Curly in Dubai

This has probably been asked lots of times so sorry, but we are hoping to move to Melbourne (Wonga Park/Lilydale areas) in December and plan to rent for 6 months to have a look round, like most people do. How would this work getting the kids into a local school if we are renting in that area? Are they still elligible? Not sure exactly how it works with this catchment area business, can someone please enlighten me? What are the good schools around these areas?

Thanks.

flip

Hi

It's unlikely you'll get something for just 6 months as most rentals are a minimum of a year.

When we arrived we had no problems getting into the schools - you'll need your working visa (permanent residency or other), the children's birth certificates and immunisation certificates.

You apply to the schools you like and if they have vacancies you should be offered a place. Some are very tight such as Glen Waverley (a way out of your area) who insist you live locally and others have to take catchment area kids first. Unless they're the age to start prep 5/6 or high school 11/12 the schools will already know whether they have vacancies and you can approach them by phone or internet once you've identified your preferred schools.

Cut off dates for school starting is 30 April so a child can start prep if they're going to be 5 by the April. Many people here hold their kids back if their birthday's after August so a child can be 6 before they even start school.

You don't say if you're looking for primary or high schools but you're in the area of Chirnside Park, Croydon and possibly Mooroolbark as well as Wonga Park and Lillydale schools.

So for high school your options are:

Catholic: Mt Lilydale Mercy Catholic School and Aquinas in Ringwood

Government: Croydon Community Secondary School
Croydon Secondary School
Maroondah Secondary School
Lilydale High School
Lilydale Hts School
Mooroolbark College
Pembroke School (Mooroolbark)

Private: Oxley (Chirnside Park)
Luther College (Croydon)
Lilydale Adventist Academy
Billanook College

There should also be good bus transport to Ringwood, Box HIll, Nunawading, Mitcham and anywhere else labelled Whitehorse Road and to Bayswater SC.

You can do a search for primary and high schools using this site: http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/schoolsonline/search.asp

I can't give you an opinion on any of the schools but I used to know someone who was very impressed with their first experience of Chirnside Park primary and another friend had no complaints about Wonga Park Primary

All the best

Carolyn

Curly in Dubai

Thanks very much for that Carolyn, big help. Sorry, it's primary I'm after, have a 5 and 8 year old. Is there a big difference (educationally and price)between state and private? We're not religious, so don't want to send the kids to private school if it's religious.
I didn't know we wouldn't be able to rent for 6 months only, thought this was the norm? Will have to have alook more into that.

flip

Sorry 12 months is the norm here.

As for primary's just check out that web address I gave you and then search on Eastern and primary schools that'll give you a full list - then you just need to look for the ones in the suburbs I listed for you

Private schools can be expensive but I haven't yet found a guide to primary schools as there are so many. I think these private secondary schools have a primary school as well: Oxley, Carey Baptist, Yarra Valley, Tintern, Melbourne Rudolph Steiner school. At least a couple of these are heavily religious.

My own experience of the local schools in that area are:

Anderson's Creek in Warrandyte - which you could do from Wonga Park and some people love it - My kids and I weren't in this group - only interested in sports and computers and very cliqui (is there a spell check on this thing?)

Our current school in Ringwood - in our opinion better than excellent private or state schools in the UK. For pastoral care (my daughter was a bit traumatised by her second huge move in a year when she started there) they are amazing, helpfulness (they allowed my son to join her there with only a day's notice near the end of his prep year when he was bullied at his old school - and they didn't charge any of the small fees for that year as we'd already paid at the old place), activities (choir, sports, performances, making movies, etc). Lovely people, great teachers, amazing volunteer group and a great drop off point if you don't want (or are just too late) to walk them into school yourself in the morning. Also they don't have any composite classes (often if class sizes would be compromised schools will mix say 10 or 15 of a year group with 10 or 15 of another year group to make one grade and they'll work at different levels on the same projects. It can be a great help if kids are struggling or if they're keen to work with older kids but I'm personally not a fan.

St Annes - we nearly went this route as it was such a warm and welcoming school and had a wonderful pastoral environment but they didn't have a place for my eldest and we thought it better to keep them together - particularly as we already had experience of the other school and couldn't see how we could better it.

Finally I'm not sure if you've already discovered it but www.melways.com.au offers a series of maps that may help you identify the areas and journeys you're looking at.

All the best

Carolyn