Hi Guys,
I know that this has probably been discussed lots of times, but I cant find anything useful to me in past searches, and don't know where to start.
I am looking for a school, most likely private, to put my daughter on the list for a place.

I live in Halls head, i'm looking for a school with a good/decent reputation, preferably $3-$4k per year (as i am cheep) and as close as Halls head as possible, don't care if its catholic, anglican etc...... doesn't have to be elite, just decent, and the cheeper the better

can anyone recommend some for me to go and look at?

cheers

Hi Laura, congratulations on the birth of your baby girl, I had been wondering if you'd re-surface. I was looking up some Halls Head information the other day for someone else, as the subject of schooling in the Mandurah area has come up a few times on BE.

Have a look at the My School website http://www.myschool.edu.au and search by suburb (Mandurah) - but this won't give you all the ones in the area, as some local schools are in Lakelands, Halls Head or Greenfields. Just select one of the schools, and then select Local Schools on the left hand side of the screen. You can then sort the results by each column heading and click on each school, and get access to their NAPLAN results and other data. If you are putting in an application, it would be worth doing one for another school as well, just in case you don't get your first choice when you need it. Someone on BE recently posted about this, search for Mandurah Baptist College. Others have posted about Frederick Irwin, Mandurah Catholic College and South Halls Head Primary.

Hi Helen

thanks for the info, my baby girl arrived 2.5 weeks early on 11th maRCH, then we moved house when she was 12 weeks old - last 12 weeks of my life have been so stressful. But now we r in our lovely new home with ocean views its all worth it
Hope u r well.
I will so searches on those schools too xx

My wife's cousin (it's a long story) and her husband moved here from Birmingham 5 years ago.

She teaches at Living Waters in Halls Head (just on the south side of Seascapes). It's a church based school but she enjoys it and I don't think she would teach at a school that didn't come up to her standards.

Hi Laura

Can heartily recommend Frederick Irwin Anglican School in Meadow Springs. Great pastoral care and an emphasis on academic results and music. The staff there are wonderful and the school is very successful.

I've heard great things about Frederick Irwin as well...I was considering it but my daughter is happy and settled where she is (even if it costs more than FI...rrr...) and we'd have a 20 minute drive everyday to get there...so I don't think it'd work for us.

thanks guys, going to research FI now, while i have 5 mins, also will look at living waters. I hate how I will have to drive to school, I wish there was a nice school with in walking distance lets see how much I need to get saving

Yeah, we're within walking distance of my daughter's current school...so that's another plus for it. Plus, she's settled and just loves it there...her classmates, the teachers...I was looking into FI because it's less expensive than where she is now (and with two kids, that means thousands a year difference) and FI's naplan results are better, but I have to look at the whole picture and her feelings as well...

Besides, I imagine what I save on tuition, I'd spend in petrol...

But you're a LOT closer to FI than I am, so it's all good for you though!

It's not just the petrol cost to be considered when you have to drive to school. I find that time is the main issue, about 1 hr per day, more if an item essential for school gets forgotten. On special events like sports days, or open classroom day, or similar, there is often not enough time for me to go home before I have to turn around again and return for school pickup, leaving me with a hour or two to hang around, or exercise, etc. Also, the kids are not learning road-sense and all 3 of us are not getting the exercise. It would be ideal to live closer, but that's not always possible.

Yes totally agree Helen, I called FI and Living waters, really like Living waters, we are going to have a tour there and the principle seemed nice, but when they go to the high school its in Wanbro, the kids get a free bus there but I was thinking if anything happened and i had to get there for my kids its a trek and also going there on parents evening and sports day as you say, pain in the butt.
FI is closer but still would have to bus or car the kids there, i loved walking to school when I was a kid and I always looked forward to walking my child to school too

Just wondering, why would you have to drive your daughter to FI, when the school buses go there? As another poster mentioned, it's a good one hour drive to FI from Halls Head and back to drop off and again later to pick up, in peak traffic (I know, I did it for a year). It's not so bad attending school functions, assemblies etc because it will only take about 20 minutes to get there in quieter traffic, then 20 minutes again later when you come back.

However, it only costs 50cents per journey for your daughter to travel on the school buses. If she's young, you would only need to walk her to the bus stop, and wait there for her later. You'd both get a bit of exercise and she can learn some road sense. At FI in the afternoons when the kids all get onto the buses, they are supervised by teachers. Pushing and shoving is not allowed, orderly queuing is enforced. Priority boarding is given to younger pupils. The supervising teacher stands next to the bus door and calls for the children to board, according to their year group. You see all ages of children getting the school buses, not just the older ones. The youngsters soon get the hang of it, and remember which number bus is their's, what their driver looks like, etc. The buses all leave FI in the same order each day (Rockingham ones go first) so the children get used to knowing just how much time they have between the bell going and the bus leaving!