Choosing a School in Australia
Which school?
For most parents, this is a big decision at the best of times. But when you have just moved halfway across the world to a completely different country, how do you choose?
And that’s not the only problem, here in Australia we have state schools, (which, confusingly, can also be referred to as public schools) Catholic schools and private schools. I’ll give you a link to a post with more information about that shortly, but for now, here’s what I think.
State vs Private
Many people, when they come to Australia, feel that the best option for their child or children would be a private school. We were the same, we’d even put our name on the waiting list of a private school, even though our daughter was only 3 1/2 when we got here.
But then, once we had settled into the community, we discovered that the locals all loved the nearby state school. And when I say nearby, I mean 5 minutes walk. The private school, on the other hand, would have required a (minimum of) 45 minute round trip by car.
Oh, and we would have had to pay the fees. Again, more about those later.
Our daughter is now seven and she (and we) love the local state school. She comes out of there smiling everyday and looks forward to going in the morning. And when she does have to go to high school, the reputation of the one nearest to us is also really good.
So don’t feel you have to do go the private, state schools here in Australia are pretty good.
But how good?
The government set up a website where you can check the performance of all schools in Australia. I made a video about it….
To check out school performances for yourself, click on myschool.
More useful links:
I have several posts about schools….
- Here’s the original post with the myschool video.
- This one is about state & private schools and school fees.
- This is about my daughter’s prep year.
- And this about her first year in a state primary school.
- This is about tuckshop or school dinners.
- This is about school holidays and things to do.
- This compares Australian Education with the UK and USA
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Bob, Im just about to take my last look at the internet as I am going to tell my wife about this website. I enjoyed the internet, it was good.
cheers mate.
Ace new site by the way.
Thanks Chris. Perhaps you can secretly check in every now and then with your iPhone? We won’t say a word.
Good luck!
Hi Bob, great website. I’ve searched your site and can’t seem to find anything about universities, could you maybe give a little info about different universities, pros and cons, etc? Thanks
Ivy
Hi Ivy
That’s something I haven’t yet looked into, maybe I’ll put it on my list of things to do.
Hi Bob
my partner, children and I are in the process of applying to emigrate. Can you tell me, once you arrive is there a time frame for getting your children enrolled in a school? obviously we, like you, would want to find the best school.
Thanks
Kate
The state school that covers the catchment area where you live has an obligation to give your children a place. Other schools outside that catchment area or private schools do not and some of them have waiting lists. So your kids will go to school, but maybe not the school you want.
There’s nothing to stop you doing your research now, before you arrive, which you can do on this page.