HelenTD

Without having to trawl through the Australian Bureau of Statistics or local govt figures, the My Schools website has some interesting numbers for each school, over on the right hand side. Apart from local knowledge of good Perth suburbs, you can get a general idea of other families who go to that school. The numbers are for bottom quarter, middle quarters and top quarter.

The Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA), eg for Connolly PS

School ICSEA value: 1041
Bottom quarter Middle quarters Top quarter
16% 25% 34% 25%

Compare to Rockingham Beach PS, another area where a lot of British migrants settle:

School ICSEA value: 972
Bottom quarter Middle quarters Top quarter
47% 51% 1% 1%

or Quinns Rocks PS
School ICSEA value: 974
Bottom quarter Middle quarters Top quarter
48% 37% 13% 2%

or Clarkson PS
School ICSEA value: 922
Bottom quarter Middle quarters Top quarter
86% 3% 8% 3%

As Exile said, there are strong links between SES and educational outcomes. Going to a school with a higher ICSEA is more likely to have better results than schools with a lower ICSEA. There are some children of tradesmen who will do well, or children of architects (for example) who won't do as well. There are many factors involved in education.

northernbird

See Exile, hardly affluent when my school is being compared to Quinns, Rockingham and Clarkson

mbike

When we were in Perth we lived in Subi. Many of the families around us had or had had children in Subi Primary. Most then went on to one of the Western Suburb private schools. I got the impression it was a good solid school.

We also lived in Shenton Park. Rosalie had a good reputation and of the two secondary schools there, John 23rd (catholic co-ed) seemed to be more favoured than Shenton College

Perth Modern seems to be setting its sights on the academically gifted & talented crowd. Bit more info here: http://www.det.wa.edu.au/curriculums...detcms/portal/

No personal experience however as our son was in the Steiner-Wadorf system over there.

Good luck with your move and enjoy the sunshine.

NKSK version 2

It is difficult to objectively compare systems and to separate the truths from the hearsay.

I think that WA education is much more of a lottery than the UK - you can, I think, get a world-class education and you can get the dregs - and this can happen in the same school.

The new education reform agenda (national curriculum, teacher accountability, transparency) will make it less of a lottery. In my view it will take the national curriculum to remove the new-age fads that have dominated education in WA since the late 90s up to Year 10, with the subsequent knock-on effects on Y11 and Y12.

Complicating this is very weak leadership in (some/many) schools - often due to the middle-management status of principals, and their lack of autonomy (in WA and Australia generally, state governments control virtually everything compared with the UK and there are no benchmark standards for headteacher qualification) that has allowed inconsistent teaching standards to flourish.

Having said all of this, the UK is no box of cakes either. Again, you can get excellent schools but sifting out what is really a good school takes some doing. In my view, grade inflation at GCSE and A level means that every one's a winner and the ways in which headteachers can use certain pathways to show 'success' also suggests that all is not what it should be.

Certainly, recent conversations that I've had with teachers from England suggest that there are a lot of smoke and mirrors being employed in UK schools to give the perception of success.

People often confuse 'good' with high socio-economic status where kids are generally well-behaved and families value education. But I've worked in a school which was in a very affluent area and I am absolutely convinced that the school was cruising; and yet I worked in a very mixed-comprehensive that really achieved excellent results due to a range of policies in place.

In England I taught in perhaps 7 or 8 schools (5 of which were for extended periods). Of these, one was consistently in the top 25 or so in England for results - and deservedly so. Of the others, 3 were seen to be so good that estate agents used the "in XXX catchment area" to inflate the house price. One of these - and I taught there - was so poor that I would never have sent my kids there - and yet the public perception was that it was excellent. The jury's still out on the other two but I wouldn't jump at the opportunity to send my kids to those either.

What the UK has got right, in my view, is a focus on the basics - literacy and numeracy at primary level. Not only that but numeracy and literacy policy - usually overseen by coordinators - ensures that all teachers deliver the same programmes (at least in theory - I'm sure others will say how they have been let down) meaning less of a lottery.

Both systems have very poor records of sacking poorly performing teachers although I understand that over the last 2 years, this has become much easier in the UK (still a nightmare in Australia).

Even those WA parents that can afford the 'best' schools should also be aware. I am aware of significant dissatisfaction with literacy and numeracy teaching at one high-fee school to the extent that withdrawals have occurred.
There can be a false sense of security engendered when forking out over $10000 a year for education....

moneypenny20

Great post!

chris and farideh

Wow! Looks like we kicked a Hornets nest here. Everything I heard about Shenton has been confirmed here. I'm not so sure about Subi PS. Walking around the back streets the other day trying to find it I came across a council estate near by (the first I ever saw in Oz) does this mean the school's full of abo's or deprived children? Don't know, but I'm not sure I'd put my kids to one near a council estate in London. The rest of Subi is of course - very plesant. I spoke with Shenton PS and they basicaly said that If we are in the catchment area then they have no choice but to take my youngest. Otherwise they will consider out of area candidates if there are places just before the start of the new year. Shenton College and I have had a series of missed calls to each other but I hope to finaly speak with them tomorrow. I don't know what the solution will be, but an advantage of West Perth is that there is good transport for the kids to get to school and us to get to them from work if there are any problems.

We would like to thank you all once again for being such a great help in our quest for decent schools for our children.

Kindest regards

Chris

mbike

If this is important to you, you might want to look at the attached, which shows social housing as a percentage of total housing stock per suburb. Figures are from 2006-09, but you get the idea. iirc the only big Homeswest concentrations in Subi were the flats on Thomas and a few units behind the oval. http://britishexpats.com/forum/attac...1&d=1283356614

Dorothy

Wow! What an incredibly racist thing to say. I am really glad my daughter won't be attending Shenton next year. Wouldn't want her having to go to the same school with those Iranian kids.

northernbird

According to the MySchool website Subiaco PS has an aboriginal population of 1% which in a school of 450 makes about 4 kids. Also they may not necessarily look aboriginal to you. We have a 16th generation aboriginal student at our school but they tick the box on the enrolment form because it gives them access to many services not available to other students.

>Trigger<

PMSL..I love Perth threads

There must be summat in the water...

chris and farideh

How very rude you are, just for your information Dorothy my husband isnt Iranian, not that there is anything wrong with being one, just thought you need to get your facts right.


Chris isnt typical Iranian name.


Thank god for that your daughter doesnt go to that next year, there is a light at the end of tunnel.

Dorothy

I know Chris isn't Iranian. I do know his children are 1/2 Iranian, though and as the parent of non-caucasian children I would have thought he wouldn't have been so racist.

chris and farideh

chris and farideh

so, whats got to do with you?

Have you ever live in UK before?

I believe the answer to that question is no'

then you dont know the answer.

why are you calling him racist, is that what you are?

Are you racist towards Iranian.

Kim67

What you said about not wanting your children to go to school with "abo's and deprived children" did come across as pretty rude and racist, sorry.

From someone who has lived in both Brisbane and Perth, I think you'll find Subiaco as a suburb and it's school to be a lot different to Burpengary. I'm sure you'll be happy with your move if you choose to live and send your kids to school in Subiaco or close surrounding suburbs.