Brisbane - gaythorne area primary schools and ages?

[MWJ]

Hi, we (wife, son 5 in aug 2015 & twins 2 in 2015) will arrive in Brisbane in August 2015 and as I understand it my eldest will not start prep until jan 16 as his 5th birthday was post the 2015 jun 30th cut off, is that correct?

 

additionally I understand that children can be enrolled early under special circumstances, would the fact that he had already completed a year primary school in the UK count for this as I do not want him to take a step back?

 

Thanks for any advice

[MWJ]

Ps what primary schools are recommended in gaythorne area

[Tina2]

Correct your eldest will start prep in 2016. Sorry not sure about early entry. Education is very different over here, so your child should not feel they are going backwards and emotionally it will be better for your child to be in there own peir group.

 

Are you looking at State or Private schools as with state the school depends on where you end up living as most state school have catchment areas. if you are talking private then you can put your name down on a wait list for the school of your choice.

 

From what i know Newmarket state primary is quite a good school, and there are quite good schools in Ashgrove, both suburbs are only about 6 minuets from your current chosen area of gaythorn, but as i say, if you are looking at state schools you need to be in the catchment which means you would need to live in Newmarket rather than gaythorn.

Both Newmarket and Ashgrove state schools have pretty good results on NAPLAN as well http://www.ashgrovess.eq.edu.au/sample/facilities-info-2/

https://newmarkess.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx

 

But one of the best State Schools in the area would be Kelvin Grove State College about 6km or 11 minuets away. https://kelvingrovesc.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx This is prep to 12 and is a school of Excellance so catchment is strictly enforced.

 

[sprug]

When we moved over from the UK my eldest was at primary school (6 years old). We had a discussion with the headmaster and he asked us which year we would prefer our son to go in given he had been schooled in the UK (with his peers or in the year above). I suspect the answer to your question is that it will depend on the school itself and you should start by emailing the potentials in the area you are considering to get a feel for this. The links above should give you the email addresses to ask the question.

 

This might help http://bettereducation.com.au/school/Primary/qld/brisbane_top_primary_schools.aspx

 

Thanks

 

Shelley

[MWJ]

Thank you both, confirmed what I am researching but it didn't seem clear cut from the uk on an iPhone :-). I am looking at state for primary then reassessing but as I will be accommodated by the ADF don't really have a choice as to where, likely GAythorne. So my eldest will go to C&K if I can get him in aug til jan then start prep.

 

I have one colleague with a child at Gaythorne state who says its a great traditional small class school, anyone else have any experience of it ?