Moving.Oz

Hi,
Wondering if anyone knows of Primary Schools in Sydney which have a good Mandarin/Chinese language subject (on top of the usual subjects). I'm moving to Sydney in June on a 457 and keen to get my 7 year old daughter into this type of school, if available.

Thanks in advance.

chris and farideh

Lindfield East Primary School, they in East Lindfield this is on the North Shore, it depends where about in Sydney you are moving to?

Moving.Oz

Thanks for your early reply. Still undecided on location. If school is good and not too far from CBD will consider moving to that neighbourhood.

chris and farideh

There is train line to CBD from Lindfield, but East Lindfied is about mile & half from the station.
The school is small but very strict that you have to live in the catchment area, which isn't one of the cheapest area to rent or buy.
Good luck with what ever area you decide to move to I'm sure there are loads of good school around Sydney.

astera

Is there anything closer to the CBD (and south of the bridge) that is decent?

I too am looking for a good school with Mandarin (we are not Chinese but we are expats living in Singapore and our daughter is learning Mandarin at school so we'd like to continue this). But given that we will be living either downtown or in Cronulla I would prefer something in the CBD or at least in the southerly direction.

Any good English schools with a UK curriculum by any chance?

Peter1980

Many areas of Sydney have Mandarin Sunday schools set up by Chinese expat groups to help their kids retain their mother tongue or learn it to stay in touch with their roots. I reckon this would be a better introductory option rather than trying to find a primary school that teaches Mandarin. The level of tuition you would get in the primary school environment would be very basic - and hit and miss (good Chinese teachers are as rare as hen's teeth), and if you are serious it would be better to use a tutor or private classes. There are plenty of PRC students who would offer their services to teach Mandarin or do a language swap. Learning Mandarin requires some pretty intensive rote memorisation for the first few months, then it becomes relatively easy (grammar-wise at least). It's not something that lends itself to occasional 'flash card' study or play lessons - you could do this for years and not really get anywhere.