Nix and Mike

As we now have our visa, we are moving into the next phase of this process.....the planning phase.
We will more than likely be moving to the Gold Coast (as opposed to Brisbane) and I was wondering what recommendations there are out there for excellent states primary schools.
If you had to choose the best of the best (my daughter will be in grade one in 2009).....which would it be.
I will then review each option on the internet.....and make a deicsion about the area to live in accordingly.
Then, we will look for rentals in that area only.
So - I would like to drive the area decision by the school location.

So.....any recommendations ! ?

Nix

steve`o

i can only recommend what i have personal experiance with

http://varsitycollege.eq.edu.au/wcmss/index.php

in varsity lakes

http://www.varsitylakes.com.au/llweb...lakes/main.nsf

Nix and Mike

Steve - thanks for the recommendations. I have actually already contacted Varsity College and have been doing some research on the Varisty Lakes area. Looks nice.
I also have Clover Hill Primary and Robina Primary on my list as current.......so getting there !

If I can build a list of 4 or 5 schools, then we can start with the process of finding appropriate accomodation.

Thanks for the feedback - always appreciated.
Personal expereicne counts more than internet recommendations....

Nix

neil248

Our daughter joined Clover Hill in 2006 and has thrived there ever since. The Mudgeeraba area is also a good place to live.

steve`o

hi are you guys in mudggie ?? ( we are just around the corner in worongary )

debsy

Robina Primary is an excellent school with a fantastic music program. They have some really great teachers. They also won the overall award at the Gold Coast Eistedfodd this year.

gazclaire

Hi, We have been here for 5 weeks now and were feeling really guilty about taking our 7 year old out of the uk school as she loved it there but after being at clover hill for 2 weeks she says she loves it more than her uk school.
Gary

Nix and Mike

Such wonderful positive feedback here.
I had a revert from Clover Hill today with some suggestions on material that I can cover with my child in the coming months (as she is not educated in English here, and also she is a year behind here as they start school later). I was so taken aback at the genuine interest and support.
I feel really good.

I think my husband and I are going to action a rental based on schooling. THEN we will review the business opportunities, and if we need to move because of work (or when we purhcase a house), we will make sure it is at a school year end and therefore make the transitiob easier.
Maybe we end up staying where we are.....you never know !

Thanks again all.....feeling better.

I have a feeling that I may be meeting some of you int he months to come as we may all have kids at the same school !

Nix

P.S. So far Varsity College and Clover Hill the two schools on my short list. Don't seem to be able to find much out about Robina Primary other than Deb's post above.

neil248

Hi Nix

Out of interest as we lived on the Glades in Robina we first approached Robina Primary but they could could not take our daughter as they were full or so we were told and Clover Hill ( which we had never heard of) was suggested.

Not sure how catchment areas work but be careful where you choose to live because we later moved to a house probably nearer the school that was not in the catchment area.

We visited the school which was more or less brand new at the time with excellent facilities including air conditioning and large shaded under cover areas and they had to take our daughter because we were in the catchment area. My wife and I consider Clover Hill to be far superior to the school in the UK and our daughter has gone from strength to strength. Along with much of the Gold Coast there is a general up beat feel about the place.

Hi Stevo

We started off on the Glades Robina then Mudgeeraba Rise which turned out to be a bit of a nightmare and then finally the Paradise which is the Bonogin Valley, cant help thinking that in this country a little bit of land surrounding your house is a good idea.

Neil

moneypenny20

Not aware of any bad primary schools on the Coast. Most of them seem to be very family orientated and kids appear happy. I think a fair bit depends on what size school your child is used to. I personally wouldn't decide on where to live because of the Primary school. I'd have to be happy with a suburb first.

neil248

I agree with moneypen, find the suburb you feel most comfortable with first. If you are renting there is every chance you will end up moving anyway.
The various areas of the coast all have a different feel and reputations.
Once you have been here a while the question of your childs long term secondary education will become an issue as there are probably more options here for ordinary people than in the uk.

Carbery

I agree. Finding a suburb that meets you families requirements is very important. Most primary schools will welcome you as soon as you apply all that is needed is proof of address, passport with visa and maybe some old school reports. Our son went to Merrimac State School until last December when he left for High School - that also may be one to consider!!

humpy

We have contacted varsity lakes, cloverhills and Robina State primary schools, we are going to see them all when we arrive early January, our boy is nearly 5 and will be starting prep school, which school we decide could all depend where we rent as we have a dog and pet friendly rentals seem a little harder to find.

It seems a good few of you live in/around Robina, would be great to have a meet up early next year.

Nix and Mike

I agree with you.....that is why I want to choose the school and then the suburb. Just a different thought process, but stemming from the same thinking.
My thinking:
We are for sure going to be changing suburbs once we get a feel for the "lay of the land" and which areas we like best, and where we end up working etc....
So for the first 6 months, where we will for sure be renting (and it really is irrelevant where we rent), we may as well choose a good school area. Then when we change (buy and move house), we will do so at the end of the school year, and therefore move our child at a natural break in the year. When buying, we will obviously consider area, work AND school.....but intially as area is irrelevant and we don't have any work, schooling will be deciding factor.
Make sense?

Humpy - would be good to hear from you your experiences when you arrive. We will be a couple of months behind you and by the looks of it moving to the same area. We have a child that turns 6 next week, and will be going into Grade One next year. So some similarities.
What are you planning to do on the Gold Coast?

Nix

humpy

My wife has a job sorted at Robina Hospital as a mental health nurse, I am looking for a job, I am a British Gas trained gasfitter but there are no jobs as sole gasfitters, I can do plumbing but have no formal qualififcations in it, I realised this a while ago so I have been doing recruitment for the last 6-8 months, I recruit trades people over here so I can do that over there, I did office work before I did an adult apprenticeship with BG, I also have a fork truck licence and used to manage a warehouse so I have experience in many things. I will post on here when we have managed to sort a few things out over there, be good to meet up with anyone who is based in Robina, I've had a few PM's off people who live close by, gonna meet up when we get there