Cazza

[Cazza]

Hi guys. Hope you are all well. 

Just freaking out a bit and after some general advice again!

We are moving out in November with 4 kids and I am wondering if that will give us enough time to get them all enrolled in schools before they break for the summer? Is it a pretty straight forward process?! 

Also..... accommodation. How long would you advice to book an AIRBNB for? Will it be hard to rent out there with only just entering the country? What sort of paperwork will they require as we obviously won't have any previous rental agreements or anything, would you recommend bringing mortgage statements from here, etc?

Lastly..... is it perfectly normal to be absolutely terrified and have moments of thinking what the hell are we doing?1 It's all so very daunting, any advice on the above and any reassurance would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance 

Caroline

[Rossmoyne]

Perfectly normal to feel terrified.   You would be abnormal if you weren't as it is a very large step to take in life.   Practice the deep breathing and take one step at a time and you will be fine.

As far as school is concerned, you have to have proof that you live within the school catchment area before your children can be enrolled.  This can be a letter from an Estate Agent stating that you will be renting a property from them and providing the address; it can be a utility bill in your name showing the address of the property; and if you are purchasing a property, it can be a copy of the accepted Offer to Purchase, or a copy of the Settlement Statement.   In all instances you would have to show the original documents and the school will take copies for their records.

The last day of term for 2018 in WA for state schools is 13 December 2018, so once you have arranged a rental or purchase, I would advise contacting the school straight away.

Do you have any idea of where you will be living?

[Cazza]

Thank you so much for those reassuring words, it's good to know that these feelings are all pretty normal......deep breathing it is! I really appreciate the schooling advice too, I thought as much but it's hard to get the right information from the other end of the world.

We are looking to settle in Mandurah although this may change once we get there and start looking at the areas in more detail. The flights are now booked for the 12th November and I am just in the process of finding temporary accommodation through Airbnb. Do you think 3 weeks will be long enough?

Also, our eldest child is 15 and not coping very well with the thought of this move. I feel so much guilt, people keep reassuring me that he will be fine once we are there..... does anybody have any experience of this sort of issue and if so how did things turn out?

Many thanks again

Caroline 

 

[Warnbro]

6 hours ago, Cazza said:

We are looking to settle in Mandurah.

Why Mandurah? Don't get me wrong, I love the place, but it's not where I would settle as a new migrant. As a place to visit, Mandurah is lovely but it can be a bit of a rough place to live in and it has more than its fair share of social problems.

Try to set yourself up a little closer to the city if you can. Maybe try somewhere like Beeliar which is closer to the city.

Renting anywhere shouldn't be an issue at the moment as vacancy rates across the city are quite high and landlords are pretty desperate for tenants.

Best advice would be to rent for about a year to gve you time to suss out which suburbs suit you best.

[Warnbro]

On 11/09/2018 at 10:42, Cazza said:

Will it be hard to rent out there with only just entering the country? What sort of paperwork will they require as we obviously won't have any previous rental agreements or anything, would you recommend bringing mortgage statements from here, etc?

If you can put down a months rent as deposit and pay a months rent in advance, you will secure a place no problem even without references.

[verystormy]

10 hours ago, Warnbro said:

Why Mandurah? Don't get me wrong, I love the place, but it's not where I would settle as a new migrant. As a place to visit, Mandurah is lovely but it can be a bit of a rough place to live in and it has more than its fair share of social problems.

So can anywhere. A friend spent a small fortune buying in Peppermint Grove. Moved in to find the house next door is a drug den and eventually woke up with police swarming as there had been a murder. Also had masses of other issues. In eight years in Mandurah we never had a single issue. 

[Warnbro]

2 hours ago, verystormy said:

Also had masses of other issues. In eight years in Mandurah we never had a single issue. 

I'd say you were a lot more likely to have problems in Mandurah than in Peppy Grove. I know Mandurah very well and have spent a lot of time there. We had a stilt house in Halls Head as a holiday home when I was a kid back in the '70s.

I spend a lot of time in the estuary now and we are thinking of buying a place on the river in Greenfields for when I give up work (maybe in a year or two).

But for a new migrant, Mandurah is a bit too "ocker" and very far flung from Perth.

It's a culture shock coming here. Nobody can argue with that. As you get closer to the city, you are more likely to be living amongst others who have migrated and that tends to temper things a little. Your kids will be going to school with a better mix of locals and migrant kids and there will be some pommy kids just like them.

I love Mandurah and my other half talked about us moving there when we migrated but after spending a bit of time there, she changed her mind.

I wouldn't even consider living where I live now if I were a new migrant.

[Cazza]

Thanks for the advice guys. The visas that we have are unfortunately restricted to regional, low growth population areas. Halls Head? Bunbury? We have quite a few options within the designated postcodes so will have to have a really good luck around once we arrive. We have heard very mixed reports about Mandurah and this does worry us somewhat as we have children at very influential ages. 

Are there any other suitable places that you would recommend within the Peel Region?

Thanks so much......

Caroline

[Cleowag]

Hi Cazza,

We’ve been in Mandurah for three years. Yes there are social problems but we lived in Manchester before and the problems seem a lot less here in our opinion. It’s true that it’s a bit far from Perth and there is still a small town mentality at times but it’s a beautiful place, it’s on the up and has all the amenities you would need. It’s also very affordable and easy to get somewhere within walking distance to the beach. Our son is in an excellent primary school in Halls Head.

We had three weeks in a holiday rental when we landed and that was just enough time, there are lots of long term rentals available at the moment so you should hopefully get one quick. Good luck and let me know if you need any further.

[Warnbro]

8 hours ago, Cazza said:

Thanks for the advice guys. The visas that we have are unfortunately restricted to regional, low growth population areas. Halls Head? Bunbury?

Are there any other suitable places that you would recommend within the Peel Region?

Mandurah covers a pretty large area so some bits are better than others. It all depends on your budget, but if you can afford to either rent or buy in Halls Head, you will be fine. I love Greenfields but I wouldn't raise a familly there.

If you are worried about the kids, put them in private school. That's what we did (enrolled them in a Catholic School in Rockingham). Although the socialist in me doesn't agree with private education, for a new migrant kid, it pretty much removes the possibility of being bullied or excluded in school. I should point out that neither of us are practicing Catholics. It's not a requirement or condition over here (otherwise the school wouldn't get any state funding).

Both our kids are at Uni now, but their primary currently charges $5,500 a year for a single child and to be honest, it was worth every cent. The Mandurah equivalent of where my kids went would be http://www.assumption.wa.edu.au/

It's a brilliant school and we have friends in Golden Bay who have three kids there.

Good luck with the move and remember, you only live once.

 

 

 

 

[FOL]

Don't you have to work regional as well? I would focus on that first as that is likely to be the biggest challenge.

[Jen78]

Hi, we had a holiday apartment for 2 and a half weeks and that gave us enough time to find a house, buy a car, enrol girls into schools, buy furniture etc so I would say that 3 weeks would be plenty.  We moved a 14 yr old and she settled straight away and has made a great group of friends and loves it here. Youngest went into year 6 and didn’t really settle for the first year but was happy enough.  As soon as she started high school things came together for her.  She still finds it difficult sometimes with new friendship groups etc but that would have happened in the uk anyway I think.

Rental wise we got a reference from the estate agent selling our house saying what good condition it was in, together with a copy of our brochure with the pictures so they could see it, and a reference from my friend saying how nice the house was kept, what good neighbours we were and how well behaved the children were.  We had a bank account already set up with our house sale money in it and gave them a statement so the knew we would be good for the rent.

once you have a rental agreement you can enrol in school but catchment areas are strict so you will need to check out the schools in the areas you are looking at.  You will need the rental agreement, confirmation of the set up of utilities at that address usually via email, passports and visas for the children and yourselves as parents.  It is a quick process and you will be able to enrol them during next term for a start for the next school year no problem

Please don’t the nerves detract from the excitement, it is massive what you are doing but bit by bit it will come together and everything will fall into place.  Your head will spin for the first few weeks and months, but it will feel like home in no time.  It’s definitely the best thing we could have done and haven’t looked back.

Best of luck with your final preparations

Jen 

[LouLouSkippy]

Hey, 

I wouldn't bother enrolling them into a new school until the new year starts unless you need to for working commitments... I would use the time to visit and find the right school...I definitely agree with going private for High School...unless you are lucky enough to be in an area for a top state school... Have you thought of looking at Secret Harbour...? I know a few poms who live here and rave about the place..