westlondon

Hi, I am moving to Bondi at the end of the year with two school aged children (they will be starting in year 6 and year 9 after the summer break). We are not at all religious so initially we just want to send our children to a local co-educational school. My youngest child will be in year 6. There appears to be two local schools we are interested in and I just wanted to see if anyone has any information on them - Bondi Public and Bondi Beach Public. I think we are in the catchment for both. My husband is already in Sydney and will be moving into our house at the end of the month. He is of course going to be getting appointments to visit schools, but I just want to try and get some ground work done from London if possible. I have very good friends locally but they are in the Catholic system (and so are most, if not all their friends) so not sure if they will be able to provide me with relevant information. My husband is Australian and our children will be naturalised by the time we arrive so we don't need to pay for state schooling (I understand that is why many expats go down the Catholic/private route if they are on 457 visas as they are going to have to pay anyway). If anyone has any info good or less good (!) on either of these schools, that would be great. My primary aged child doesn't have any special needs etc., is fairly outgoing, finds making friends relatively easy, loves netball, gymnastics, dance, art and music. She is on the brighter side but I'm not looking for her to be pushed as this is a huge move for them and settling in, making friends and being happy is my top priority. Thanks,

Thanks for your reply - my husband is out in Sydney for five weeks so I'll get him to check out the International Grammar as I haven't come across that one before

Thanks Captain Roberto - hadn't come across Rose Bay before - my husband is over for 5 weeks next month so I can get him checking that one out. Rose Bay could very well be too expensive for us too. Kids have asked not to go to single sex schools so trying to find co-ed ones first...didn't realise they were so religious down under....

Hi, We are moving to Sydney from London - myself and our two children (14 and 11) will definitely be there by Jan 16 but my husband will be there from July 2015. I understand public schools have to take you if you are in the catchment area but do you have to register early and if so, do i need to be doing things like that now? Looking at some of the schools in the areas we like, they all seem to be single sex and religious - we are not at all religious and both kids go to co-ed schools. As I have a daughter and son, ideally I'd like them to go to the same school. My son will start at high school whilst my daughter will have one year of primary. So far the only one I've come across is Mosman High School which looks great but was hoping to be based around Bronte, Bondi or Coogee - anyone know of co-ed non religious schools in those areas or should I just focus on Mosman? Any help and advice appreciated!