Hi can anyone tell me what melton is like? also what you expect that area maybe be like in a couple of years as i understand its still up and coming and lots of new houses being built? also anyone have an idea of geelong grammar school?
Thanx
Kelly
Sorry I cant help with the schools side of things, but as for the area, I have heard that Melton is a place to avoid. My sister (who is also moving to Melbourne), had a look around Melton as the houses prices seemed reasonable, but said that it was very run down. There is another thread under Victoria called 'Native Victorian - Happy to Answer any Questions' that you might want to have a look at. The Australian guy who has offered his help, has listed Melton as a place to avoid, but you may want to ask him to elaborate.
I dont know if it helps, but we are looking to move to an area called Berwick. The houses are priced about the same as Melton and there are loads of new houses being built there. It has an English feel about it, has good schools (or so I have heard!) and close to shopping centres.
Hi, Melton isn't a pretty town. It's main shopping area is split by a busy main road. When I was on a reccie I preferred Sunbury which is close by and has more of a town centre. Geelong is better still and it's on the waterside which makes the whole place feel more relaxed. It's also a city rather than town but it's not so big, so you can live on the edge and border countryside if you want to get away from the city feel.
Geelong Grammar's claim to fame is Prince Charles did a year at this school when he was 17 or 18. It's expensive and looks okay from the outside but it's surroundings leave a bit to be desired - salt marsh, Geelong's open landfill and oil refineries all surround the school. It does however deliver academically.
You probably have to have your kid's name down for Geelong Grammar before birth I would think - it is one of those very select prestigious private schools. In Geelong there is also Geelong College which also has quite a good reputation but not quite up there with Grammar. Not sure what the fees are there these days but you wont see much change from $20,000 pa for a day student
As for Melton - run like hell in the opposite direction!!! Drove past it today - little boxes and boring as can be. Also questionable on the social mix/social integration front if you believe what you read in the papers.
thanx for the warning! so we shall forget the school and melton! back to the drawing board, we head out for a reccie for 3 weeks in june and were trying to narrow down places to check out as we dont want to spend the entire time driving round looking at suburbs, we have 2 kids and i can hear the moaning already!! so if anyone can advise??
Thanx all, have a good crimbo
I didnt mean to put you off about the school - just be aware that it is very expensive. I guess to put it in some sort of perspective, what you effectively asked is what is Wandsworth like and what is Eton like? Dont give up on that area though - my nephew goes to Geelong College and the family live in Lara. Both pretty good from all accounts and not quite up there in the $$ stakes. All those schools have scholarship programs and if you go to their websites you can get details of what scholarships are available. You should also be able to find something on their fee structure to give you a clue about what it will cost to send a couple of kids there. Often there is a discount for the second kid in a family. I would think though, that the ball park for any schools of that ilk you are going to be looking at at least $10 - 12K a year per kid. Catholic schools tend to be a bit cheaper but any of the "prestigious" (or fancy themselves to be) ones are going to charge like wounded bulls.
A Catholic primary is usually less than $1000 per family per year.
We are considering sending our kids to Geelong Baptist College Geelong Baptist College Websitet which started in 2002. It has about 110 primary and 110 secondary students. It costs about $2000 per year per child for primary and is close to Lara. It's on the old Channel College site with loads of land. They are rebuilding and developing so appearances are deceptive (it looks a little scruffy on the outside). The plus point is it's a smaller school where all the kids know each other. Currently our kids are in a big primary with 600. Academically it's good but it's a bit of a jungle at break time, and is too big for our kids who like a small community type school.
The advantage of a fee paying school (including the Catholic primaries) is that you are less likely to get kids from families that don't care about their kids education. Parents who couldn't care are less likely to hand out a couple of grand a year for their kids. The area around here has a large catchment area with a broad socio-economic spread so we are opting for a fee paying school.
Thanx for that its ahuge help and helps us to cross off the list the ones we dont want to look at! While your here would you mind telling us what Geelong area is like? weve been looking at houses on the net right down that side, we looked at point cook, werribee, geelong? any help would be great thanx
I worked in Melton for 8 years as a police officer and just transferred out last year.
It is not bad. If you pick your areas to live in and avoid Melton South and Central Melton, then you are fine.
It is a nice suburb, with lots of growing familys. Has all the services and the house prioces will boom in the next 5 year sonce the new Deer Park by pass is finished. A new freeway by passing all the slow points.
People knock the old M Town as we call it. It is a reasonable place to live and I can think of several more worst places.
Thanx for that its ahuge help and helps us to cross off the list the ones we dont want to look at! While your here would you mind telling us what Geelong area is like? weve been looking at houses on the net right down that side, we looked at point cook, werribee, geelong? any help would be great thanx
Hi i would avoid Melton and Werribee not that nice. Geelong is a big industrial city 2nd outside of Melbourne but is the gateway to The Great Ocean RD and has good and not so good areas. We first lived in Cheltenham bayside area very nice but have since moved to The Macedon Ranges about 1 hour commute to Melb CBD and on a direct train line with new "fast" trains in to Southern Cross. We love the Macedon Ranges so friendly, clean air , Kookaburras , kangaroos but still a great area for cafes shops ect. Oh works in the city travels in by train. The schools are a good mix , Govt's ,catholic and private.We have been very happy in this area more then Cheltenham because of the quality of life. Good luck and hope this may give up a bit of an small insight to some of the areas around Melbourne.
whats melton like? whats geelong grammar like?
