School System - State or Private

[Janey V]

Hi All

We are currently in the process of coming over to NSW (not sure where yet -thanks to those who have suggested places its a great help). When looking at properties I have noticed that a mix of schools come up between state and/or religious, independent. Does it just depend on your area whether you should send your children to state school? My daughter is in a brilliant state school here and we have had no problems and I haven't even needed to consider private. Why does Australia have so many private schools? I guess my question is should we be sending our kids there and budgeting for it? Reading all the forums on the cost of living is making me feel a bit worried about this new warmer life haha

Any help is appreciated :) 

[sualg]

We have just put our 5 year old son into the private system. The state system has some fantastic schools just like the U.K.. The government funds private schools to a much greater extent here so the upfront fees are much lower than in the U.K. Their appears to be a huge range of private schools here in Sydney. Speaking to a ex NSW schools inspector the other week these private schools do not fall under the same inspection regime, however you can benchmark using NAPLAN 

My son has settled in well with much smaller class sizes than the state school . If I had a good state school locally I would of sent him to that. 

My advise is shop around, don’t discount the private sector as sometimes it’s not that expensive vs state

[Quoll]

If your local state PS school is competitive then go for it but belt and braces and all, perhaps look at putting names down for private for HS, that's when a lot of kids move over. Mine were in private all the time and I've not regretted it but the amount it cost us would have set us up nicely in retirement if we hadn't spent it on them!  They don't regret it either and appreciate the different experiences they were offered.