Port Vila International School

Hi Charmaine,

Welcome to Expat.com! 

Thanks Christine, I'm looking forward to gaining some valuable information from everyone

Hi Charmaine,
I can't help with the school and children questions but if you have any specific questions about living here feel free to inbox me

thanks for the message   I guess we just really need to know about the things such as the cost of living, food, utilities, fuel etc.  Is there a big expat community?  Sports wise what is on offer.  Social life.  I guess those sorts of things. 
Perhaps your view on life over there.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Charmaine

Hi Charmaine,
I have 5 children currently living in Port Vila, my children go to Port Vila Central, great school and great experience for the kids, we all love it here, inbox me if you need to know anything, always glad to help

Hi
We did have our son at a school called "child care centre"
there was about 75 kids in one class area, not good.
We moved hime to PVIS and what a difference, 24 kids in class, teacher with helpers, very impressed.

Hello, our family (husband and two small children) are looking at relocating to Vanuatu for three months. In preparation I have read a number of blog entries that talk about the wonderful things to do and see, but concerning me is the mention of crime. I realise that crime s everywhere but I don't really want to be taking two small children somewhere that might be unsafe. I don't want to sound vague but can anyone give me a realists opinion on safety as an expat in Vanuatu and perhaps even the locations of some of the larger groups of expat residents.  I realise I shouldn't read everything that is written but I don't want to be too naive either - thanks to anyone that replies!

Hi Jules,I treat security the same here in Port Vila as I did in Brisbane.  Yes there is petty crime so we lock our house and lock our car.
People talk about not living in certain areas as the petty crime rate is higher there but it seems to be opportunistic theft of items such as cash and alcohol if the house is unlocked.
Almost everyone we know has a housegirl and gardener that have access to the property and are there all day so obviously there is trust.
We have lived at Second Lagoon and now at Mele Bay and own a business in Port Vila and have never felt unsafe.

Thank you BellaM I was hoping you might reply as I have read a couple of your posts and you are very knowledgeable - thank you very much for your reply again and if I have any questions again I hope you are around to answer them! Best regards

Hi BellaM and everyone else new to blogs so sorry if I get this wrong.
We are looking at moving to Vanuatu aswell with our to girls from UK originaly from south africa. My husband has banked in vanuatu for many years now and we have visited many years ago. We are looking at coming over to bring the girls with us in July /Aug and see if its what we want to do. Can anyone help with the schooling there what is it like the international school and what do the kids do as a comunity to socialise together. Is the internet good as my husband needs it for work. Is there a sugestion for insurance medical.

my email is    [email protected]

Juannette

Hi there,
Not sure if BellaM is on here atm but thought I would reply to your post, I actually met BellaM from this site which is nice to always meet new people coming to Vanuatu... Not too sure if you have read my post on any of the other subjects but I currently live here in Vanuatu with my husband and 5 children. Four of my children currently go to Port Vila Central, the school is run by an Australian principal and my twins who are about to go into yr 6 have also been voted in as Leaders for the school for 2014. Central school mainly consists of Ni-Vanuatu children, its a lovely school. The homework is very much the same as our old school in Australia and the school goes to yr13.... There is an International school here as well and some of my friends have their children attend there which is also an amazing school by the sounds
We were married in Vanuatu 12 yrs ago and decided to bring our children up here to experience "Island Life"... We currently  have just purchased  2 acres of land in which we are going to build our house right on the ocean.
The people are very lovely and I am slowly meeting people in the expat community which is quite large, more than what I thought there were.
Not sure if it was you enquiring about medivac Insurance incase there is an emergency??? I have found a really good insurer its called insure4less, this gives peace of mind incase you need it over here. There is also an Australian Dr I go to a the Tassiriki Health Centre.
Haven't had any issues with crime but like anywhere have to be careful, like locking cars and houses while unattended. The Vanuatu people are very very kind with my children they have a lovely nature when it comes to children.
If you want to know anything else feel free to PM me
Hope I have helped a  bit )

Hi Kylie
Thanks for the reply I was woundering if the furniture is good to buy there or is it via a catalogue. as not sure if we should bring our own furniture with us. When we come there in July we will ask if our kids can spend a day or two in the school as well just to give them peace of mind. Hoping I can meet up with you all when we are there as well get to know you all a bit better.

Chat soon

Juannette 

I would be interested to hear other people's opinions on this.
We brought a container with all our furniture and actually wished we hadn't gone to the expense.

Many houses here are fully furnished (both rentals and for sale) and when we first rented we had to squeeze all our stuff in with the furniture that came with the house

We have had some beds made from Vanuatu hardwood by a local company and they were great value at 30,000vt for a king size, then about the same for a good quality mattress. 
There is also a fairly new warehouse that is selling reasonably priced furniture and whitegoods both off the floor and via catalogue.  You can check them out on Facebook, they are called Wilco Home Furnishing Centre.

Hello would you kindly send me information
On what is required to relocate to Vanuatu and fees and etc to enrol my two primary school aged children from  Australia. Donna McGrath
30 Cape Three Points Road. AVOCA Beach NSW 2251

Donna M wrote:

Hello would you kindly send me information
On what is required to relocate to Vanuatu and fees and etc to enrol my two primary school aged children from  Australia. Donna McGrath
30 Cape Three Points Road. AVOCA Beach NSW 2251

Welcome to the forum.
I am sure some member will post the information soon. As a matter of security please do not give out personal contact details like email address phone numbers or home address on a public forum.

I am so glad to have found this blog. I am a Canadian citizen living in Ottawa Canada and attended   Central Primary in the late 70's. After over 30 years, I finally have a chance to go back and visit Port Vila in a few weeks time (Nov 2014), so excited!!! One of the things I would love to do is visit my old school since I have such fond memories from there.

Can anyone provide me with contact information for the school or how to best go about setting up a visit? I also plan on bringing with me some school supplies if this is appropriate. 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!