Has anyone moved to NSW (in particular Sydney) on a Temporary working Visa with kids? I've been told that we will have to pay 4.5K each child for schooling. Anyone got any experience of this?

I'm told that an alternative is to send them to a Catholic school as the fees are cheaper than this, but I'm not too keen on this as the kids aren't even christened (we beleive that they can make their own mind up when they are old enough).

Cheers

Dave.

Surely someone has experience of this

Dave

Hi Dave,

I can't really help you with any information, but you may find what you are looking for via the DIMIA website

http://www.immi.gov.au/settle/education/index.htm

Hope you can find something

Hazel

unless you put your kids in to private education i believe it's just a case of finding the right state school and apply for enrolment.

Hi There - sorry for the late response, just getting back from holiday in the UK, back in the country on PR (at long long last) after spending the last year here in Sydney on a temp visa - Yes you will have to pay for each school child, and I it is more expensive for Year 11 and 12 at AUS$ 5.5 K there is also fees for administration per annum $110.

If you have any specific questions let me know - the simplicity of the process usually depends on the school and how helpful they are, one child was not allowed to start until fees had been paid up front, the other was told to start at once - no worries get things sorted later!

Website - www.det.nsw.edu.au/papers/tempvisansw

Good luck

Cheers Sandra

Thanks for that info Sandra, but how do they know that you only have a temp Visa? Do you have to declare your circumstances on the school enrolment form?

WRT to Catholic schools, I don't suppose that you know if the fees that you pay to them is on top of the $4.5K for state schools or is it a cheaper alternative?

This isn't looking too good at the moment. $9K for the two kids after tax would be a big lump out of my salary

Dave

Is your company willing to help - the fees were paid by mine through payroll and I claimed the tax back which can make a big difference at 47%!

Sorry no experience about the private school bit. Worth contact the schools themselves they should know. The schools ask you to enrol and many are well aware about getting proper registration otherwise they do not get the correct amount of state funding.

My daughter was not allowed to start till the money was paid - five weeks after we got here!

Any further questions, pm me or email if you like

Cheers Sandra

Thanks Sandra,

I'll get back to the prospective boss on that one. I did originally ask if he would fund the fees until (if) we obtained PR, but his accountant advised him that if he did this he would have to pay Fringe Benefit Tax at 100% on each Dollar he funded. I'll probe a little bit deeper.


Dave

I've been looking into this, considering both private and public schools for my son in the Greater Sydney area.

However, I'm finding that the bigger private schools are all full, with long waiting lists. One or two of the smaller schools have vacancies, but I'm not sure they are big enough to offer the all round education we're looking for (they appear to be academic 'hothouses' or deeply religious establishments in the main)

Consequently, I'm now coming to the opinion that we'll make sure we live in the catchment area of one of the better 'open' state schools.

As a temp resident it seems only certain schools are open to us. We can't, for example, apply for the streamed schools.

In comparison to what we've been paying in the UK, the private school fees are significantly lower in Australia - and the $5,500 dollars we will have to pay for a state school seems reasonable (even though NSW appears to be the only state charging temp visa holders for schooling)

We are in exactly the same situation, but how to find out which are the best state schools, that is the problem as they do not have any league rankings for schools. We have been looking all over the web for schools information on the quality of the schools but with little result.

Anyone got a solution?

I think it will be an element of 'pot luck', as you say there isn't a great deal on the web about particular state schools.

I've seen Killara and St Ives schools previously recommended, so when we get over there (hopefully in September) I'm going to try and arrange meetings with the schools with a view to my son starting in the January.

If for any reason they aren't right, or we can't get in, then I'll use the following 3 to 4 months to explore other options (and schools!) - and hold fire on committing to a long term rent until we know where we are going to be located for at least two years. As I will be working from home initially - and will only need to go into central Sydney occassionally, the location thing isn't such an issue (thankfully)

If anyone can recommend any other secondary schools in and around Sydney (and up as far as Gosford), particularly for years 11 & 12, then I'd appreciate it.

Thanks


Kev

we are hoping to place our girls in st. patricks catholic school in Sutherland in the sutherlandshire area of Sydney when we get there in Aug/Sept. If you do want your kids to go to a catholic school you will need baptism certificates as catholic children 'of families who are actively involved in the parish' will be given first priority. School fees are on the catholic education office website www.ceo.syd.catholic.edu.au also for Parramatta www.ceo.parra.catholic.edu.au. You save on the second and third childs fees if placing more than one child. For Broken Bay it's http://cso.brokenbay.catholic.edu.au