Quoll

My granddaughter gave me a lecture on Christmas day - I said Happy Christmas (I usually interchange) but she told me in no uncertain terms it was Merry Christmas! All the other events like birthdays, Easter, Halloween etc are "Happy". So now I know. But never ever "Happy Holidays"

Welcome to the gang, you are not alone. Sadly there is no magic answer other than to put yourself out there - anywhere and everywhere - and see what sticks. It’s obviously much worse in an environment like today where you are working from home. Most of my “friends” were from work or, when the kids were little, from kids activities. I really have none of the “call at 4am friends” (the ones you can rely on, no matter what) that I have in UK. None Have really stood the test of time. We were back in UK for 9 years until almost 2 years ago and since my return I’ve seen one friend twice and another friend once (friend is a loose term I guess, ex work colleagues might be more descriptive) - as Covid wasn’t much of a thing here that wasn’t the factor. In UK I had friends of over 50 years I would catch up regularly and new “call at 4am friends” I had made through an interest group. If you can find an interest group, be it ballroom dancing or stamp collecting or anything in between you might be more inclined to find someone to gel with. I also married an Aussie but we were a 12 hour drive from his folk and I think that worked well - if you are too close to your OH’s family there is always going to be the third wheel situation - they have everything - family, friends, familiarity with environment and you get diddly squat. If you can move away further from her family so you’re not in each other’s pockets then you are more likely to forge a life as a couple and that may help. Sympathies, it’s not easy and it may or may not get better depending on how “out there” you are prepared to be.

Australia doesn't post their education jobs. Each state posts their own for government schools and there's usually a state website. Private schools use sites like Seek.

Probably about the same as a vaccinated uninfected person. You do know that vaccination neither stops you getting it nor passing it on. OTOH they may have a fantastic immune system which would stop them getting it, you never can tell.

There may be new vaccines coming up soon, I believe Novovax is about to arrive - it is more traditional if it is the highly experimental gene therapy which is deterring her Covax19 would be even better if it can get off the ground but Pfizer and Johnson&Johnson like to keep their profit margins up. She will, of course be of no risk to anyone except herself if she is uninfected and unvaccinated (but you will get the usual "putting everyone's lives at risk" mantra - there is a general conception that unvaccinated=infected which is, of course erroneous). However, I think airlines do require vaccination. Each state has its own regulations about what you can and cannot do as a vaccinated person. There's little difference in ACT for example but Vic is very draconian and it will be interesting to see whether NSW eases off after its big Omicron bomb.

I think you shouldn't panic about schools. Kids are moving all year long, nobody gives a toss if a kid is out of school for several months once you arrive, especially not at 6 and 4. Take your time, find the house you want to live in and the local school will be obliged to find a place for them so once you've decided on your catchment, you're good to wait until you can find a place. Actually, trying to find a place just before and after Christmas is not that sensible a move, that's when you get most movement - the lead up to Christmas is when people who know they are being posted are all trying to find a spot, then Christmas is doornail dead, then after Christmas you get the student influx. Honestly, dont sweat it. The kids can start school any time, they dont need to be there on day 1 of term 1. Get your home sorted first.

Consider education expenses if you have kids. Some states charge for the privilege of being a temporary resident in their schools. NSW for example is around $6k pa per child. ACT can (and it is convoluted) be up to $12k pa depending on age of child. Will education also be included in your package - and also watch out for the superannuation, is it included in your package or added on, that can make a big difference too. If you are only coming temporarily, you may not want to bring all that much anyway and can get away with a lot less than if you were coming permanently - things like Move Cubes were great for us with only a moderate amount to bring.

It's Gippy. Fair bit of Crystal meth about down that way apparently. Sale is small enough you probably don't want to go much smaller. Schools are much of a muchness wherever you go and they reflect the neighbourhood so if you wouldn't want to live in the neighbourhood you'd probably want to give the local school a miss. Lots of bike trails in Gippy, often along old rail corridors Watch out for Bushfire zones and flood zones The hospital is OK - my son and his family had to go there for something, can't remember if it was the paediatric ICU or the orthopaedic surgery (the other one was Bairnsdale) but it was quite good for whatever they needed it for. I have a feeling that Sale had a yarn shop which is always a plus in my book. Go and have a look, it's only a few hours from Melbourne

Summernats - a good time to get out of Canberra! I know some folk like it but I would rather have root canal than spend my days there and I love cars and love driving and enjoyed Bathurst. Eastern Creek is up near Australia's Wonderland - heavens, aeons since I thought of that one. I have no idea if it is still functioning but my kids used to enjoy it when they were little.

Always better to apply offshore and arrive with a permanent visa. All sorts of issues being on a tourist visa and then bridging - education for starters, fees to be paid etc

Bit of a catch 22 I suspect, most employers arent going to offer jobs to folk who dont have visas to get in and yet you cant say you have ties without a job offer and so, technically have no visa.

As Nemesis said, can she stay with relatives to do A levels? Is what I would do if I were in that situation - minimal disruption and literally keeps all get options wide open. She can spend holidays with you.

Well, June will be just fine for her age wise starting year 11 in 2023. Remember that Australia is a foreign country not an extension of Britain - it had nothing British about its education systems - certainly there are overseas assessments from some of the bigger boards like Cambridge, but not AFAIK in Australia and they would have had to have done that board's curriculum. If you want to come before June perhaps you can leave her with relatives until her exams are done. You're already getting into the "going back a year" thing - she isn't going back a year, she's moving to a foreign country to do a curriculum she had never done before and she will be joining her age cohort. In a handful of states she could be in a higher year but that's not really going to help her much at all.

You're right, GCSES mean diddly squat in Australia but as she's only 15 there isn't a rush to get her to Aus to start year 11 in Jan 2022 (when does she turn 16 is sort of the question really) so let her do GCSE in case your Australian dream may turn into a nightmare and she wants to return to UK education at some point. Then she can start year 11 in Australia at the beginning of 2023 and that will slot in neatly. Please don't get hung up on the relative year level names BTW. She may be in year 11 in UK but her age cohort in Australia may still be year 10 and, no, she won't be "repeating" anything because it's a foreign country with different education systems (we can't even get all the states to agree on the same thing!). The other question of course is could you even get here for a January start if you did decide to go straight away? She really won't want to miss any of year 11/12. Ideally, you could wait until she's finished A levels so as to keep all her options open but by then you'd be having much the same issues with your year 7 (or whatever Australian year he may be) child.

I’d have said the $45k is a much more realistic prospect though I would have rounded it up to $50k. And that, of course, doesn’t include visa costs, transporting your belongings, paying fares etc so by the time you’ve factored all that in you’re looking at another £15-20k. It’s not a cheap move at all.

Still not sure about the PGDip - was it a full year in a uni with the requisite number of prac teaching days? She could apply for anything if she got a visa, whatever floated her boat really - could be adult ed, retail sales or local government - whatever she can sell herself as. Wouldnt bank on the work/life balance thing - Aussies have fewer holidays and work longer weeks than UK and if you have career aspirations then it can be cutthroat.

Did She do a PGCE after her first degree? PGDIP not so common over here so was it after a 3 year education degree to improve teacher status or was it the teaching training year? I know UK has some on the job learning options for QT status and they don't count for qualifications here. There is also the issue that, for a visa, primary teachers often require an additional skill like a second language and not all states offer visas for them at all and you'd need very high points to get an invitation these days. Once you get here, there's the catch 22 that teaching jobs are hard to come by in the places that people actually want to live in and plum positions are usually given to people who've done the hard yards in rural and remote first. Edited to say, the relations who live here are essentially irrelevant and if you hoped to continue with your role as HMRC investigator you would struggle to get a job with ATO (the equivalent) in the first instance as federal PS jobs require Australian citizenship generally. Intrigued by what you think the "better life" might be. It's just another first world country with all that entails, it's not magically better or worse than any other first world country though I can see that if you were hoping to move from somewhere in the third world it would probably be "better".

Don't need to apply for 143 onshore. They can put in an application right now offshore if you and they fulfil all the criteria and they can visit you while they wait. On a bridging visa they won't be entitled to anything and if they want to buy a home it will cost them considerably more than a resident. And, at the end of the day, if they fail the medical they will have to go home, so, much better to jump through all the hoops before moving and being sure you have a permanent visa.

They can apply for the 143 which is an offshore application. They can do that now. The wait times are blowing out but they can visit you while they wait.

Not only that, there will also be the issue of school fees for the kids and though the states differ on amounts, the dependents of international students can be up for $10k+ per child pa

Unless you have very deep pockets, studying in Australia is likely to be just a money black hole for you and you'll end up going home at the end of it anyway. Better to get qualified in UK - though teaching assistants are probably not going to be a great career option for migration I would have thought nor as a paid job once you get here either. Talk to an agent for your best strategy if your aim is staying permanently.

Reports from returnees over the years suggests that UK schools are very good at helping kids "catch up" if catching up is required. I don't think you are going to have too much of a problem - as long as you are doing the basics with respect to familiarity with books, fine motor control, maybe some elementary phonics at home then I doubt there's going to be an issue. That first 6 months is going to be more about learning routines, socialisation, elementary skills etc.

Foreign country quite different. School year runs from Jan to December. Schools have a priority enrolment area and are obliged to find a place for a kid living within that area so when you find the home you want to live in 24/7 then the local school will accommodate you. General rule of thumb - the schools reflect the neighbourhood they serve so if you wouldn’t want to live in an area you wouldn’t want to send your kid to school in that area so choose your home wisely! Your kids may not go into the same year level that they are in U.K. so don’t get too hung up on that - it all depends on their birth date. As you’ll be on a temporary visa you know that you’ll have to pay fees for their schooling I’m sure. $4,000 per year for a family at the moment I believe. Dont sweat it. Nobody gives a toss if the kids aren’t in school while you settle in and getting your home settled first is going to be key - where you will be working, where you can afford, where has vacancies, wherever the other things you need from your place of residence will all factor into wherever you end up finding a school. https://www.goodschools.com.au

I agree, get her to work really hard on her English both conversational - so joining social groups perhaps those with some interest that she has, going to migrant English classes etc even watching tv has been cited as a good way to learn the language. Practice, practice practice.

Mixed marriage here - I’m the Pom - and when the kids were young our best options happened to be 12 hours drive away from his folk and 24 hours flight from mine. My folk came over for 6 months every year, playing golf and travelling around the country. Personally (and just as well I suppose) I never had a burning need for support from either family but both families got to spend time with the kids every so often during the year. For us that worked well because I think if we had been close to his family I would have been very ticked off that they got everything to do with the kids and mine didn’t (although my parents made more of an effort to spend time with the kids). Having been “used” by one of my daughters in law I grew to resent the assumption that we were there to be used whenever she wanted so there is a fine line between use and abuse of grand parental good will. Personally I would be back in U.K. in a heartbeat if I could but the DH gave me 9 great years there (caring for nonagenarian parents) until Covid started and we left while there were still flights out. He’s happier in Aus and I still dislike it but not much I can do other than grin and bear it. We have one son with grandkids in each place so no easy answer there. My U.K. son did say once, many years ago, well before he was married, even, that he would like any kids of his to have the childhood he had which was nice, I suppose but he won’t leave U.K. now and his son looks to be having a pretty good childhood from what I can see. Kingston on Thames gets the thumbs up from them! Personally I quite like Herts but it’s not Cambridgeshire LOL! Bottom line though, if you both prefer U.K., go back! If you have U.K. born grandparents the ancestry visa is the way to go, otherwise it’ll be a spouse visa for a few years. Any kids are going to have a fine upbringing in either place as long as they have two loving and engaged parents.