Family-friendly areas to live in Canberra

[Jaydee]

Hi all,

We are long-time lurkers on the site and are hopefully applying for a 190 visa soon (just in the process of waiting for my husband's ACS RPL to come through). ACT is the only state currently sponsoring for hubby's role so we are starting the process of looking at the area in detail. (We have previously visited Queensland as close family are there but, unfortunately, we don't appear on their list). I have tried to research details but am struggling to whittle down potential areas to live.

We will be renting initially and want to be somewhere near decent schools. (Our children will be in Year 6 and 8 so, if it is like the UK, we will need both a primary and secondary. The secondary will probably be most crucial though). We are looking for family friendly, safe areas with good facilities, but don't need anything like fantastic nightlife! The commute is not too much of an issue but, as my hubby will be working from home at times it is vital that we have a good internet connection. I have read good things about Woden but are there any other suggestions? Any advice gratefully received!

Thank you.:biggrin:

[Quoll]

It's all much of a muchness to be honest. Around half the population send their kids to private High Schools - read into that what you will! There are some schools I would avoid like the plague but schools go up and down with staff changes and usually reflect the suburbs they serve. Eyeball the suburbs, shops, coffee shops, check out the bus timetables, watch the kids leaving school etc and you'll get a feel for the locale. Personally I prefer the inner suburbs (North) but you get more bang for your buck accommodation wise the further out you go but the outer suburbs can be a bit blah and don't discount the commute or the need for two cars.

 

There is plenty to do in Canberra but bear in mind that most families are two income just to make ends meet so there isn't much going on in the suburbs during the day - I know that a lot of schools really struggle to get parent helpers during the day.

 

Good luck!

[Jaydee]

Thanks so much Quoll for taking the time to reply. It is tricky trying to get a feel for place you've never been! For the commitment statement I need to focus in one some areas to explore in more detail so any info is so useful. Can I ask where in the North you'd recommend? You hit the nail on the head about viewing the areas in person but until then I am trying to collate as much knowledge as possible.

I have heard private schooling is more prevalent in Oz than here - it is something that is way out of our reach here in the UK. Once we get an idea of areas I guess we can research high schools - paid or otherwise!

[Quoll]

Thanks so much Quoll for taking the time to reply. It is tricky trying to get a feel for place you've never been! For the commitment statement I need to focus in one some areas to explore in more detail so any info is so useful. Can I ask where in the North you'd recommend? You hit the nail on the head about viewing the areas in person but until then I am trying to collate as much knowledge as possible.

I have heard private schooling is more prevalent in Oz than here - it is something that is way out of our reach here in the UK. Once we get an idea of areas I guess we can research high schools - paid or otherwise!

Unfortunately it really is one of those piece of string type questions but Hackett, Watson, Downer are much underrated. I like Ainslie but we lived there for years and got in at the bottom of the house market - you don't get much for your money there now but it is a vibrant little suburb with great local shops, restaurants and access to Civic on foot/bus/bike. Campbell is good but more expensive. Feeding into Lyneham High is generally thought to be quite good (Lyneham, Turner, Watson, Downer, Dickson). Campbell HS is ok too (Ainslie, Campbell, Reid, Hackett). The Grammars and Radford tend to be top of the private trees but they'll set you back $10-15kpa. Catholic HS are cheaper but it helps to be Catholic. If you're going a bit further out, Aranda, Cook and even Macqurie are quite good. Kaleen may look good but a little while ago its HS was struggling, I have no idea how it's going now.

 

All suburbs have have a mix of private and public housing - higher density in places like Richardson and Charnwood but there's gradual gentrification going on and even Narrabundah, which used to be quite dire, is getting very trendy as inner suburbs tend to. You don't need to go to the places you mention in your EOI - nothing beats the eyeball test!

 

if I had pots of money then Yarralumla would probably be my choice but that's south of the lake and I'd need a passport LOL

[sunniecat]

It's pretty nice south of the lake too

 

Honestly, most of Canberra is good for families. The Catholic schools are considerably less costly than the big private schools but they do require children to be baptised - and being Catholic moves you further up the list as well! But they're still worth looking at if that's what you're after. We love Woden, but it's nearly as expensive for housing as the Inner South... we live in Wanniassa, north Tuggeranong, where the prices are a bit lower, and we've got pretty good access to schools right through, along with a kidstart centre, kids activites at the local library, parks nearby etc... I find that the north and south have fairly different characters and people do seem to pick a side once they've been here a while and explored a bit!

[Peach]

Around half the population send their kids to private High Schools - read into that what you will!

 

I read into it:

 

a. They can afford it, so why not?

b. The company / embassy is paying for it, so why not?

c. They're on a 457, so can often be cheaper than paying the state school fees. So why not?

d. They want their child to go down a foreign language speaking / Steiner path, so why not?

 

You repeat the 'read into it what you comment' quite often, so what do you read into it?

[Jurls]

Do you know roughly where you are likely to be working? I would be looking at potential suburbs in relation to that. You don't want to be living in Gungahlin and commuting to Tuggeranong for instance if you can help it. Then once you've decided on an area I'd then look at schools. If you are going public (Government) school then you would ideally want to live in the area of your preferred school if you can. Theoretically you can apply to a school from out of area, but in practice a lot of the preschools and primaries are at capacity and not accepting out of area. This is certainly true in the Belconnen district and I'm led to believe may be the case in other areas as well. There are a fair number of private and catholic schools in Canberra so you always have that option as well.

 

Different people like different things, so the best way is to have a drive round your shortlisted suburbs when you get here and see what feels right for you. Good luck.

[Quoll]

I read into it:

 

a. They can afford it, so why not?

b. The company / embassy is paying for it, so why not?

c. They're on a 457, so can often be cheaper than paying the state school fees. So why not?

d. They want their child to go down a foreign language speaking / Steiner path, so why not?

 

You repeat the 'read into it what you comment' quite often, so what do you read into it?

I read into it that a lot of people are not happy with the ACT gov secondary system - talked to many parents who would rather not pay and many who make considerable sacrifices to pay (a-d don't count for that many) but who have seen and heard what happens in their local high school and select - pastoral care, rigor, standards. True, many do return for college but some of our high schools can be quite feral. I know there are incidents in the private schools as well, nowhere is perfect. The usual govvie line is that parents are stuck up, have too much disposable income and want their kids to establish an old boy (or girl) network, never any indication that the schools could be doing better!