# Australian state schools compared with UK term Years



## surfbum99 (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi there,

We've been living in Brisbane for 5 months and love it here, although miss somethings about the UK.

One thing is clear, we have a 4 1/2 yr old daughter who is in pre-prep kindagarden at the moment and will be going to prep at a good state school next January.

If we stay here, how would she get on going back to the UK say in a couple of years, will she be behind? As we don't want her to be in a year below at what ever time we decide to go back the UK.

Will the UK schools accept he status of being at a state school here and will the let her in the year she should be in, in the UK?

Regards,

Alistair.


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## amaslam (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi Alistair:

This is best posed to the UK schools themselves. Explain you plan to come back after year X of schooling and what info do the UK schools need to put your child in the same level.

Then based on that you should focus your search for an AU school that best meets those requirements (private will probably have more ability to do this than public).

Good luck 



surfbum99 said:


> Hi there,
> 
> We've been living in Brisbane for 5 months and love it here, although miss somethings about the UK.
> 
> ...


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## Aussiejock (May 26, 2007)

surfbum99 said:


> Hi there,
> 
> We've been living in Brisbane for 5 months and love it here, although miss somethings about the UK.
> 
> ...


Don't think that there should be a problem. School years only differ by around 6months. I have seen children from UK come in to NSW primary schools, at various stages, placed in their appropriate age group and are no more advanced than their Australian peers, so cannot see why a child from an Australian system should be perceive to be 1year behind their UK counterparts. I qualify this by saying that I do not have a great personal experience of the Queensland education system, but don't believe that it would be 1 year "behind" the NSW one!


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## surfbum99 (Feb 19, 2008)

*reply*

Hi there,

THanks for this, its just that obviously if she starts school in the UK she starts at 5years old in September, but in Australia she would start only prep in January and even prep isn't compulsory. 
Thats why it made me think if she was to return to the UK that she might be behind. 
But in the end, everyone whether their Australian or UK all seem to end up at the same place!


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## michellemarie (Apr 24, 2008)

Hi, Can understand your questions about the education system. we started in sydney, then moved to Ireland for 4 years then the caribbean for 3 years and now we are also in Brisbane with 4 children in school. the caribbean system is based on the uk system and the irish system is not unlike it either. I have found the levels to be quite similar and had no problem with age appropriate classes (which they were all entered in) we actually chose to keep one of our kids back due to the quality of education she received in her last year in the caribbean and the repeat year has helped enormously, both academically and maturity wise. our youngest is now in year one, however prep year here is very much the equivalent academically of either reception or junior infants or whatever the "real"first year of school is called in both Ireland and the caribbean, so I presume it is also the same in the Uk. I agree with the post saying private schools would be more able to respond to your queries as they seem to also have the most experience with international students. Also from a personal perspective, for us the private system was the way to go and we have no regrets, we were blown away with the level of commitment to the children and the overall ethos of the school they attend, and compared to the Uk costs, a lot more affordable!


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## The Brit in Aus (Apr 25, 2009)

Aussiejock said:


> I qualify this by saying that I do not have a great personal experience of the Queensland education system, but don't believe that it would be 1 year "behind" the NSW one!


I have experience of both NSW and then QLD, but none for UK.

When our daughter moved from NSW to QLD, in year 2, she was ahead of her same age group in some subject areas, but behind in others.

Now in year 8, she hasn't suffered from that move.

It reminder me of my move from Manchester to Kent, when I was 11 years old, and I was also ahead of my same age group in some subjects, but behind in others.


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## msgforsunil (Dec 20, 2014)

How do you compare UK education with Australian education?

Thank you


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