How do you choose a school?

[Tntaglia]

If all goes well we'll be in Aus by mid 2017, my girls will be grade 2 and 5 respectively. So we're still a way away from making any real decisions but we are exploring suburbs and trying to figure out how life will work. We would prefer to put the kids in public school, and so as far as I understand the choice of suburb becomes really important in how we manage to put them in the right school - correct me if I'm wrong but I think the public school has to accept them if we live in the right catchment area?

 

Anyway, as a result we're trying to choose schools first (within reason given where I'll work) but I can't figure out the best way to choose a school. Should we just assume that the public schools are all equivalent? Or are there some resources that will help me figure out the best schools? Any advice would be welcome!

[AFreshStart]

@Tntaglia

 

The more affluent the area/suburb, (often) the better resourced the school.

 

In South African terms, you'd probably expect if schools were effectively FREE (paid for by taxes) and localized that the resources a school would have in Sandton would be better than one in Soweto no? Same here, because while the school is FREE, it's supported by parents through a P&C and also donations. The P&C raises additional funds for the school which allows 'extras' like a music lessons, teaching extra languages, sports fields or play areas, extra curricula activities etc. In more affluent areas there is more money, so thus more resources.

 

The caveat of course is that to live in a wealthier suburb you need to earn more money, or in our case, chose to live smaller. Living in a smaller space costs less, but gives you access to well resourced schools. You've probably heard of the phrase "Location, Location, Location", same rings true for picking a school.

 

Yes, most schools are governed by catchment areas, in the City of Sydney electorate where we are schools are pushed to the max, so they really do stick to strict and enforced catchment areas. Outlying schools are often open to taking in students from other areas, and of course Private and religious schools aren't governed by these zoning laws.

 

My son is at the fastest growing school in NSW, they've just had a further multi-million dollar injection for renovations, spearheaded by the Mayor herself, who lives a few roads down and the school has a long history with her and the community. They are very well resourced because of this their catchment area extends over parts of 3 suburbs, so it gave us a bit of scope in finding a place that suited us best.

 

You can look at NAPLAN results, guidelines etc, but at the end of the day you'll find the same thing - the top performing schools tend to fall in wealthier, affluent areas, again, because affluence provides resources.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

 

Edited September 21, 2016 by AFreshStart

[JackoFam]

Thanks Matt. Excellent advice as usual. That's the exact method we are following in trying to get our kids into good schools when we move to Melbourne in January.

[Shellfish]

www.bettereducation.com.au

 

This website is pretty helpful in terms of how schools rank. This will be purely academic, though

 

 

 

[JackoFam]

I also find www.myschool.com.au to be useful

[Riekie]

What Matt said is true.  As in every other aspect of life, and not limited to Australia, the more affluent areas have the better everything.  The "bad" schools - if it could even be called that - in Australia's least aflluent suburbs are bad because of the parents and the kids - not due to a lack of effort by the school or the teachers.  These suburbs generally also have the most people on welfare, the highest crime rates, the highest incidence of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence etc. It's a socio-economic issue which affects the whole community and not just limited to the schools.  

[Settled]

www.australianschoolsdirectory.com.au  is what I used together with the previous site.  Then I look at the schools'; website, and tick off according to my criteria.  - Music, extra languages, extra support, MOOSH (after care) etc etc.

 

You might look at sports offered, each family's needs are diff.  You could  look at the high schools first, decide what that choice would be and then choose the primary accordingly, perhaps the feeder school to that high school.  that way you're starting with kids that will probably move up together.

 

Good luck, but unless you're living in a "dodgy" area, the primary schools are generally good.

J

 

 

 

 

[Tntaglia]

These are all great - thank you! This helps a lot.