and how the NZ education system works but if money were no object which co-ed private school would you send your DCs to age 10 and 12 and where would you ideally live in the centre of town?

The only contraint is that it has to be no more than 15 minutes bus/train ride to the CBT.

Most of the good private schools seem to be single sex which we do not really want so we are also willing to consider very good state schools too. We do not drive so we have to use pubic transport and hence need to be in the centre of town.

Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

hi abetadad, i'm in auckland too. been here about 15 years, but won't be here much longer! it's a really great place to be.

i haven't got time to read the entire thread at the moment, but will return later. i noticed someone mentioned uni professors. are you going to be connected with one of the unis? if so, i might be able to help you out with info

whiteflame Would you know the best way to find out if any Auckland academics want to do a sabbatical house swap for 3 months end of this year? I have looked at Sabbatical homes .com but also wondered if there might be any direct ways of organising such a thing.

whiteflame - we might have a connection to one of the Auckland Universities through a colleague of DW and I used to be in academic research too but we will go anyway even if we have no job and then just look around at what the place has to offer when we get there.

Good to see you stayed 15 years. Were you from the UK originally? Are you leaving to come back to the UK?

Hi ponymum! I don't have a lot of experience with sabbatical issues, but we have had a couple of sabbatical visitors. mostly they use trademe to rent an apartment/house close to the relevant uni. It's pretty easy to rent places short term here (i.e. a couple of months), especially close to the unis. Also I think there is another website called academichomes.com. Is there a particular uni/department you are interested in?

Abetadad, good to find a fellow researcher! So you're not tied especially to the middle of Auckland? If you are interested in a more beachy lifestyle, the North Shore is about 10-15 mins north of the CBD and has loads of nice suburbs, beaches and parks. From some of the suburbs there is a park and ride bus directly into the city, with a special busway to avoid traffic. The main private school on the shore is kristin school, which caters for kids of all ages. I think there might also be a smaller, newer one called Pinehurst School. All of the state schools on the shore are pretty good too. I see someone mentioned Devonport, I think the (state) schools there are called Belmont Intermediate (for your eldest) and Belmont Primary (for your youngest).

I was from the UK originally, but moved over here with my parents when I was quite young. No particular plans to head back to the UK, I'm going to the US on a research contract soon. Hopefully it will all go smoothly!

Let me know if I can help with anything. Mostly I know about the North Shore, but may be able to help with other areas too

whiteflame - thank you for the information on North Shore. I will check it out.

Well done on the US academic post. Not easy to get one of those. Just thinking ahead a bit on our position, when is the main recruitment season for NZ academics? Me and DW are both finace/economics backgrounds and have both worked in Business schools which might be our best way of getting at least part time lecturing posts.

Thanks abetadad, things are starting to get busy with the US move, that's for sure! Same as for you I guess!!

I would think recruiting is based around the teaching timetable, which is split into two semesters. Semester 1 (when most of the new students start etc) runs March-July. Semester 2 runs July-Nov/Dec. Summer schools run Dec-Feb for some courses. Also, there are quite a lot of adult community education classes, where independent people set up night classes (usually at a local high school). Depending what your area of expertise is, this might be an option to check out. IT/business/cooking/language classes are all popular around here.

What field are you both interested in?

Me and DW have taught business and economics to undergraduates and gradates in UK universities so ideally it would be a temporary or part time University Lecturer position we would be looking for.

The recruitment process in UK universities for lecturers kicks off in December for starting the following October so I guess NZ recruitment would kick off in June to start work the following March?

It is not essential we have jobs but would be nice to have something to do during school term time and a bit of exposure to locals in a job/social situation.

University recruitment in NZ doesn't work quite the same way as in the UK or US, partly due to the small size of the sector. While the departments will be planning how many staff they will need for the next semester or next year, and might advertise in advance for additional positions, most departments just run advertisements for lecturing staff whenver the need and budget arises - year round. Partly because if you let a vacancy linger, you might find you're not allowed to fill it later in the year when things get tight....
And, unless it is a brand new programme/department, tutoring staff tend to be already known and just carried over to next semester, or co-opted from postgrads. So I would just keep an eye out year round on the university and polytech websites. In Auckland those would be:
www.auckland.ac.nz
www.aut.ac.nz
www.massey.ac.nz (Auckland campus)
www.unitec.ac.nz
www.mit.ac.nz

In terms of homes for rent, many staff advertise their homes for rent in the internal staff newsletters. You might need to have a bit of a hunt around the websites for those newsletters.

I've just returned from 8yrs in the UK (I'm a kiwi) and moved to Devonport.
I'd def recommend it, there's loads of Brits here.. haha
Property prices are a bit out of reach for some of us though, we were lucky to find a 2 bed place to rent, there are not that many available.

good luck with your research, exciting times

if i can help with anything, let me know, all my family live on the North Shore, go to schools and teach here