k8bug79 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Hi we will probably be moving to Sydney (still not 100% decided) and we will have 3 kids of primary school age at that point. I know this question will be a bit of a"how long is a piece of string" but my experience in the UK with schooling is not good. My kids are in an outstanding school both mine and Ofsteds assessment lol. We wanted to move closer to my work so looked at getting them into a school over there and we could only get the 2 (currently in school) into a failing school with 4/4 in the ofsted reports and that has a really abd reputation. So we decide dto stay put and deal with the commute. I was then up for a job which woul dhave meant a complete relocation and we looked at what schools owuld be avaibale and we couldn't get them into the same schoola nd again the only ones we could had reallybad reports. I can understand why this happens but trying to get kids into the same school over here seems impossible. As I say by the time we go to Oz we'll have 3 of the school age, one who will be about to start and will have possibily have missed the school places, I am not sure hwo they do it out there? So I am after your experiences of approaching a school with a good reputationa nd getting multipple children schooled? Australia wide would be interesting but if anyone has any experience of Sydney that would be even better. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Hi we will probably be moving to Sydney (still not 100% decided) and we will have 3 kids of primary school age at that point. I know this question will be a bit of a"how long is a piece of string" but my experience in the UK with schooling is not good. My kids are in an outstanding school both mine and Ofsteds assessment lol. We wanted to move closer to my work so looked at getting them into a school over there and we could only get the 2 (currently in school) into a failing school with 4/4 in the ofsted reports and that has a really abd reputation. So we decide dto stay put and deal with the commute. I was then up for a job which woul dhave meant a complete relocation and we looked at what schools owuld be avaibale and we couldn't get them into the same schoola nd again the only ones we could had reallybad reports. I can understand why this happens but trying to get kids into the same school over here seems impossible. As I say by the time we go to Oz we'll have 3 of the school age, one who will be about to start and will have possibily have missed the school places, I am not sure hwo they do it out there? So I am after your experiences of approaching a school with a good reputationa nd getting multipple children schooled? Australia wide would be interesting but if anyone has any experience of Sydney that would be even better.Thanks I am fairly sure that if you are 'in area' for a public (government) school, they have to take the children. My eldest is in a (very good) school here, and when she started this year (she is year one, so in her second year) the first week of term was spent shuffling the classes around because they had had loads of extra last minute admissions for kindy, year 1 and year 2. In the end they created an extra kinder class and an extra composite year 1/2 class and brought in extra teachers. That was in preference to increasing class sizes and means that our daughter is in a lovely small class of 20. I think that if you are out of area it is pretty much first come, first served. In our school newsletter this week it said that admissions letters were due out this week, and that it was especially important for out of area applications to be in ASAP. Our youngest is due to start, so we should be getting a letter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k8bug79 Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 I am fairly sure that if you are 'in area' for a public (government) school, they have to take the children. My eldest is in a (very good) school here, and when she started this year (she is year one, so in her second year) the first week of term was spent shuffling the classes around because they had had loads of extra last minute admissions for kindy, year 1 and year 2. In the end they created an extra kinder class and an extra composite year 1/2 class and brought in extra teachers. That was in preference to increasing class sizes and means that our daughter is in a lovely small class of 20. I think that if you are out of area it is pretty much first come, first served. In our school newsletter this week it said that admissions letters were due out this week, and that it was especially important for out of area applications to be in ASAP. Our youngest is due to start, so we should be getting a letter. Thanks, does that mean applications fo rthe new school year are soon? Is that for Feb 13 or Feb 14? My youngest starts Sept 13 here and Feb 14 there and we are about to apply in the UK. But if you are talking about applicatiosn for Feb 13 we may be there when we need to apply for he to start Feb 14 (sorry hope that makes sense!!!). So as I understand it to be guaranteed a good school we have to live near it and if its full they'll still make room? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thanks, does that mean applications fo rthe new school year are soon? Is that for Feb 13 or Feb 14? My youngest starts Sept 13 here and Feb 14 there and we are about to apply in the UK. But if you are talking about applicatiosn for Feb 13 we may be there when we need to apply for he to start Feb 14 (sorry hope that makes sense!!!). So as I understand it to be guaranteed a good school we have to live near it and if its full they'll still make room? Yes, I am pretty sure that if you are in the catchment they have to take you. The applications are usually sent in from about May/June onwards for the next Feb. So I handed in our youngest daughters forms back in June for Feb 2013 start, and the acceptance letters are just going out now. Having said that, we didn't apply for our eldest to start school until the November and she started in the Feb because we had only just moved to the area. We were on a 457 at the time, and I think that our only option was the school that we were in catchment for, I don't think that we would have been accepted at a school that we were out of area for, although I may be wrong on this. If you had PR I don't think that that would be an issue. In your case, you wouldn't need to apply until mid-next year, but as far as I know if you are in-area you could theoretically just rock up on the day that school started and enroll. I think that that is what happened at the beginning of this year with our daughters school. For the first week of term 1 they all stayed in their previous years classes whilst the extra classes and teaching staff were sorted out. I wouldn't recommend doing that though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 This is NSW by the way for anyone heading for other states reading this. I don't know how the schooling system works elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleal Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 If you are sending your children to a public (state) school, and you fall within the catchement area, the school has to take you. Some will accept out of area (my daughters school does) if they need to make up numbers or if you have special circumstances which require a change of school. In saying that, there is a public school in our suburb in the Lower North Shore, which will NOT accept children that are not on permanent visa's even if you are in the catchment area. This is because they have tiny grounds and have over 800 pupils. They have to stagger start times and recess times to accommodate all the children that they have. There is a website http://www.myschool.edu.au/ in which you can type in the school name and it will give you all the school info as well as their NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) scores and how they perform against similar schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie 2 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thanks, does that mean applications fo rthe new school year are soon? Is that for Feb 13 or Feb 14? My youngest starts Sept 13 here and Feb 14 there and we are about to apply in the UK. But if you are talking about applicatiosn for Feb 13 we may be there when we need to apply for he to start Feb 14 (sorry hope that makes sense!!!). So as I understand it to be guaranteed a good school we have to live near it and if its full they'll still make room? You will find that the best way to go about things is to get here, look around and find the suburb you would like to reside in. Forget school until you've decided where to live. If you live in a nice suburb you will find that it will have good public schools. There will be no problem getting the 3 children into the same school. You simply front up when you are ready to enrol them. If you want to go the private school route, then you worry about applications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickyNook Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Some colleges that are well known, are solid academically, and which aren't hard to get into - and where you may be able to get in, with your 2.5 - include: U Arizona, Arizona State, U New Mexico, Kent State U, Youngstown U, U Texas El Paso, U Texas San Antonio, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Kansas State U, Long Island U (CW Post Campus), LIU Brooklyn Campus, Toogaloo College, U Rhode Island, U Montana, U Texas Arlington, Notre Dame de Namur, Sam Houston State, and Texas Tech U. Yes, all those well known Sydney colleges.. :rolleyes: Can tell Geography is not your subject... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 You will find that the best way to go about things is to get here, look around and find the suburb you would like to reside in. Forget school until you've decided where to live. If you live in a nice suburb you will find that it will have good public schools. There will be no problem getting the 3 children into the same school. You simply front up when you are ready to enrol them. If you want to go the private school route, then you worry about applications. It doesn't always follow unfortunately. What I did was ask on here, and do research on the myschool website. I made a short list of around 5 schools and areas and visited when I arrived to make a decision. We visited one school which had the best results in the area but I just didn't like the feel of the place and the initial attitude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie 2 Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 (edited) It doesn't always follow unfortunately.What I did was ask on here, and do research on the myschool website. I made a short list of around 5 schools and areas and visited when I arrived to make a decision. We visited one school which had the best results in the area but I just didn't like the feel of the place and the initial attitude. Don't know about Brisbane but there's more than one school in areas here. There are 3 primary schools in my small suburb. The reason I said to wait until they got here to make the decision, was so that they could find the school that suited them. Your list didn't tell you which school you didn't like Edited September 14, 2012 by Ellie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k8bug79 Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 Thanks for your replies and apologies for not saying thanks a bit sooner. I think I'll prob do a mixture of the above. We have chosen a few areas and will also narrow those down based on how good the rep is of the schools. But it's good to know that its not hard to get them in. Unlike over here where you can research a nice area and a good school but your chance of getting anything above a failing school are miniscule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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