BlueKangaroo Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 We are planning on relocating to Oz in 6-12 months time. We are in a fortunate position that we can pretty much choose where we want to live - realistically looking at the big cities and being within an hour radius. My children will be going into Y7 and Y5 in Jan 16 and ideally I'd like to get them into a private school (this is nothing to do with the 'peers they will mix with' ;-) but simply because they have been a private schools in UK so are familiar with that size and set up). From my enquiries to numerous grammar schools so far, it seems you have to be signed up years in advance to stand any chance of getting a space, am I understanding this correctly? Are there any private schools with places? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 We applied for a number of different private schools in the Brisbane area a year ago and had no problems - my son was Year 12 though. You may have more chance if you are entering half-way through an academic year as they may have had spaces appear from leavers. Keep up the dialogue with them. My son actually ended up at a Catholic school - same as a private but for 1/3 of the price and he's done really well. The school I work at have people on their admissions roll who haven't even been born yet!!! It's a competitive market! Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Lots of them say they don't have space, but then somehow find places. We found places for our three in our first choice schools both in the UK and Australia (we've 'done' six schools over the years). My advice fwiw is to put their names down (and pay the reg fees) at any schools you think you like the look of and contact them at fairly regular intervals so they know you're still interested. If there's any chance you can go and have a look at them that would cut your list down a bit! Depending on which city you decide on, there's often quite a lot of movement at the end of the academic year as workers move on to new posts in different countries. Our experience showed us that a lot of the private school places are taken by children of international workers (oil, gas, banking etc) and they tend to move around the world a lot! When I look at where my daughters' kindy classmates are now, they're pretty much all over the world! Once you're offered a place at a school you like, my advice would be to accept it even if they don't have a place for the other. Most schools operate a sibling policy, where the sibling without a place is put at the top of the waiting list. It's a bit nerve wracking waiting, but it's worked for us each time! We did have a back up plan for our youngest and would have been happy to put her in the local school until a space came up for her to go with her sisters, but in the end we didn't need it. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 We are planning on relocating to Oz in 6-12 months time. We are in a fortunate position that we can pretty much choose where we want to live - realistically looking at the big cities and being within an hour radius. My children will be going into Y7 and Y5 in Jan 16 and ideally I'd like to get them into a private school (this is nothing to do with the 'peers they will mix with' ;-) but simply because they have been a private schools in UK so are familiar with that size and set up). From my enquiries to numerous grammar schools so far, it seems you have to be signed up years in advance to stand any chance of getting a space, am I understanding this correctly? Are there any private schools with places? Our daughter had her first day at school here yesterday (pic below in her uniform). She is having one semester in year 6 and will start year 7 in January. We came over a year early and went to several schools in the area. The impression I had was that they will always squeeze more in which may not necessarily be a good thing as class sizes are quite large in our daughter's school compared with England - but then school fees are less than 50% of the cost here. We also had free rein on where to live but always favoured southern Queensland both because that is our favoured climate and house prices are more affordable. You will need to focus your search otherwise your research will be largely fruitless. Which cities/states are your preference and what are your criteria? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 She looks very smart. Did she have a good day? I think the school fees vary. I know when ours started at their school in Perth we could send all three for what it cost for two in th UK, but that's not the case anymore. It costs more per child at that school now (and their Sydney one) than we're paying in the UK, but there are definitely more mid priced schools in Australia than there are here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 She looks very smart. Did she have a good day? I think the school fees vary. I know when ours started at their school in Perth we could send all three for what it cost for two in th UK, but that's not the case anymore. It costs more per child at that school now (and their Sydney one) than we're paying in the UK, but there are definitely more mid priced schools in Australia than there are here. Yes, she loved it. And after 3 months off she was champing at the bit to go to school and make new friends. School fees in this area are around $10,000 a year compared with around £15,000 minimum in Surrey where we came from. It doubtless does depend where in the UK and where in Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Without a doubt. $24-28k in Sydney, plus $$$ for uniform, reg and enrolment fees, building funds etc etc etc.. £12k in NE England (and East Anglia) for GDST schools. We should have gone to QLD! I'm glad she had a good time. I don't think larger class sizes are a problem - more people to choose your friends from! I hope she carries on being happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 There are so many private schools that private doesn't always equate to best, some of them under perform, however, you will find that the top private schools usually have a wait list whilst some of the less popular private schools don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bound4Tassie Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 What sort of class sizes do you tend to find in private schools in Aus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpingjellybean Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 There are so many private schools that private doesn't always equate to best, some of them under perform, however, you will find that the top private schools usually have a wait list whilst some of the less popular private schools don't. Very true! I saw a report recently to say that many free public schools were performing much better than expensive privates. Unfortunately, in Sydney at least, there is the snob factor involved. Lots of people like to name drop, as in “oh yes my son goes to Knox”. Never mind that their son is unhappy there or struggling, it is all about bragging rights for some parents. Flipping expensive bragging rights! http://bettereducation.com.au/results/HscTopAchiever.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueKangaroo Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 Gbyegreysky your daughter looks very smart! Must be lovely to feel you are really starting you new life! Thankyou all all very helpful comments. I hadn't appreciated there was a difference between private and religious schools. So am I more likely to have luck at a religious school do you think rather than grammars? Religion is not an important factor to us but my children do go to Christian private schools in uk, so as long as it's not too full on that would be OK. our main focus is on the SE suburbs of Melbourne - Ringwood right out to Mount Martha, and Brisbane, but really open to other areas if there are better options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I think many if not most of the private schools have a religious affiliation. Some don't, of course, but it's more common than it is here. Some of them have much reduced fees (some of the Catholic schools, baptist, Lutheran etc), others are more expensive. Do a search for schools around the areas you're looking at and all the info will be there on the websites. Have you seen this? Tells you which religions each school is affiliated with, if any. http://www.privateschoolsguide.com/Melbourne-East-private-schools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 We found this site useful too. Doubtless similar for Victoria. https://bettereducation.com.au/school/Primary/qld/qld_primary_school_rating.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob1 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Here’s the top school ranking by results 2014 for Perth just to give you an idea. I don’t know the fees for some of them, just giving rough estimate There are some private schools that re beaten hands down by the govt schools and it would be better to pay more rent than school fees. 1 All Saints' College Private, mixed, $15,000 2 Perth Modern School Govt but selective – have to sit an entrance exam 3 St Hilda's Anglican School For Girls $25,000 4 St Mary's Anglican Girls' School $20,000 5 Christ Church Grammar School Boys - $25,000 6 Presbyterian Ladies College Girls $25,000 7 Hale School Boys $25,000 8 Santa Maria College Girls, Catholic $12,000 9 Penrhos College Girls $15,000 10 Perth College Girls $15,000 11 Scotch College Boys $25,000 12 Methodist Ladies' College Girls $25,000 13 Iona Presentation College Girls Catholic $12,000 14 Wesley College Possibly mixed $15,000 15 Willetton Senior High School Govt - free 16 Churchlands Senior High School Govt Free 17 Rossmoyne Senior High School Gvt free 18 Shenton College Govt Free 19 John Wollaston Anglican Community School Mixed $10,000 20 Aquinas College Boys $20,000 21 Sacred Heart College Catholic Mixed $10,000 22 John XXIII College Cathoic Mixed $10,000 23 Trinity College Boys $15,000 24 Kolbe Catholic College Mixed $10,000 25 CBC Fremantle Boys Catholic $10,000 Eleven schools are in the Western Suburbs of Perth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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