loobyloo85 Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Hi guys just wondering how you chose a school for your children? Done a bit of research but can't really make a head or tail of the websites. You seem to have to know the name of the primary school before you can do a search on its stats. It's so difficult. And also did you have a school in place prior to making the move. We have a 8 year old about to go into UK class 4. And a 18 month old who will prob go to kindergarten by the time we get over there. My little girl goes to a very small catholic school over here which has about 300 pupils in the school. It's the only Catholic school in our area so that narrowed things down for us. But the SOR is so vast I'm not sure how we would ever narrow it down. I'm hoping for a job at the new children's hospital in nedlands and hubby is a builder so could go to various areas. When we were last in Perth me n hubby didn't have children but lived in the Cockburn, congee and Munster area. But when we lived there didn't pay attention to anything child related lol. Any advice ice would be great, I know everyone wants different things for schooling. We just want her to be settled and do her best in school in a school that's supportive and doing ok with league tables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 We had been able to secure a rental before we came and I contacted the local schools (found them on line), one we weren't in the catchment area for, one didn't reply, one sent a couple of line email and the last one, sent a really helpful email, telling me about local high schools (my daughter would only do one year of primary), offering to help find a buddy for her etc., they were really informative and answered all my questions over a few emails. We just got a good feel for the school - looked around when we arrived and officially enrolled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey2645 Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Have you used http://www.myschool.edu.au? You can search by area on that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossmoyne Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Government schools won't accept you until you have an address as you have to be within their catchment area. There are many Catholic schools in WA, so if you want to continue with a Catholic education, have a look at http://internet.ceo.wa.edu.au. It is very hard to choose a school without actually visiting to get a feel for the place, and just going by test results published on a website will only give you a small idea of what the school is like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegg Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Sorry to jump in on your post @loobyloo85 ……. just im interested in this as well - i was wondering do you enroll in schools before hand or is it best to see them once out there ? As i wouldn't send my child to a UK school without seeing it etc Anyhow will watch post with interest x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walkabout Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) We came without knowing where exactly we would end up or what school the kids would go to. We accepted that they would be out of school for a few weeks while we worked it all out and figured it was only the same as having a holiday anyway! I did as much reading and research as I could, then came up with a list of areas that we thought we might like and could afford to live in. I then looked at schools and read about them. I made a list of those that I wanted to visit. Once we arrived we looked at the areas on our short list, these were places we likes the sound of from research and had schools that I thought sounded OK from as much as you can tell from the UK (and a few others as well!) and decided those that we liked / didnt like and then arranged to visit schools. Visiting the schools was a really important part for us, the school I liked the sound of the most on paper, I liked the least when we visited! Hope that helps! Edited August 20, 2015 by Walkabout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanonica Posted August 20, 2015 Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 I had the exact same experience as Walkabout. We were here two weeks and then enrolled my son into the school, this is his second week at school (been here almost a month now)and he loves it so much. We also had a short list of areas we liked and schools I was very keen on visiting. Just like Walkabout, the school I was favouring most on paper came out worst in reality.I know how annoying it is when people say this, but its true, it really is all in the feeling you get for a place. Its a really difficult decision though to choose a school so take your time would be my advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loobyloo85 Posted August 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 Thank you so much I will take ur advice and write down my choices and then when we get here choose a school for my daughter. X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loobyloo85 Posted August 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Can anyone help me with a dilemma about school intake age. My daughter is 8 soon to be 9 on the 12th October. She's going into class 4 in September. We have made a provisional date to come out to oz in January 2017 as we had heard the new school year starts in February. Just wondering though she will be starting year 5 in England in sept 2016 so which year will she in when she starts school in oz in the feb. she will be ten when we get over there. Any help would be greatly appreciated as can't get my head round it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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