Guest sazzerw Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Hope someone can help. I am a secondary English teacher about to start my family's visa application process under regional state sponsorship. Hopefully my state sponsor will be SA and I have been advised by a colleague who orginates from SA that the region around Clare is beautiful. However I would like to teach in an independent or private school and have noticed that there is a large independent school, Trinity College, further down. Looking on realestate.com.au the prices of houses in Two Wells seemed reasonable but following comments I have read about Elizabeth I am now worried about this area as I have two small children; Clare is too far if I am lucky enough to gain employment in this area. Is Trinity College worth considering as a potential employer? Are there other independent/private schools which are of a high calibre? (I have no religious affliation so I am not 'desired' by some!) Are there any areas which are really fantastic and close to everything? (Not that I want the earth!!) Thanks for all your help:err: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaniaColin Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Just wanted to welcome you to poms in oz Best of luck Tania X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Hope someone can help. However I would like to teach in an independent or private school and have noticed that there is a large independent school, Trinity College, further down. Looking on realestate.com.au the prices of houses in Two Wells seemed reasonable but following comments I have read about Elizabeth I am now worried about this area as I have two small children; Clare is too far if I am lucky enough to gain employment in this area. Is Trinity College worth considering as a potential employer? Are there other independent/private schools which are of a high calibre? (I have no religious affliation so I am not 'desired' by some!) Are there any areas which are really fantastic and close to everything? (Not that I want the earth!!) Thanks for all your help:err: G'day mate, any help? Trinity College - Five Schools One College - Northern Suburbs, South Australia south australia: gawler real estate - Google Search south australia: gawler map - Google Search Cheers, Bobj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sazzerw Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 G'day Bobj Thanks for the heads up. Any idea if the school is any good, same goes for Gawler too. I have trawled the internet but there is nothing like the horse's mouth - not that I think you're a horse! Sazzerw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 G'day Bobj Thanks for the heads up. Any idea if the school is any good, same goes for Gawler too. I have trawled the internet but there is nothing like the horse's mouth - not that I think you're a horse! Sazzerw G'day mate, absolutely no idea of South Australia, or the school. Odd thing is, I was perusing Gawler and Clare bout 5 minutes before reading your query as I knew a bloke from Clare.:yes: Cheers, Bobj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest9973 Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Hiya Sazzerw I do live in Adelaide but south. Areas past Gawler and up to Clare will be fairly rural,I've only been up that way once. A beautiful area it is but perhaps less job opportunities. I'm certainly not knocking it - I love rural. I have friends in Two Wells,it is pretty flat,barren and dry in summer and prone to flooding in Winter. House /land prices are very reasonable there. Obviously work is a key factor here but you need the balance of a good area to live in. I'd not limit myself to one particular area as you may well change your mind once you arrive. I'd not even say north or south if you have not been before. Adelaide and her suburbs is a huge area. Sorry I can't be any more specific.:smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sazzerw Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Hiya Sazzerw I do live in Adelaide but south. Areas past Gawler and up to Clare will be fairly rural,I've only been up that way once. A beautiful area it is but perhaps less job opportunities. I'm certainly not knocking it - I love rural. I have friends in Two Wells,it is pretty flat,barren and dry in summer and prone to flooding in Winter. House /land prices are very reasonable there. Obviously work is a key factor here but you need the balance of a good area to live in. I'd not limit myself to one particular area as you may well change your mind once you arrive. I'd not even say north or south if you have not been before. Adelaide and her suburbs is a huge area. Sorry I can't be any more specific.:smile: Thanks for the reply. We live in rural Cornwall so city life is not to our liking really. Good point about an open mind though. It is nice to get a feel for the areas we can afford but I agree that we will probably think differently once we are there/have a job offer. Renting is probably the best way to go intially before making any final commitments - property market permitting. Sazzerw:yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinbasher Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Hi there Don't know if this will help or not... A lot of the private schools are church schools and as such try to employ people who go to church. A bill was sneaked through the lower house last week that is trying to stop schools discriminating against people who are not religious and allowing them equal opportunities at church schools. The Christian schools are up in arms about it as this bill has been blocked many times. So by the time you get here the bill may have been passed. If you register with DECS (the public school system) you may well get in a public school if you are prepared to work in the country. It is a very odd system over here, although if they are short of English teachers in Adelaide then you would stand a good chance. The best thing to do would be to phone DECS and see how the land lies. Most of the private schools are of a high calibre, although the higher fee paying schools believe that they are better than all the others. Hope that helps a little! Mrs TinB :GEEK: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest just jo Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Hi Trinity comes well recommended and I would certainly consider it as an employer of choice. Gawler is a lovely place to live, it has an old country town feel to it and its only about 55 minutes from the City with a good train link straight into Adelade in about 35 minutes. The state schools are nice and quite small which is always good. Have a look at this website for independant schools in Adelaide Association of Independent Schools of SA If you are not attached to any religion you can pretty much apply anywhere, my friend works in a Lutheran school and got the job without being lutheran, I guess its all about how non commital you can be without appearing a heathen at the interview.:laugh: For independant schools in the North East I would suggest you look at Kings Baptist Grammar School, my daughter goes there and while there is some god loving its not forced upon you. King's Learning There is also Gleeson college (Catholic) Gleeson College : Home Thomas More College (Catholic) Thomas More College Tyndale, a super school in my opinion Tyndale Christian School Pedare Christian College Pedare Christian College and St Colomba Welcome to St Columba College just to name a few in the North East. All these schools are within 30 minutes drive of Gawler. The other advantage to Gawler is you are right on the doorstep of the Barossa Valley so lots of wineries to check out. No beaches though. I wouldn't worry about Elizabeth, most people who live there stay in the suburb and you won't get car jacked or robbed at knife point just driving through. However I wouldn't recommend it as a place to live. Now on to Two Wells, its a very rural agricultural part of Adelaide, very flat so in the summer when we've had no rain it can get very hot and dusty. There is a small shopping centre at Virginia (next suburb) which is going to be made bigger and a fantastic garden centre, I'm not sure about schools out that way. The only advantage to Two Wells that I can see is you can get a larger property with plenty of land for good money. If you wanted to hobby farm it would be fantastic. Its certainly not pretty. Port Wakefield Road gives you good access to the city and more importantly the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulars for weekend getaways. My boarding kennels is at Two Wells and its the middle of no-where but their house is fantastic and they have about 10 acres and no neighbours. With regard to State schools the situation here is very different to the UK. You register with DECS http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/ who assess your qualifications. You then may have to upgrade your qualifications to suit the South Australian Standard. Then you wait or go into relief work while you wait. You either then get offered a contract at a school of their choice for a set amount of years or keep looking in the paper for a job you like. At the end of your contract you can reapply for your job and have another contract or move to another school. I also believe you have to teach for a minimum of 2 years in the country and if you choose not to do this you have to come out of the profession for that period of time. This is to enable the country schools to get good calibur teachers who would prefer to stay in the metropolitan area, however Gawler is classed as country so its not as bad as it seems. It also appears if you do relief work and a job comes up at the school the school can offer you the job and then inform DECS. This is just state schooling though, independant is different. Any more questions, just ask. Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinbasher Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I also believe you have to teach for a minimum of 2 years in the country and if you choose not to do this you have to come out of the profession for that period of time. Just be careful with DECS and the country, they used to say 2-3 years in the country before they would offer you a place in the city but what they don't like to advertise is that they push for 5 years. A few of my friends have been stung recently as they accepted jobs in the country hoping to get back into the city after 2 years of service. A friend of mine is an English teacher and DECS phoned her last year and offered her a job in the city, so it all depends on the vacancies that are available at the time. Mrs TinB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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