Private Christian Schools in Melbourne

[buzz]

I am hoping that someone might be able to give me some advise regarding neighbourhoods as well as private Christian Schools in Melbourne. My husband has a job offer in Melbourne and his office will be in Hawthorne East, so we are looking at houses in the Eastern suburbs. The ideal would be that he won't have to travel more than 30 minutes by car to his office.

For us it is very important to enrol our primary school children in a school that teaches Christian values but at the same time has very high academic standards. I've read about Oxley Christian College, Belgrave Heights as well as Donvale Christian College and they all seem great.

If anyone has any advise about neighbourhoods as well as schools it will be greatly appreciated!

[Sibella]

Oxley College is just down the road from me in Chirnside Park and has a good reputation, I also have friends with kids at Donvale Christian College and it's also a great school (her husband is the vice-principal I think!). Oxley have just opened a brand new Early Learning Centre as well which I want to go check out. They run a great Easter Egg Hunt and Christmas Carols each year.

But I don't have personal experience with either - if I have to go with my gut feel I'd probably go with Donvale out of those two.

My girls go to Good Shepherd Lutheran Primary school and Luther College which is the high school right next to it. Good Shepherd is a great school, very high academic standards compared to the state primary we attended before we got offered a place at Good Shepherd. My 8 year old daughter struggles a bit with literacy and she receives extra support every day, her reading has improved greatly. I'm also happy with Luther College, my eldest daughter does well and they offer a variety of subjects. They rate well on the Betterschools website - also one of the top 100 in Melbourne and had very good VCE results last year. Another option is a Catholic High school like Aquinas which is cheaper than Luther and also excellent.

Good Shepherd have religious services a few mornings a week and parents are encouraged to attend. They also offer a Sunday evening service for families every few weeks and I like it because my three year old can run around and no one bats an eye lid, they do arts and crafts and include the kids in everything.

Then there is a formal church service at Luther College every Sunday. If you attend the church you get priority on the waiting list which is how we got in. Didn't really realise that we moved to the top of the list until it happened - I put my daughter's name on in the year before Prep and she got a place in Year 1. For high school it's not that difficult to get in as it is a big school but we do get $600 per year discount as we are church members.

So I suggest you try and place them on the waiting lists at the schools you are interested in.

Another lovely Christian primary school I like the look of is Edinburgh Primary in Lilydale. It's a small school in beautiful surroundings and everyone is very friendly. I attend an art class called Happy Hands there with my three year old and she loves it, the head always pops in to say hi as his wife runs the class.

These schools are all in the Outer East so about half an hour away without traffic, will be quite a bit longer in peak traffic. Donvale / Doncaster / Templestowe / Blackburn areas are probably about 10 mins closer.

So I would contact the school and find out about place availability for your kids, put them on the waiting lists and then once you get here visit them to see what feels right to you. Then you can look at the surrounding areas, there are lovely suburbs around all those schools but it depends if you want to be close to a station / closer to the city and Eastlink / a bit further out with a more rural feel.

Feel free to pm me if you need further info!

Edited February 26, 2015 by Sibella

[buzz]

Sibella, I've tried to PM you but received a message that you cannot receive any mails. Please PM me, maybe I can reply on yours. Thanks!

Edited February 27, 2015 by buzz

[Oosie]

Our grandchildren are in Doncale Christian school and it is a fantastic Christian school with good values. I would definitely recommend them, they are very happy and it has high academic standards as well.

Linda

[buzz]

Thanks Linda.