Is it safe to move primary aged children?

Do it! I never moved growing up, had the same friends from kindy to high school which everyone thinks is great, but now at the grand old age of 40 something, I don't think its all that great. I didn't know it at the time but my friends were toxic and I adapted to survive their toxicity. There are issues I have now that have come from those friends like being paranoid about people gossiping about me or not wanting to wear certain things because other people don't like it. Other things I did when I was younger that i really didn't learn was wrong until I left home and became independent well away from my family and friends. It was really difficult but I'm so glad I did it and not stayed in the same place. It has really grounded me, my old friends and even my siblings have not really changed. They still battle to understand things that are outside of their bubble and judge and gossip. I only wish my parents had moved, even just once to broaden the horizons and forced us to know how to make friends and get out of that incredibly comfortable zone of never having to make new friends because it makes it really hard to do it as an adult if you never had to do it as a child. I've lived in a mining town that saw a lot of people move and stay a few years, then move again. It's interesting to see how different that town was to the one I'm in now, a farming town where families have lived for generations. The mining town was so much friendlier and had a much better community feel to it, where as this town everyone sticks to their own little groups and aren't very welcoming to new people, there's virtually no community spirit at all. My kids can also make friends a lot easier than me and can see their worth more than I could at their age which I put down to moving around.

I grew up an army brat. We moved every 3 years throughout my childhood. We had a 4 year posting when I was in early primary school as I had cancer and needed to stay put until I’d completed my treatment, and a 5 year posting in high school so that we didn’t move between grades 11 and 12 (and they did try to move us then but dad said no). I was quite shy and introverted, but I’ve been able to parts of Australia that I wouldn’t have been able to see if we didn’t move so often. I’m still in contact with many of my childhood friends from the various schools I attended. If it wasn’t safe to move kids interstate, there would be no married defence personnel with kids. You do what works for you and your family. If you can, join some Facebook groups for the areas you’re interested in, so you can ask about housing and schools.

Now is a good time, give it a go, you only live once.