My daughter has had an extremely disrupted education. Ever since she started high school, we have moved eight times, which is more than once a year. We have now officially lived in every state of Australia, moving to Melbourne at the beginning of this year. Sarah commenced her final year of schooling in Melbourne a few months ago. It’s been difficult, and we’re not sure that the level of education in Australia is uniform amongst all the states. She says that she feels behind the other students at her new school, and that it’s expected that she remembers all the content for Units 1 and 2, however she wasn’t in the state last year when those units were undertaken. It’s been a rocky start to the year and she now fears that she won’t get a good enough ATAR to get into the university of her choice.
As her mother I am feeling quite sad for her, and want to do my best to ensure she performs as well as she can. Because of this, I’ve gotten her an appointment with a youth career advisor. Melbourne schools are competitive, especially when it comes to getting into university, so if this helps her even a little bit I’ll be happy. I didn’t realise us moving all the time would have such a drastic impact on my daughter, and I feel really bad that I played a part in that. I’m hoping that because it’s only the start of the school year, that she’s just feeling a little bit of culture shock being at a very serious school, and that she’ll settle in soon. This will be her last school and once she gets into university she won’t have to move around the country with us anymore. The years of moving are thankfully behind her, so now she can focus on completing year twelve and getting ready for her exams.
I’ll make sure to support her in any way that I can, and will have her career counsellor on speed dial. Good luck my darling. I will do whatever it takes for you to be able to live your best life.