Hi everyone,
we are considering to move to Central Coast and I have been reading forums for a while and feel lucky that I can get a job in Central Coast.
Our main concern is school.
Our daughter is 11 and just started grammar school here in the UK and is very happy (so are we).
I have found and researched all gov websites for NSW schools and rankings.
What we are trying to find is first hand information from parents / kids about schools in Central Coast.
My understanding that best schools for academic kids are selective schools or private schools so we looked at Gosford high school (which is selective)

Many thanks for any information.

Cheers

You may struggle to get your daughter into a selective school here. My daughter completed Y7 at a good grammar school in the UK but when she came out here in august (4 years ago) she had to go into Y7 again for a term and a bit. All the selective schools were full with no spaces, so we had to put her in a private school. Most schools in Sydney are full of kids who have been coached to death for years to pass the entry test, and many are asian.
I can't say whether it is different on the central coast. You need to contact the schools- not always easy to do from offshore, and then narrow it down to a few, and set up interviews where you can for the immediate period after you arrive. It took 2 weeks from when we arrived to when we got a place for DD, though the school we chose had been one of the few to have actually bothered to reply to our enquiries. She started the following week, and has been very happy.

Good luck.

Many thanks for your response Caroline, this is very important piece of information we've been struggling to find.
How do you find Australian schools - we are keen to know everything - kids, teachers, relationships, level of education, how do they compare to British grammar schools etc.
One of her old friends from previous school just came back from Brisbane, she says she was happy there but her mum was not so impressed with their education and now she is struggling at school here in the UK.
I am just so worried to take her out of school.

Thanks again

Gen

When DD arrived she was ahead by 2 years as far as languages were concerned- but she was in the top stream of a pushy grammar school.

Generally I'd say there is a broader all round emphasis in the early years of high school- DD got to try all sorts of things like surfing, martial arts, self defence, a lot of volunteering, cheerleading, diving, camping, orienteering, waterpolo etc....DD had time to adjust to the new life, join clubs and make friends which was vitally important.

If you do not plan to stay permanently in Australia, then you might find your daughter would be behind if you went back to the UK. We always knew we would be staying, and now DD is 16 she is doing the IB, which is an internationally recognised course, and is rigorous, and would also allow her to go back and fit in to a school which did IB in its 6th form. As we have been out of the UK for 4 years, although it would also gain her a uni entry, she would be classed as an international student and we couldn't afford the fees! Uni is much cheaper out here. However the IB is an excellent preparation for the way Uni expects students to work, rather than the HSC which is the Aus equivalent to A- levels.

As a parent, you have to go with your gut feelings and your knowledge of your child. One very highly recommended school was not suitable for DD because it had no room for individuals, and was too large. It focussed on making girls leaders, rather than allowing them to develop as individuals. If you cannot afford the fees- which can range from 10k to 25k per year, then you can go to catholic or anglican schools which might have lower fees. But it is up to you to do your research and find some that you are comfortable with.

Forgot to add, kids seem to be less boy focussed from an early age, but they are more independent too- I was shocked at the number of young children travelling alone on public transport. There will always be the "popular" girls and the yobbo elements, but DD was really lucky in that her friends and schoolmates seem to be 99% genuinely nice people to know. She came out of school on the first day with a big grin on her face and said she had made more friends in one day than she had in the whole year in the UK school.

And the parents are really helpful too- the "mateship" that you hear about isn't an urban myth, it really does exist out here.

Many thanks Caroline
This information is very helpful.
When you said about 'mateship' I was hoping for more replies
But we are very grateful for your help
TA

Don't think there are too many on the central coast in your position. (And on this forum they tend to be British, not Aussies!) We have also got school hols and a long weekend just gone so people are busy.
If there is anything else I can help with then let me know.

I've just said much the same about the school hols on the Sydney thread

OP - some of these links are Sydney but some are Central Coast, I just posted the list on the Sydney Schools thread. Might give you a start

The Central Coast has a lot of High / Secondary Schools, some good and some not so good. the Central Coast covers a large area, so you really need to know which are you are heading for. ( Wyong shire to the North and Gosford shire to the South )

The public schools are generally very good, in fact the most expensive private school ( Central Coast Grammar ) seems to rank no better than most of the public schools. As the Central Coast grows, there are more schools being built so a lot of the schools are quite new and modern.

We are currently deciding which High School to send our daughter to in 2014, and there are a LOT to choose from. Just in our catchment area there are eight of them some all boys, some all girls, some mixed, some public, some religious, some selective etc.

Within a 10km radius of gosford there are heaps of schools. St Joseph's ( Joey's ) is a good all girls school and in the Gosford catchment area, maybe get some infor from there. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of books etc, but it's not much. ( 100's per year rather than 1,000s at CCGS )

HI everybody, I am very grateful for your help and advised. I've lookde up Sydney thread as well so thank you Pollyana, lots of useful informaion.
Cheers