Education In WA

[ian&karen]

We are going through the process of getting documents etc to migrate at the moment and were looking for some advice on schooling in Perth for our two daughters. One will shortly be completing her GCSE's she was 16 in March - how will this fit in for her further education as in the UK she would be going towards A/S and A levels.
Our second daughter is due to start her GCSE's course in September, she was 13 in January - where would she fit into the education system and how does this compare.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Rgds
Ian & Karen

[donki]

i have two daughters 15 and 13 years 10 and eight, my two go to a private school and am impressed so far with the education they are receiving...i think your eldest would be in year 11 someone will correct me if i'm wrong.
There is a huge choice on offer in all areas

[ian&karen]

Thanks for your reply. Is private schooling expensive and in what area are you in?
Rgds
Ian

[Cerberus1]

We are going through the process of getting documents etc to migrate at the moment and were looking for some advice on schooling in Perth for our two daughters. One will shortly be completing her GCSE's she was 16 in March - how will this fit in for her further education as in the UK she would be going towards A/S and A levels.
Our second daughter is due to start her GCSE's course in September, she was 13 in January - where would she fit into the education system and how does this compare.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Rgds
Ian & Karen

Hi Ian / Karen, welcome to the forum.
Not sure when you think you'll be here, so will base it arriving towards the end of the year. If that was the case, in Jan/Feb 2011 (start of new school year), your youngest daughter would go into Year 9 & your eldest daughter would go into year 12.

Senior secondary school in WA consists of Years 8 to 12. There are 3 types of courses offered at the senior secondary level:


Tertiary Entrance Examinations (TEE) subjects
Wholly School-Assessed (WSA) subjects
Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) courses.

TEE and WSA subjects are being replaced by WACE courses. All of these courses are developed by the Curriculum Council. WACE courses are delivered in semester-length units. WSA courses are full-year units. WSA subjects are not used to calculate the tertiary entrance score but may be used to meet the requirements for secondary graduation. WSA subjects are full-year subjects.
Qualifications and assessment

The Curriculum Council of Western Australia awards the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) on completion of Year 12.
At the end of senior secondary school, all students enrolled with the Curriculum Council receive a folio of achievement. This folio includes the Western Australian Certificate of Education, a statement of results (including grades, any VET competencies and community service) and a course report with assessment outcomes and moderation results. A statement of results is also issued to students that complete at least 1 unit.
To be awarded the WACE students must:


have at least 10 full-year subjects (or equivalent) over Year 11 and 12
achieve an average of C grade or better in at least 8 full-year subjects
4 full-year subjects must be at Year 12 level
meet the English language competence standard
complete 2 units from an English course
meet the breadth of study requirement
complete 20 hours of community service (from 2009).

Standards are used to measure achievement in WACE course units. Achievement is recorded in terms of grades (A to E). Examinations are being implemented for WACE units. Tertiary Entrance Examination (TEE) subjects are assessed by school-based results moderated by an external examination. Wholly School-Assessed (WSA) subjects are moderated by the provision of assessment support and exemplar materials, school visits and consensus meetings.
Tertiary Entrance Examination (TEE) subjects and courses that are contributing towards the TER are reported in the Statement of Results with a numerical school assessment (0 – 100, raw examination mark, scaled mark and decile place). Wholly School-Assessed (WSA) subjects and course units are reported as grades.
The letter grades used in the statement of results are:
GradeDescriptionA
very high achievement
B
high achievement
C
satisfactory achievement
D
limited achievement
E
inadequate achievement

Access to higher education

Students with a Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) are eligible to continue to higher education. The Tertiary Entrance Score (TES) is calculated by the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre (http://www.tisc.edu.au/) (TISC) to determine the Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER).
The TESis 5.1 times the average of the highest combination of the TES scaled subject scores in 4 or 5 subjects (taking into account list requirements and unacceptable subject combinations) depending on which gives the highest average. The maximum TES is 510.
The Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) reports a student’s rank position relative to all other students of Year 12 school leaving age in the State. The TER is reported on a scale of 0 to 99.95 in intervals of 0.05.
University admission requires students to:


meet the WACE requirements
achieve competence in English as required by the particular university
obtain a high TER for entry to the particular program
satisfy other prerequisites for the particular program.

Hope this helps

Rob

[lesley]

hi- we were in exactly the same position when we came 6 months ago. Our daughter had done well in her GCSEs and is looking to go to uni. We put her in a stste school and she was horrified by the attitude of the kids and the slow and over relaxed attitude of teaching. We moved her to a private school this january and she is much happieI. in essence , she does her year 12 over the next year and then should go to uni at 17. they do uni from 17 to 20 and dont do honours unless they stay on for another year. I feel it is like doing an ordinary degree, year 12 is like A/S levels, year one at uni is like A level standard and year three is like to uk diploma. as my daughter doesnt want to go to a uni in WA ( she feels it is too dull for a teenager!) she will go to sydney/ melborne when 18, so will have to wait a year. As you are not a citizen in wa for 4 years after permanent residency, you are required to pay upfront for uni fees and cannot get a low interest loan. Smashing !!

[ian&karen]

Many thanks Lesley for your reply. All bits of information are are great value.
Rgds
Ian

[jock]

Both of our children go to private school (year 7 and 10). I had a look around Ocean Reef High School and was horrified at the facilities but in fairness I didn't delve further for their academic achievements. Mindarie Senior College has a very good reputation (year 11 and 12 only) which feeds from Kinross Midde School. My daughter wants to leave her private school to go there but if you aren't at Kinross or Yanchep Middle Schools you have to live in either Mindarie or Quinns Rocks. Its a state school.
They do have one less school year here but it might be worth considering putting your child through both year 11 and 12 here as they do teach differently and it may have a big impact on the year 12 results.

Private school fees vary. We pay around $6500 for 2 children but as its a Catholic school I believe that they are heavily funded by the church (though we aren't catholic). When we arrived last year my eldest daughter went into year 9. She spent an additional 6 months in that year including her time in the UK. At first she seemed very far ahead but after a few months she seemed to be stretched and loves it. They need to be on level 2 work in year 11 and level 3 in year 12 if they want to go to uni so you need to check it out when your eldest starts school. However the TAFE system also seems to have sideway routes into uni at a later stage if thats the direction you need to take.
Best of luck

[StraighttothePoint]

"Our daughter had done well in her GCSEs and is looking to go to uni. We put her in a stste school and she was horrified by the attitude of the kids and the slow and over relaxed attitude of teaching. We moved her to a private school this january and she is much happieI. in essence , she does her year 12 over the next year and then should go to uni at 17. they do uni from 17 to 20 and dont do honours unless they stay on for another year. I feel it is like doing an ordinary degree, year 12 is like A/S levels, year one at uni is like A level standard and year three is like to uk diploma. as my daughter doesnt want to go to a uni in WA ( she feels it is too dull for a teenager!) she will go to sydney/ melborne when 18, so will have to wait a year. As you are not a citizen in wa for 4 years after permanent residency, you are required to pay upfront for uni fees and cannot get a low interest loan. Smashing !!"

I am missing something here? Are we not all migrants coming into a completely different society, different cultural issues, different education systems and so on?

Of course the education systemwill be different. We just adapt to it don't we?

And as for not getting loans and / or having to pay up front for uni absolutely correct. Or are you suggesting that people just get on a plane, fly in, fill in a few forms and get all the benefits of a country without previously having contributed to it via the tax and other cash raising avenues?

We have a son at uni here and as far I can see he is getting the right level of education in relation to the degree he is undertaking. I think it is all, and said it before on these boards, different strokes for different folks.