Canberra central primary schools

[potterpig40]

Originally Posted by pase

Hi Jo,

Thank you very much for the balanced info you have provided on Canberra. We are being sponsored to come over so we will need to check out whether we would need to pay school fees. We have never visited Canberra although have heard very mixed reviews. Sounds like a very nice place to us though!!! Ideally we would have liked to visit first to check out areas to live and more importantly schools for our children, however current work commitments and finaces are just not going to allow this. Therefore any info you have about the different areas in Canberra (in particular ones we may wish to avoid) and good schools (both primary and senior) would be extremely welcome!! Like most, we are both very excited and nervous about the move, however, if we can get our children settled ASAP, we know the rest will (should) follow. At present, we are looking at poss move date of Jan or Feb 09.

Best Regards

Penny

Hi Penny

From advice from a girlfriend who was a teacher in Canberra at a local primary school, I will inform you of what information she gave me. Canberra is roughly divided into 6 areas South and North Canberra, Belconnen, Weston Creek, Woden and Tuggernong, each area is divided into suburbs very symetrical (like Milton Keynes but much prettier). The primary school recommended to me were Ainslie- North Canberra, Garran, Farrer and Curtin all in Woden and Chapman in Weston Creek! Probably best to email these school through ACT education and schools website and ask what suburbs are within their catchment areas. As for secondary schools, look at the catholic schools (as they are often cheaper than the Anglian schools) like St Clare's college and St Edmund's college both in Griffith also Marist college which is a boys schools based in Phillip, Woden. The Grammar school has both a primary and secondary school, based in Deakin, my daughter attends and she is in year 9 and very happy. Are you hoping to rent or buy! We came from Bicester in Oxfordshire on a two year visa and are renting our house in the UK, my husbands sponsor pays our rent here in Canberra, but rents tend to be high especially in the central areas because of all the diplomats and embassy staff. We pay $600 a week for a lovely 4 bedroomed house in Weston with the Weston Creek, but initially had a short term lease in Chapman so the boys could secure a place at the primary school there!

Please don't hesitate to ask me any more questions!

best wishes

Jo Smith

[pase]

Hi Jo,

Please accept my aplogies for not acknowleding your very helpful response sooner. For some reason I did not recieve notification that I had received a response from you or that there had been another response with regards to this thread!

We were granted our visa's recently so I decided to revisit old threads so I could refresh my memory re: advice given about areas to live and school etc in Canberra -and there it was, a very useful response from yourself - thank you!! I did try sending you a PM but for some reason the system would not allow me to.

I am told that as we are coming over on a permanent visa and will be working for government we will not have to pay school fees. We have been unable to sell our house and therefore will have to let it out. This is somewhat scary as the rent will not fully cover our morgage/letting agent fees and we will also be paying rent in Canberra. Our employers in Canberra are assisting finanacially with relocation, however, this will not cover long term housing issues

Nevermind I will start looking up schools you suggested and surrounding areas.

How long have you been in Canberra?

Many thanks

Pennyx