Still loking at suburbs to view when we arrive in June.

Considering heading over towards Eltham/Diamond Creek and St.Helena. Just wondering what people thought of these areas, any good/bad points and what the primary/secondary schools are like- are there any to avoid?

Thanks for any info people have

We don't live that far out - we are renting in Ivanhoe at the moment but I think when we buy we may move out Eltham way. It looks very nice and you can get more house for your money. I think the train to the city is approx 50-55 mins from Eltham. I believe Eltham High School is quite good but don't know about the others. What age are your children?
Good luck!
Ruth

Hi Ruth,

My son is only 6 but I am preparing for high school a bit early!!!!

Just wanted to make sure that if we did look at those areas that I wasn't in the catchment zone for the worse school in Melbourne!!!

It seems to tick a few of our boxes so will be taking a look when we arrive

No I quite understand!! My daughter is 7 and is in grade 2 - its never too early to start looking at high schools! I got a copy of the good schools guide which lists all the high schools and their results. I got mine from here:
http://www.isubscribe.com.au/title.cfm?ID=2406

I presume your son would go into grade 1 depending on when he turned 6?
Send me a pm when you get here and we can meet up if you like?
Ruth

Thanks for that Ruth, would be great to meeet up when we arrive. Not sure which grade he will go in to - He was 6 on Jan 20th and is in primary 2 at the moment.

We could go house hunting in Eltham

Yes he would be grade 1 - my daughter was 7 in Feb and is in grade 2. There's also some just starting prep who are almost 6! (they like to start them late here!)

Eltham High school is rated at 100th place in the state as last count....


Thats out of 490, includes all private schools, which equates to it being in the top 20pct.

Nice area, lots of old hippy types, mud brick houses, so quiet egliatarian.... If I were to move to a rural type area. Eltham would probably be top of the list.

The last few things I heard about Diamond creek, is similar area but not quiet as good (less shops, worse transport etc) as Eltham. The local pub at Diamond Creek is/was supposedly a bit rough.


Only fault I can think off, is you have to own two cars out there. Or one person is/feels trapped. Rising Fuel prices could mean that house prices fall compared to those closer to the CBD.

Yep, I'd agree with all that OE. St Helena is not a separate suburb but is an estate in a newer part of Greensborough, not surprisingly the houses are around St Helena Rd. We have friends who live there and they like it. If I was deciding between the 3 areas I'd go for Eltham first, St Helena second and Diamond Creek third FWIW. DC is that bit further out and not as good as OE says. The Diamond Creek train line serves all 3 'burbs. Average house prices are below all Melbourne in Greensborough and Diamond Creek, above average in Eltham and the St Helena part of Greensborough.

OzTennis

Thanks for the info.

Is there anywhere else similar to Eltham and Greenborough i.e a bit rural and a nice area that I have not come across, maybe nearby. Have also been looking at North rather than veering of to the North East, but again dont know where to look at.

Hubby will be travelling around for work and I wont be working in CBD so is not essential that train links are the best in Melbourne, but dont want to be too far out.

That feels like he is taking a step back. When we leave here in June he would have been going into primary 3 after the holidays, so it will take a bit of getting used to.

Hi ozzieeagle,

Did you get the info about the high school from the good school guide that Pootle mentioned

Elthan is considered a very nice, established area.

Diamond Creek is OK if you want acreage with access to Eltham.

The road is a nightmare into town although it seems not so far away.

It's from the Sunday Herald Sun, dated 23 Jan 2005, so quite old news now.... Headed report card and lists every school in Victoria. I doubt if too much would have changed in this time.

The subject of schools comes up now and again, and I figured it would be useful to keep. Anywhere in the top 200 is probably OK. We've used it for our own reference. Are aiming for Princess hill secondary college, Carlton (107) for our 3rd child who starts high school next year.

For peoples info reading this... the top performing state school (non private) in the state is Glen Waverley High school at position 36, and beats about 40 private schools. In fact two Asian families that sent their kids to the primary school that our younger two attend, moved house, to Glen Wavelerys catchment, in favour of the more expensive option of the private school education (Presbyterian ladies college) they had mapped out for their kids. Thats pretty dedicated behaviour I reckon.

Brunswick is a long way Geographically from Glen Waverley, and in my opinion no where near as good a place to live. They would have made some money on the move as well I guess.

I have lived in alot of the areas around there over the years. Heidelberg, Eaglemont, Rosanna, Bundoora, Greensborough and even out to Mernda. We have friends that live in Eltham at the moment and I love the area. I cant offer advice on Schools, but it looks like you have had lots of advice on that already.

If we were to move to Melbourne from Bendigo I would look to those areas first.

Melbourne has now spread beyond Mernda Hels.... you'd be amazed..... Melbourne is on the march to Whittlesea lol !Mostly under the Suburbs named Mill park Heights and South Morang. Big cheap houses, almost no or little shopping... Packed roads.... Plenty rd is a nightmare in the Rush hour.... almost an exactly replica of the outer eastern suburbs, except about 40 mins closer to the CBD


In fact anyone considering the eastern subs should consider Greensborough/Bundoora, only for the fact they almost exact clones of any suburb over there, with the benefit of being half the distance to the CBD.


Eltham/Rosanna/Watsonia/Eaglemont/Ivanhoe and parts of Hedeilberg are very good suburbs.... We are supposed to keep them secret Hels