# Schools



## langroberte (Feb 3, 2015)

We will be moving to the Auckland area in Jan. Trying to find a balance between wife's work commute and good schools for our daughter. We want our daughter (5 years old) to be in a good school. Wife will be working in the CBD. 
1. Is the commute from Takapuna to CBD bad during rush hour? We currently live in Chicago area and are tired of the 1 hr commute. 
2. How are the schools around the CBD?

We don't know if we want to rent a place near the CBD or North Shore.


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## simply me (Sep 17, 2013)

Hey there
I'm moving this summer , I'm an American expat too. 

Um.. I'm sure you'll be getting loads of responses. But just to let you know what I've learned on this forum is to choose home then school (for zoning) 

I used google maps. Just put primary schools and select one then see destination to your wife's work. 

Based on the decile of the schools, CBD area seems to have the lowest. But many kiwis I've met abroad tell not to be too put off bu a decile 6 or 7 school. North shore have higher decile? But I'm afraid the commute for your wife might be long. 


Let's wait and see what others say. 

By the way... Are youn shipping anything?


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## langroberte (Feb 3, 2015)

Thanks! No, we're not shipping anything. We're bringing large suitcases with us when we fly over there. We'd like to get a furnished apartment/house to rent since we'll only be there short term. Everything else we plan on purchasing through trademe.


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## Kimbella (Jul 4, 2013)

langroberte said:


> We will be moving to the Auckland area in Jan. Trying to find a balance between wife's work commute and good schools for our daughter. We want our daughter (5 years old) to be in a good school. Wife will be working in the CBD.
> 1. Is the commute from Takapuna to CBD bad during rush hour? We currently live in Chicago area and are tired of the 1 hr commute.
> 2. How are the schools around the CBD?
> 
> We don't know if we want to rent a place near the CBD or North Shore.


I can't give you specific information about your questions, but I can offer information about how zoning works here, versus what we're accustomed to in the US. Here schools allow for a certain number of out of zone placements, so once you narrow down what school/s you're interested in, you'll want to check their websites for enrollment date information, and if you are not in their zone, apply for out of zone placement. The beauty of this is that you are not necessarily stuck in choosing where to live based on what schools you'd like your child to go to. It's not a guarantee that they'll be accepted, but if you have a shortlist of good schools you're interested in, and apply to them all, there's a good chance your child will get into one. 
This year was my first foray into "choosing" a high school for my daughter. I applied for out of zone placement to 3 schools here in Christchurch, and she was accepted to all three (plus, obviously, her in-zone school as well). All three out of zone schools were in the top 9/10 decile for the city. I submitted the applications along with a formal letter of introduction, sharing our family history, as well as personal and academic achievements my daughter has succeeded at (awards and accolades she has earned, student behavior summaries from past teachers, etc). Some people might tell you that this makes no difference in terms of getting into a school; my stance is, it can't hurt, and probably *will* help--at least that's my conclusion based on personal experience. 

In terms of finding the school that fits what you want for your child, you'll probably want to check out the "auckland schools" posting in Wikipedia to get a list of local schools, and then check out their websites/facebook pages for academic standards and goals, curriculum, school motto, national standings, etc. That's what I did to narrow down what high school to choose for my daughter. We actually wound up sticking with her in-zone co-ed high school based on it's decile ranking, academic excellence (top tier NCEA ranking), and generous extra-curricular experiences: Nasa Space Camp in the US, Reef and Rainforest Camp in Australia, trips to France, Turkey, Italy, and NY.
So, I think you probably can find what suits your needs once you have an idea of the schools to do research on. Just make sure to check out of zone application deadlines.

Cheers


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## inhamilton (Jun 10, 2011)

langroberte said:


> We will be moving to the Auckland area in Jan. Trying to find a balance between wife's work commute and good schools for our daughter. We want our daughter (5 years old) to be in a good school. Wife will be working in the CBD.
> 1. Is the commute from Takapuna to CBD bad during rush hour? We currently live in Chicago area and are tired of the 1 hr commute.
> 2. How are the schools around the CBD?
> 
> We don't know if we want to rent a place near the CBD or North Shore.


The commute from Takapuna to CBD will take you 15 minutes outside of rush hours but up to 30 minutes between 7 and 9 am and between 4 and 6 pm. It's basically just popping onto the Northern motorway and then over the Harbour Bridge. Of course, the further out you go on the North Shore, the longer it will take.

As far as schools are concerned, I think primary schools are much of a muchness wherever you would be on the North Shore or CBD. Parents tend to be more choosy about the secondary (high) schools. Some go by decile rating, which tells you the sort of average incomes the parents of the kids at those schools are bringing in. But in my opinion, a high decile doesn't necessarily mean a better school and there's been some debate about ditching the decile system. For example, a pupil at Avondale College, which I think is about decile 5, got the highest marks in the Cambridge international exams. I guess it depends what you are looking for in the school. Kimbella had some good suggestions. Plenty of schools in both the CBD and North Shore with good reputations.


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## Kimbella (Jul 4, 2013)

inhamilton said:


> The commute from Takapuna to CBD will take you 15 minutes outside of rush hours but up to 30 minutes between 7 and 9 am and between 4 and 6 pm. It's basically just popping onto the Northern motorway and then over the Harbour Bridge. Of course, the further out you go on the North Shore, the longer it will take.
> 
> As far as schools are concerned, I think primary schools are much of a muchness wherever you would be on the North Shore or CBD. Parents tend to be more choosy about the secondary (high) schools. Some go by decile rating, which tells you the sort of average incomes the parents of the kids at those schools are bringing in. But in my opinion, a high decile doesn't necessarily mean a better school and there's been some debate about ditching the decile system. For example, a pupil at Avondale College, which I think is about decile 5, got the highest marks in the Cambridge international exams. I guess it depends what you are looking for in the school. Kimbella had some good suggestions. Plenty of schools in both the CBD and North Shore with good reputations.


I don't disagree at all with your comment, but would add, from personal experience only, that I think lower decile schools have a real risk of having more "rambunctious" students, which can make the learning environment less than ideal. My daughter's first 7 years were at a decile 5 ranked school, and her last few years there was miserable for her because the teacher spent more time disciplining and managing the class, than she did teaching. We also found that once we had moved and transferred her to a decile 10 school, although she immediately bloomed and blossomed in the environment, she *was* behind, in terms of what had been taught (specifically in Math) at her former school. She seemed to feel that she lost valuable learning time because her teacher would often have to stop lessons to deal with behavior problems in class. I would never claim that this means all mid to low decile classrooms are this way, but it's not uncommon to find less structured household rules in lower socioeconomic communities, which in turn can translate to fewer rule abiding/rule respecting/understanding kids in class. 
School IS the place where this can be rectified, but sometimes this comes at a cost to the other kids in class.


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