looter

hi all,

My husband and I arrived here from London and wanted to send our kids to a private school in Melbourne but we had no idea where to start and the choice here was enormous.

We were recommended a service that specialises in helping match people to the right school . We have just finsihed the process with them on Friday and we are very happy with what they have been able to provide. It is such a relief to be able to make an informed decision and it has saved me enormouse stress.

I am new to the forum and I am unsure whether or not I can mention the name of the service?

I know many would be interested

Sherlock Holmes

Hi there and welcome to B.E.

It's my pleasure to welcome you to the forum and give you a point of contact should you need any help with the site in general. You can contact me here.

A list of all the moderators and helpers with their relevant countries including Australia can be found here.

Any problems, dont hesitate to PM me.

I think you can mention the service (as long as it's not yours ) as it may well be of help to others. If you provide a link it will not show up immediately. It will be checked out first.

Enjoy B.E.

Alistair.

looter

Thanks for that.

The service is called Regent Consulting.

The link is www.regentconsulting.com.au

Sherlock Holmes

Thank you for taking the trouble to ask.

All these things come with a price of course Maybe you can tell us how old your children are and what school you ended up choosing. That will be of interest too I'm sure.

looter

I have three girls and the choices for them were huge. We weren't sure whether we wanted coed or single sex but Regent went through all this with us, along with a range of other criteria.

We ended up choosing MLC.

wally71

This service sounds great-we are in need of help as well.

Can you tell me what the cost was?

How long did it take?

Did they help you get into the school?

looter

The cost was around 2.2k.

The process took about 10 days and they did help us get into the school(although they don't guarantee that).

Given we are spending around 500k in the next 6 years, the fee was more than reasonable in my view. It saved us so much time and stress.

I have already sent through two of our friends as customers to Regent.

ozzieeagle

Could have gone to a State School with similar results in a suburb at least equal to Kew if not better.... You would have to live in Parkville though... which is a damn good suburb. Co Ed though and only for high school students... definitely features on the Melbourne school tie network.



and this advice is free

MLC.... My School Results

http://www.myschool.edu.au/Main.aspx...endarYear=2009

University High State School Parkville


http://www.myschool.edu.au/Main.aspx...endarYear=2009

There are a couple of state schools around with even better results than both of those.

looter

Thanks for that.
My understanding is that they are selective schools. ie every kid is on a scholarship, which we probably woudln't be able to get with my girls.

One would hope with everyone on a sholarship, they would get good results! Is that true? Or is ti only Melbourne high?

We have decided we want private education, as in our view we want more than results( which they do wuoite well in anyway!

ozzieeagle

If you lived in Parkville, then you would definitely get in under local school catchment rules. I think Glen Waverley High School scores higher than Uni High these days. Hope your daughters do you proud

looter

Great. Thanks for that.


According to the stats we were given MLC outperforms them both comfortably and also offer the IB and a range of other expereinces we are after.

haggis supper

Hi Looter.

Welcome to Australia and to BE's.

We've just moved our 10 year old from our local primary to St Leonards in Brighton. She's only been there since the end of January but she is loving it, is thriving and we've already seen a change in attitude and responsibility. Long may that continue !

We've already been to a number of school and parent run functions and we're very very impressed so far. Our 8 year old remains at the local primary but we will move him in 2 years, possibly earlier.

We're down in Beaumaris so the realistic options (wanted schools within 15 minute drive) were Mentone, St Leonards, Haileybury and Firbank. We have friends with kids at all these schools so had good input to consider as well as our own visits and school excursions.

I believe that Xavier and Melbourne Grammar would be considered as probably the best private schools. Expect to pay more fees than the ones above.

These are all excellent schools and all have a good reputation. We opted for St Leonards as the art/drama side suited our daughter. In the end its very much a personal decision and depends a lot on the child.

If you drop me a PM I'd be happy to share a little more comment on these schools and our experiences so far.

Good luck.
Col

wally71

Thanks Looter-appreciate the follow up. The price sounds about right. I checked out their website and it looks good.

I am planning to ring them tomorrow.

CEM

Hi Looter,

Do you mind me asking why Regent thought MLC would suit your girls best?
My three were at MLC in Perth and loved it, then we came back to the UK and they love school here. We were in Sydney in 2009. but they hated their school, so I brought them back to the UK at Christmas 2009 and they settled straight back into their old school here.

There is a small chance (I hope this won't happen) that I'll have to bring them back to Melbourne as my oh is working there. He lives in the Uni High catchment, but it's an enormous school. Our girls are used to being in a girls' school which is much smaller and I know they wouldn't want to change now.

I'd be interested to hear how Regent decided which school would suit your girls - there are so many to choose from!

looter

Well, they do a matching process. They have their own questionnaires for the children( which we filled in) then seperate ones for the parents, which were very interesting and were filled in simultaneously. They took all the kids school reports and assessments etc , then they wrote a report( a pretty long one too) where they basically recommended the three best matched schools for our situation and explained why they were the best fit.

They debrief the report which also contains a lot of terminology etc I didn't understand the meetings take about 1.5 hours each.

So they came to the decision with quite a detailed process based on our particular situation. As I have said, we couldn't be happier and it was very valuable for us