Cant rain all the time

Hi all,

We are relocating to Adelaide with our four year old daughter and wondered if you had to pay for education in Australia. I hear the education system is supposed to be of a good standard. Can any one share their experiences of schools in this area?

Thanks

Claire and Darran.

kronk

Think the answer depends on what visa you're relocating on. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but believe that if you relocate on permanent visa you don't have to pay for schooling, if you're on temp visa, you do.

Pollyana

Depends on which temporary visa though - not all over them require the full cost to be covered, and all States have different rules.
However, you should be aware that even if you have "free" education, schools here seem to make much greater demands on parnets financially. If you browse through the forum you will see a huge range of charges - books and all stationery, uniforms, levies for this computer or that new classroom, and just basic "contributions" which can be anything up to a few thousand $s a year.

If you are heading for Adelaide look for posts by Wendy, for a start, she has been there a while and has school-age kids.

Cant rain all the time

Thanks, will definitely have to do more research into this and other expenses. This forum as been a real eye opener so far.

nickos12

Hi,

There is a levy in public education that you have to pay every year.Each school sets their own.
My two girls are in primary and I have to pay $250 each. This covers books, stationary etc. Then theres all the other costs of excursions,lessons from out side agencies, aquatics etc etc. My kids are always bringing home notes for payment for this that and the other. I reckon I have probably forked out about $500 on top of the levy.

Liz

Cant rain all the time

Thanks Liz. We are just trying to think of all possible expenses. Obviously schooling is free in the uk unless you go private. It was something we had not thought of until we read something on Australian Government website. Really appreciate you replying with those figures. Gives us a general idea.

kevinbloomfield

What visa are you coming over on?

Wendy

The school my daughter goes to costs $500 per year, her last school was $240 per year.

This school does have trips etc, but the most I've paid for one is $70 and every now and then they will have a sort of garage sale, or a casual dress day where they can raise money for the school.

Her last school seemed to want money out of you every other week

Nat1971

Hi, I pay around $250 a year for my son, which includes some excursions, but had to pay an extra $26 for his swimming lessons (which they do once a year). But he's only in year 1. The older they get, the more excursions they seem to do, like trips to Canberra, camping etc.

As for the standard of school, I'm very pleased with the one my son goes to.

Cant rain all the time

Temporary Business entry (long stay) visa (subclass 457) for 4 yrs. There are no limitations to work or study on this visa.

Cant rain all the time

Costs vary then from school to school. Are some schools really expensive or are they all around $250 - $500 plus excursions?.

Wendy

Most normal state schools are about $250 plus books, trips etc. My daughter goes to a Montessori school (although she is in the mainstream classes), so I guess it would be classed as semi-private, or equivalent to say a catholic school and costs $500. Private starts at around $2000 - $3000 per year and obviously goes as high as you're willing to pay

The schools here are fine, only advice I will give is don't compare them to UK schools, they teach different subjects and (in my opinion and experience) produce more confident kids.

You will get bad schools in SA, but don't be afraid to move your kids if you find the school doesn't fit them - they seem to cope with moving 10,500k another change of school won't bother them too much. You have three months to enrol them in school, so take your time and pick one you feel comfortable with.

carmele

We're on a 457, sponsored long stay visa, we're in canberra though not adelaide so it could well be a very different scenario.

If we chose a state school the fees we're 9500, an independant school we tried were similar to a canberra state school 10500, a private religious school costs 4500 per year.

As I say we're in ACT so it's probably very different. Good luck with the research

Carmel