School

Today kids went to their class for the first time. Dressed up formally, they looked good ;-))

We forgot to buy a skirt for Evelyn (yes, yes, she tried it on, but then it slipped out of our sight), we’ll buy one tomorrow, along with a cap for Alan (yes, a cap must be standard as well!).

So, I hope a colorful story about their impressions will be told tonight and while waiting now, I’ll reconstruct the way that brought us to this school.

First of all, with our skilled visa we could apply only for a public school, no private school would accept us. That’s the first rule. Then, any public school serves a so-called catchment area: a certain selection of streets within a few postcodes, so finally it’s not you who chooses a school for your children, based on your criteria and preferences – the school chooses you. Maybe it’s a bit too harsh to say so, but it’s pretty true as finally after discarding private schools from your search you’ll be left with one or two schools which would accept you based on your address. It can also happen that a school across the street will be out of the catchment area your home belongs to. It was not the case with us 😉

Anyway, knowing these two basic things, we contacted a few schools by email, yet being in Belgium. We googled suburbs and looked at their satellite images (properties, distance from work etc.) and decided on two let’s say regions where we would like to live, so we found fitting schools there and got in touch with them.

But our home happened to be just between the selected suburbs, so neither school fitted and we had no preliminary contact with any school. So, we called this particular school just after we got hold of the property and the first answer was an auto-reply like “we are closed for vacation till Friday 27/01”. The academic year in Australia begins on 01/02, by the way. We thought we shouldn’t panic as if it were crucial that the kids start on the very first day, there would be procedures foreseen. So, we waited till the school office reopens. The second call finished quite quickly as well as the lady on the phone said straightforward: “First check-in with the Intensive English Center for an assessment, here is their phone number”. 

We’ve got an appointment on 31/01. Kids were stressed for sure, especially when we realized that this Intensive English Center is in fact a regular school where many foreign students end up for a term or even longer if their English is found insufficient for study at a normal public school. Not a big deal in general, but a tiny-tiny detail that this school is 16 km away from our home would change a lot. 

The assessment consisted of a written test and an interview with the school principal. They did well 😉

While waiting for the assessment to finish, I had been given the enrollment forms to fill up like it was already decided that the kids would stay. No way! Berlitz courses and movies without translation did their job 😉

So, I called the lady from our school again (she sounded surprised, but maybe it’s only my impression) and we exchanged mails with the above letters, previous school reports and scheduled an appointment for enrollment. It was already a week after the school started. After filling up the forms we met the school principal and had a chat with him. He signed the forms which should be going to the Department of Education for review. Without the Department’s formal approval the enrollment can’t be completed. The principal said it would take about 48 hours for the authorization to be issued. It took another week though. 

It’s not for free, by the way. A foreigner on a skilled visa pays 5000 AUD (+110 AUD admin fee) per child per year in a public school.

Plus laptops, plus uniforms.

Anyway, here they are, my uniformly dressed kids (one with a smile, another with a sad face), I hope they’ll love their school and will find friends and hobbies quickly. Love you, guys, like to the moon and back. Thousand millions times. Good luck!!!