pixiefamily

Hi

We are a husband and wife late 30's with an 11 year old son and I may be offered a job at western sydney university. This is a great opportunity but was not our first choice of location in Australia as part of the move was to enjoy a more relaxed outdoor lifestyle, family friendly with sociable people.

I know anywhere is what you make of it but should we make the move or locate to another area, with not such a perfect job opportunity. please help!!

Mummyof3

I reckon you need to look at where you can live and have the journey to work you want. There are all sorts of nice suburbs and part of having the life you want is making sure you remember that as you fill your day to day life with other stuff. We live in a lovely suburb, 20 mins from beaches, pool in garden etc and yet sometimes we are so busy doing the everyday stuff we may as well be back in London 'cos we didn;t leave time to just enjoy it all. So we are tryig to have a "relax" day each weekend. Chores can always wait..... they will still be there when you get back from the beach!

NickyC

Why do you think you can't have that in western Sydney?

HelenTD

What are the schools like in western Sydney?

NickyC

1.87 million people live in Western Sydney. Lots of families, lots of kids, lots of schools. I wouldn't even attempt to have an opinion on what the schools are like as clearly there are so many that it would be pointless. I will only say that the consistently highest-performing school in the NSW HSC (James Ruse) is near Parramatta in western Sydney.

Dreamy

As good as schools in other areas of Australia.

Western Sydney comprises quite a large (and diverse) area.

HelenTD

I'm asking as schools would be an important factor for the OP and it's really hard to get local knowledge when you are new to an area.

In Perth there are quite strong feelings about which schools to avoid, particuarly high schools. Maybe other cities don't have the issues that Perth parents have. Perhaps there's someone else on BE with more info on schools for the OP.

bra_boy

The UWS has campuses all over the western edge of the city. If you want to get to the Sydney of the travel brochures, it's a significant drive east.

However, if you look in the opposite direction you'll see the Blue Mountains, which is where a fair number of Sydney people like to go for their holidays. Surely this is the place for people who like an outdoors lifestyle.

Make sure you visit UWS before accepting a job there.

Dreamy

Yes, I understand what you were asking - but Western Sydney is a huge area, with a hugely diverse population type and hundreds of schools. Even within a particular suburb there would be schools to avoid and schools which are better than others - same as any other highly populated area in Australia (well, same as any other highly populated area in the world, I'd guess)

Without the OP narrowing it down somewhat, it would be pointless to even begin to comment on schooling.

HelenTD

Yes, on Perth threads we're always trying to get more info about what people want, and there seems to be a narrow focus on two areas where prospective migrants like the sound of the low rents or property prices, but can't get to grips with the schooling situation. Perth, of course, is tiny compared to Sydney and Melbourne.