Where to live, duplicated from the Sydney forum

[Talieandtribe]

Hi,

Any opinions appreciated.

We're a family with three kids who are 14, 11 and 6.

We're going around in circles over where to base our search.

 

Work will be in North Ryde but not office based, so commute isn't top of the list.Maybe one day a week in the office. Work will be across Sydney and home based.

Office is currently in Reading but living in Manchester and covering the North West.

 

We're looking for a 3 bed house or flat. Budget is around $900.

Near a train station, somewhere with a few shops, a local pool would be great.

We came out to validate our visa last January and loved Surry Hills, our concern is getting somewhere in budget and schools. We want public schools for our three children. They are in public schools now where they are all high achievers.

The schools have made us look more towards the North Shore train line but it was all a bit soulless/boring up there.

Chatswood seemed like a business district more than somewhere to live, we didn't look at Ryde or Artarmon when we visited... Lane Cove was nice but no train station.

We stayed in Killarney Heights for three weeks and felt really isolated.

Cronulla was lovely but too far out.

Avalon beautiful but way too far out.

We all agreed that easy access to the city was important.

We're 10 minutes out of Manchester now. We often get the train in to the city for music events, museum visits, meeting up with friends. We can travel for beaches and national parks at the weekends, we all like camping here for our nature fix.

So not asking for much, just an interesting place with a train station, enough local shops to avoid a mall, a pool in walking distance, great local public schools, parks and a library would be handy too.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading, everyones help so far over on Pomsinoz has been a massive help.

Talie

[NickyNook]

Your preference for areas with good public high schools is going to be your biggest stumbling block.

 

The 'nice' areas tend to be private school territory which means that they have fewer public high schools and those they do have might not be the best. Where I live in the Eastern suburbs, four public high schools have been lost (closed down or merged with others) in the last 20 years due entirely to dwindling enrolments.

 

Some of the north shore's public high schools have good reputations, similarly the Epping and Hills areas have good ones, too. None of those are close to the city.

 

Inner west is nice and sounds like it would suit you but I'm not sure of the current reputation of Sydney Secondary (the old Balmain High School). Years ago it was a bit rough but might have improved.

[northshorepom]

As per on the other forum, I think you should look round Inner West suburbs but you'll have to do the research on public high schools in that area

[Talieandtribe]

Hey

Thanks again.

Yes there only seems to be Sydney college that's good. It has three sites so I need to do more research on what that means... I think it's separate year groups..

The selective system is confusing me, looks like if you're new to the area there isn't much chance of getting in. I'm hoping the part selective will be easier. Looking more closely at schools has really narrowed down the areas we're looking at.

Thanks

[pomtastic]

Hi All,

Can anyone recommend areas near to UWS that are family friendly with good infant/junior schools, but with reasonable commute to Sydney CBD? We have 2 girls aged 2 and 4, so this would be a high priority, my wife is applying for position at UWS. We have heard that Camden is a nice area, but would welcome other suggestions.

thanks

[northshorepom]

UWS has a number of campuses, which one do you mean?

[northshorepom]

Hey

Thanks again.

Yes there only seems to be Sydney college that's good. It has three sites so I need to do more research on what that means... I think it's separate year groups..

The selective system is confusing me, looks like if you're new to the area there isn't much chance of getting in. I'm hoping the part selective will be easier. Looking more closely at schools has really narrowed down the areas we're looking at.

Thanks

 

The selective system can be a real issue. Some of the selective high schools are very popular (because of successful exam results) and hordes of kids are literally drilled to try and get them in. It all feels a bit high risk to me

 

Not sure how you would go about getting a child into a selective high school at a later point of entry, don't know how it works. I think yo'd have to contact the school directly and ask

[pomtastic]

Hi All,

Can anyone recommend areas near to UWS that are family friendly with good infant/junior schools, but with reasonable commute to Sydney CBD? We have 2 girls aged 2 and 4, so this would be a high priority, my wife is applying for position at UWS. We have heard that Camden is a nice area, but would welcome other suggestions.

thanks

 

Hi,

Sorry I forgot to mention that we would be looking to be near the Campbell town UWS campus.

many thanks

[northshorepom]

I don't know that area at all except through a couple of very brief work visits, sorry

 

Hearsay consensus is to look to the country side of Campbeltown - so Camden, Narellan etc. Avoid Macquarie Fields and areas around

 

No commute from that area is going to be that fantastic simply on grounds of distance, but I think the trains from that way make the journey in about an hour. You'd have to add on getting to and from the stations at either end

 

The government is building a new rail link from Glenfield to Leppington to service the "new town" areas around Leppington and Edmonson Park. No idea what it looks like down there at the moment