Roxy111

Good day everybody.
Could you please tell me your opinion about good high schools and Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast (preferably with math and science accent). we have a hard time to determine the city we will go to. Decided to activate our visa in March next year and have couple of weeks trip through those cities.
Would greatly appreciate your thoughts about the areas with good high school, cause it is our main criteria right now, distance from the city does not matter. Kind of want to get an idea and compare few variables based on the house prices, jobs and locations. Something with the middle class family income and house range in between $400-500. Understand that everybody have their own opinion and do not like to raise any arguments, just want to pick some locations and make an analysis.
Thank you very much for your help, this forum is the best place to get information for us so far!!

Kelli28

cant comment on schools but $400-500 for a house will get get you a working class area/house there are more elite areas /houses but cost easily double that

goldchoccycoin

In Queensland there are academies for a variety of areas including maths and technology see;

http://www.qldacademies.eq.edu.au/

comet555

You'd get an all right house in the Bayside area of Brisbane. Look at areas like Alexandra Hills, Capalaba, Wellington Point, Ormiston, Cleveland. Depends how nice a house you want. You'd get a nicer house in Alexandra Hills or Capalaba than you would in the suburbs next to the coast.

As far as I know the schools are good throughout most of this area.

Roxy111

Thanks very much on the information for Brisbane. did not get too much about Gold Coast and Melbourne.
Are the house prices are so high in those cities?
For example we live 20 km north of Toronto and can get a decent house for half mil in pretty nice area and good schools. we are not too crazy to live close to the downtown at all.
Another question: in Toronto area catholic schools seems to be slightly better discipline wise than public schools (our son goes to catholic school). Is it the case in Australia as well?
Thank you

comet555

We bought ours in Capalaba last year for $460,000. It's a 4 bed, 2 bath, double garage. It would have a lot more if we had bought in the suburbs 10-15 minutes east along the coast. Our house might have been about average priced in our suburb.

I really like the Bayside area, it's not really like we're in the "city" at all. It's a pretty good area.

My husband has a 35 minute bus ride in the morning so not too bad of a commute. It's closer to 45-50 minute.

I can't answer about the schools, although be prepared that Catholic schools are essentially private schools here so they have fees to send your kids there. Although I've heard it's usually lower than the regular private school fees. Depends on the school though.

ABCDiamond

Brisbane Bayside has been mentioned, and I will mention our own school, especially in relation to the Maths aspect.

NAPLAN Results for Faith Lutheran College, Victoria Point/Thornlands, QLD
with comparisons against the mean for each State, and with the Australian average also shown.

Year 7 - NUMERACY
557.0 Faith Lutheran College
556.2 ACT
552.3 Vic
551.3 Nsw
544.9 Australian Average
538.8 Qld
536.2 SA
534.0 WA
533.8 Tas
489.3 NT

Faith is a private school with year 7 fees of : I pay $264.20 per fortnight, with 20 payments per year = $5,284 plus about $600 py on books, uniforms etc.

NAPLAN National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy
http://www.naplan.edu.au/

Property in the area ?
$400k would get you

As Comet555 has mentioned them; An example of Catholic school fees in Brisbane can be seen at:
Catholic School Fees Brisbane PDF File. Their basic recommended fees for 2007 were:

Preschool & Primary : $744 per student or $1,048 for two children or $1,280 per family of 3 or more students, with a building fund contribution of $376 per primary school family.
Secondary School : $1,576 per student or $2,628 per family (2 students or more), with a building fund contribution of $480 per school family

Cost of Education in Australia

hereshoping

West of Melbourne you could find a house for the price range you're looking for. We've just bought a 3 bedroom place in Yarraville for just over that, and if you go further out to Altona, Newport or one of the new build places then you can definately get a house for that price. The west is generally not as favoured as the east of the city, and is prob a bit more working class- though our area is definately professional middle class and the west is very much on the up.

For high schools it's really hard to comment without knowing which area you're going to and if you're looking state, catholic or private and how accademic your kids are. The selective state schools in Melbourne are outstanding but hard to get in to.

Roxy111

Thank you very much for your health! At least we have an idea now what areas to examine during our short visit in April. Our son is targeted towards engineering program in University after (his math and science average is above 90% now, hope he'll continue on like that) Plus he is really concerned about this move as he had plenty of friends here (we lived in the same area for the last 7 years near Toronto). I know it sound childish cause we will have much more problems to solve during this transition but he is our major concern right now (remember myself in teens when my parents moved me and how upset I was etc.) Catholic schools fees seems to be not a lot and if it is better education and discipline we would definetely consider it.