SandraDee Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 Hi,Can anyone help with high schools on the Gold Coast for my teenage children. My son is 16- struggles with academics but is crazy about sport- specifically cricket and hockey. My daughter is 14 - comfortable with academics and loves drama and dance. They are currently at a co-ed private school in Cape Town. They will be going into year 10 and 11.I am looking at Christian/Private schools unless someone knows a great govt school where my son wont get lost in the system. I think I would prefer co-ed so they can go to the same school to keep my life simpler.I have been given a few suggestions but would love other peoples input too. If you could put them in order of preference that would be great!!All saints- at $20 000 per child per year may be a bit steep for us!Emmanuel CollegeAB Pattersonkings ChristianSt StephensCan anybody recommend any of these. I have been told to rule out Somerset college as perhaps too academic? Also too pricey !thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBW Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 Hi Sandra,I live on the Gold Coast (almost 10 years now) and have a lot of teacher friends. There is only 1 all girls and all boys school on the coast. St Hilda's for girls and TSS for boys (Both are more expensive than All Saints!!) All the other schools are Co-ed.Quick summary on what they've said:All saints, awesome!! Completely the way to go if you can afford it.Emmanuel and Somerset are known as the academic schools and put a lot of pressure on children to excel and keep the schools average up. A few of my friends have taught at both and they wouldn't recommend them. Somerset is more expensive than All Saints.St Andrews Lutheran College is great apparently. Its more expensive than kings but less than all the others. I'm hearing so many good stories about it at the moment, so it definitely seems to be the flavour of the month.AB Paterson is good, though not Christian as such, just private. Many South African teachers seem to get jobs there.Kings is not as good as the others. Been hearing a lot of bad stories and people taking their children out. A lot of problems with discipline, smoking etc....but I guess all schools have this to some extent. Kings is full of South African kids though as its one of the cheapest private schools and very religious (Baptist based). It is affordable though and does have a large South African element which is appealing when you have just immigrated.Hillcrest down the road from Kings is more academic and probably the cheaper version of somerset.The catholic schools are a much cheaper option and less pressurised. Marymount in Burleigh is the biggest and probably best Catholic school. You need to be zoned for Catholic schools in most cases.St Stephens, really good name and cheaper to All Saints!It all depends are where you ended up settling as the Gold Coast is big and you don't want to be commuting big distances to school.My kiddies are 4 and 5 so we are doing primary schools now. Our 2 closest high-schools (3 min away) are All Saints and St Michaels College (Catholic).So for 2 kids, All saints = approx. $35000, St Michaels = $6000!We have decided for now that we will do St Michaels. I would rather spend money on travel and be less stressed financially.State schools are hit and miss, I've heard great things from a lot of people about Varsity college in Varsity Lakes. It seems to be one of the best ones.Good luck with your decision....St Andrews is still my number one choice....I wish we stayed closer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandraDee Posted August 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2015 Wow! Thanks so much LBW this is so helpful!I have been straight onto St Andrews website - not a great website I must say- If I was choosing on this alone I dont think I would have even considered them!Do you know what their sport is like? My son is so passionate about sport- its the only thing he is passionate about sadly!- and not much seems to be mentioned about it. I would hate to send him to a school where they can hardly scrape a team together.I will check out the others too. I really appreciate all the effort that went into your reply- thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GranvilleMay15 Posted August 5, 2015 Report Share Posted August 5, 2015 Hi LBWWe intend moving to Oz in Dec. Chances are that we will end up in either Gold Coast or Sunshine coast. We have a 9 year old girl and we want to look at good public schools in the area. We will decide on where to live based mainly on the school then work. Any recommendations would be helpful.ThanksGranville 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBW Posted October 2, 2015 Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 Hi Granville, Just seen your post now.Pacific pines primaryMudgeeraba State primary (not Mudgeeraba creek primary)Miami state primaryWould be my choice.That's just word of mouth from friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 My son went to Mudgeeraba state and we were very happy with the school, Varsity College has a good name as does Clover hill for the primary schools Hi,Can anyone help with high schools on the Gold Coast for my teenage children. My son is 16- struggles with academics but is crazy about sport- specifically cricket and hockey. My daughter is 14 - comfortable with academics and loves drama and dance. They are currently at a co-ed private school in Cape Town. They will be going into year 10 and 11.I am looking at Christian/Private schools unless someone knows a great govt school where my son wont get lost in the system. I think I would prefer co-ed so they can go to the same school to keep my life simpler.I have been given a few suggestions but would love other peoples input too. If you could put them in order of preference that would be great!!All saints- at $20 000 per child per year may be a bit steep for us!Emmanuel CollegeAB Pattersonkings ChristianSt StephensCan anybody recommend any of these. I have been told to rule out Somerset college as perhaps too academic? Also too pricey !thanks all!just to totally confuse you - the best sporting school on the coast other than TSS is PBC sporting school of excellence - the children go to this school if they excel in sports - otherwise he does sport out of school, Mudgeeraba and Labrador have really good hockey teams, my sons played hockey for Mudgeeraba and represented states through being with this club. Cricket - if he loves his cricket then I would be paying the extra and sending him to TSS as their cricket is excellent - hockey and cricket at the other private schools is a bit of a joke. My sons hockey team had 7 of their players at his school and none of them played hockey at school as the list goes up and its a case first come first served with the team. No play offs - this was a few years ago and may have changed, but I doubt it My son went to Mudgeeraba state and we were very happy with the school, Varsity College has a good name as does Clover hill for the primary schools just to totally confuse you - the best sporting school on the coast other than TSS is PBC sporting school of excellence - the children go to this school if they excel in sports - otherwise he does sport out of school, Mudgeeraba and Labrador have really good hockey teams, my sons played hockey for Mudgeeraba and represented states through being with this club. Cricket - if he loves his cricket then I would be paying the extra and sending him to TSS as their cricket is excellent - hockey and cricket at the other private schools is a bit of a joke. My sons hockey team had 7 of their players at his school and none of them played hockey at school as the list goes up and its a case first come first served with the team. No play offs - this was a few years ago and may have changed, but I doubt it https://pbc-shs.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspxMy son went to Mudgeeraba state and we were very happy with the school, Varsity College has a good name as does Clover hill for the primary schools just to totally confuse you - the best sporting school on the coast other than TSS is PBC sporting school of excellence - the children go to this school if they excel in sports - otherwise he does sport out of school, Mudgeeraba and Labrador have really good hockey teams, my sons played hockey for Mudgeeraba and represented states through being with this club. Cricket - if he loves his cricket then I would be paying the extra and sending him to TSS as their cricket is excellent - hockey and cricket at the other private schools is a bit of a joke. My sons hockey team had 7 of their players at his school and none of them played hockey at school as the list goes up and its a case first come first served with the team. No play offs - this was a few years ago and may have changed, but I doubt it https://pbc-shs.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspxYou go to the sports excellence program and try and get him a scholarship, I would be approaching TSS and let them know his cricket ability and if possible his stats and get letters from his school etc and then approach TSS for a sporting scholarship - you wont be sorry http://www.tss.qld.edu.au/Admissions/admissions.aspxhttp://www.tss.qld.edu.au/Admissions/Files/Scholarships/SportScholarship.pdf- it does say scholarships for 2016 closed, but I would talk to the school anyway as they love their sport and who knows you may just be lucky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GranvilleMay15 Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 Hi. Any recommendations on either Mango Hill State Primary or Undurba State primary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Hi. Any recommendations on either Mango Hill State Primary or Undurba State primary?Sorry I have never heard of those, dont even know where they are so I cant help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snkc Posted November 24, 2015 Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 We are planning to move from Adelaide to the Gold Coast early next year now that we have finished our 2 years. I have been researching areas and schools and have Mudgeeraba and Varsity College on my list. Both are highly recommended however I was hoping to live somewhere a bit more rural and was also looking at Mudgeeraba Creek. LBW commented on it above and I was wondering if anyone has any more feedback on it?My 3 boys go to an excellent primary school now but it is big and my oldest who is currently in year 5 is feeling a bit lost. They went to a tiny school in RSA. We can't afford private school fees for 3 of them now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted November 27, 2015 Report Share Posted November 27, 2015 LooWe are planning to move from Adelaide to the Gold Coast early next year now that we have finished our 2 years. I have been researching areas and schools and have Mudgeeraba and Varsity College on my list. Both are highly recommended however I was hoping to live somewhere a bit more rural and was also looking at Mudgeeraba Creek. LBW commented on it above and I was wondering if anyone has any more feedback on it?My 3 boys go to an excellent primary school now but it is big and my oldest who is currently in year 5 is feeling a bit lost. They went to a tiny school in RSA. We can't afford private school fees for 3 of them now...My son went to Mudgeeraba state and loved it - came from a small school in Mauritius to Mudgeeraba and he loved all the sport and Mudgeeraba has a swimming pool whereas the other schools dont, thats what swayed my son, that and the fact that they played soccer at school too. Varsity college has a good name too. There is another good school in the Mudgeeraba area called Clover Hill which I would say to look at before Mudgeeraba creek, we looked at Mudgeeraba creek and it was a lovely new school but my son preferred the look of Mudgeeraba state. Mudgeeraba has a lot of acreage properties, as does Bonogin, just close to Clover Hill and Mudgeeraba, also areas like Tallai and Worongary which are all in that area.Varsity is the only one that has strict zoning as it is a good schoolHope this helps and doesnt confuse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snkc Posted January 20, 2016 Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 Thanks for all the info Heather, I really appreciate it! Eventually managed to log in with my phone to respond...we have bought a house in Mudgeeraba zoned for Mudgeeraba State and will be moving the first week in March. Looking forward to living there but not moving again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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