Enrolling in schools

[EmmaFoxworthy]

Hi all, I’m hoping someone can help me out I’ve been seeing some great spirit on here when people ask for advise so I’ve decided to ask for some myself. 

We will be moving with two children who will be going into primary school, I’m unsure how we will go about renting our property as I’ve heard we can’t rent out without seeing it, understandable but when you can’t what route do I take with this. And most importantly enrolling my children into the school we would like them to go to. Our local popular schools get maxed out so what is everyone’s experience with this? 

 

Thanks all x

[Skani]

Book a holiday let for the first month:  that will give you time to look around for areas you would like to live, check out schools for your children and check commuting times (if you know where you will be working).  I'm not sure which town/city you will be moving to but many Australian cities are huge in geographical area with poor public transport so commuting is an important consideration.

Government schools do have defined catchment areas so that will also be an important consideration for a residence if you have a preference for particular schools.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Skani

[Quoll]

I've answered the same question on another thread - usually you only need to ask the same Austin once.

[DukeNinja]

On 08/08/2019 at 05:12, EmmaFoxworthy said:

Hi all, I’m hoping someone can help me out I’ve been seeing some great spirit on here when people ask for advise so I’ve decided to ask for some myself. 

We will be moving with two children who will be going into primary school, I’m unsure how we will go about renting our property as I’ve heard we can’t rent out without seeing it, understandable but when you can’t what route do I take with this. And most importantly enrolling my children into the school we would like them to go to. Our local popular schools get maxed out so what is everyone’s experience with this? 

 

Thanks all x

You don't necessarily have to see the rental property before renting. The issue here is with older properties: a lot of the photos in rental ads are substantially touched up to make them look bright, fresh and inviting. And more often than not, dated photos of when the property was in pristine condition are used.

If you wanted to secure a rental whilst abroad, do what we did: we sought out a brand new apartment to lease (or you could look at nearly new), asked the estate agent to send us current photos and even a video of possible. We made sure that we secured a place at walking distance from work, so that I didn't have to worry about the hassle and expense of commuting. The apartment block wasn't going to be ready for occupancy upon landing, so we had a 2 week apart hotel rental to fill in the gap.

Of course, the plan was to secure a 6 month lease, which would give us plenty of time to assess the neighbourhoods for the longer term rental.

You can sign up for the GoGet PAYG car sharing for a small monthly membership fee, which would allow you to dive further out to suss out other areas.

Oh and check this out:

http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/maps/edmap/

Catchment areas for schools. Find the general location you want to live in, then find the school you want, and find a rental in its catchment area.

I believe there is a requirement for state school to reserve places for family that move throughout the school year.

 

Edited September 4, 2019 by DukeNinja