Parents can feel insecure when it comes to moving abroad with their young children. Indeed this might be a scary adventure, but it is possible to get positive outcomes from this experience.
Moving to a new country can be truly hard. Adjusting yourself to a new culture, a new language and new people is extremely challenging. Imagine the same situation for primary-school-aged children. Leaving friends and family behind is always overwhelming, and parents don’t want this experience to be traumatic. The adaptation phase can be long, but the good news is that there are ways to make this transition smoother.
Overcoming Barriers
A country for everyone
Used to cultural diversity, Australians are welcoming and respectful people. Therefore, children will probably feel embraced during this period of changes. By the way, social interaction with natives is super important! This will be their new home from now on, so they must understand and respect local habits to fit better in society.
Australians Schools
Starting in a new school can also be quite frightening. Primary School Preparation programs are a great alternative to get your children ready for the new system. Even though things can be scary at the beginning, they will soon realise how exciting it is to meet lots of new people. This whole process is surely important to strengthen their self-confidence. Again, the previous contact with the language is important for this stage. This way they will get prepared to take the next step into school life and be capable to follow the classes.
Picking the Perfect Primary School
Choosing the perfect Primary School for your children is a hard task. There are many factors to take into consideration when trying to get this decision right. Australian Educational System can be quite different from other countries. We always suggest parents visit the institutions so they can feel its atmosphere. Observing the dynamic of each school will help to clarify whether your children would feel comfortable in that environment or not. Single-sex schools can also sound weird to parents from other countries. Australia has Co-Educational institutions – where boys and girls share the classes – and Single-Sex ones – where only boys or only girls are accepted. There is no evidence that proves which one is better so it will depend on what each family considers best. Last but not least, parents need to check the schools’ reputation, extracurricular classes and educational resources availability. What are their values? Do they match to your family’s? If the answer is yes, this can be the answer for you.
If you need help to find out more information about schools in Australia, click here.
Primary School Preparation
Our Primary School Preparation Program has been carefully designed to provide exactly what international students need to succeed in Australia. We use the concept of fun-learning in the classroom to encourage and motivate our students. The mix of nationalities and the contact with native teachers helps them to improve their English skills. The PSP classes have students from 7 to 12 years of age. We identified that interaction between different ages is actually positive for children. The older kids recognise the fragility of the younger ones, becoming protective and understanding children. Likewise, the younger kids admire the older ones, mirroring their attitudes. The happy and relaxed atmosphere focus on way beyond school life. We aim to bring local day-to-day experiences to the children, so they can naturally assimilate into the Australian culture.
Check below our interview with Kate Miller, our Primary School Preparation teacher.