Reflections on recent trip part 2

[Cheery Thistle]

Just finishing my lunch break so here goes…. 
 

Environment - let’s start with the good! We found the environment in Aus amazing! The space, the proximity to nature, the beaches, the parks. Loved the fact that there are free communal bbqs and they are well kept and clean. Also a noticeable lack of litter all over the place. It’s just so….clean! Lots of the beaches have free changing and toilet facilities and they are usually clean enough (a few exceptions). The access to free and cheap family activities is excellent. The SC in particular was very ‘manicured’. Hubby and I likened it to the Disney town Celebration! 
 

Housing - this will be by far the most challenging aspect of our move. We attended 4 open homes - one had in excess of 60 viewers and we were only there 10 minutes! Houses are expensive and there’s a lot of competition. We plan on renting for a short period and as soon as we can get a mortgage we will buy. The market is moving really quickly and prices only seem to be going one way! 
 

Schools - we went to see a few private schools and we have applied for a few. The main reason for that is that catchments in state schools are so tightly managed and we might need to move around and we’d rather not move our daughter school. We liked that fact that there’s more choice in Aus for a range of budgets. 
 

Stay tuned for part 3 where I will discuss what hasn’t really been mentioned yet - the down side!! 

 

[InnerVoice]

8 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

The main reason for that is that catchments in state schools are so tightly managed and we might need to move around and we’d rather not move our daughter school.

That's true, although state schools can accept out-of-catchment enrolments as long as they are not oversubscribed, and few are. There's also 'at the Principal discretion' so if your child is already enrolled in a school and you move, then they can continue attending that school - particularly if they are a good student  

By the way, glad you had such a great trip!

[Cheery Thistle]

8 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

That's true, although state schools can accept out-of-catchment enrolments as long as they are not oversubscribed, and few are. There's also 'at the Principal discretion' so if your child is already enrolled in a school and you move, then they can continue attending that school - particularly if they are a good student  

By the way, glad you had such a great trip!

I have heard horror stories of people having to provide proof of address every year to maintain their state school places and especially the ‘good’ schools are not taking any out of catchment applications.