Shipton

I moved four children over to the English school system without any problems. Sure some subjects were at different stages but they quickly caught up where necessary. Two years later my daughter was accepted at Oxford Girls High School. We moved back to Australia when my daughter was going into Year 8 and my son into Year 7. I applied for my daughter to attend North Sydney Girls High School (one of the top selective school in NSW) and she was accepted and my son passed the necessary examinations to go to North Sydney Boys High (also a top selective) whilst in Oxford. Third son sat the test for the Opportunity Class at Chatswood Public School when we arrived back in Sydney but he had covered different maths in the English system, so was unable to pass. He got 98% in the English exam so that was very similar. He reapplied at the end of year 5 and was accepted in Year 6 at Chatswood Public School and subsequently got into North Sydney Boys. (All selective schools and OC classes have competitive entrance examinations).

The children had been booked into top private schools but the economic situation at the time meant that we couldn't do this and when I checked the schools league table (based on Year 12 results) I saw that the selective schools were the best. Fourth child went to a new public high school which he enjoyed. It is horses for courses!!

In NSW, the top academic schools (as shown on the schools league table) are the top selective schools. I thought that both educations systems were very good and I would not say that one was better than the other. My children easily made the switch and adapted well. Like the UK, there are different levels of private schools in Sydney and it depends on your finances, where you decide to live and which schools you can get your child in to. There are some good very non selective public schools. When you decide where you want to live, happy to give you some thoughts on the available schools.

carolinephillips

It depends very much on the time of year you arrive and if there are any spaces open in your year- we arrived when DD would have gone into the 2nd half of Y7, and the selective schools were absolutely choc-a-block. If your child is bright enough, they are going to do well in a reasonably decent school, be it public or private. The trick is getting one to suit your child's personality.

Amazulu

This is how it is and sums the situation up nicely

Shipton

Agree with finding the school that suits the child's personality is the most important and I would not suggest trying to get a child into a selective school if you thought they would be happier in a normal school. It is pretty competitive and not all students do well in that situation. I also agree that a hardworking student will succeed in a good school.

Re the timing of coming back to Sydney, we came back in the September in year 7 and she went to a local high school for the last term.... and yes the Year 7 classes in the selective schools will be fully booked in that first year. But kids move for various reasons, and it is always worth approaching the selective schools (only if you are moving from overseas) to see if there are any vacancies going into year 8. Some will say they have a waiting list of students who just missed out but that is not necessarily the case with the really top ones. I learnt a great deal re getting her into Oxford Girls High (very selective - they look at both academic and an interview and the overall child's accomplishments). Sydney selective schools are based purely on the results of the examination held in March?? of the previous year before the Year 7. But if you are applying for later years, (we applied for Year 8) they definitely look not only at the school results but other achievements as well ie music, sport etc.

The same thing applies to the selective private school, Sydney Grammar if you are trying to get them in after Year 7.

Hope this information helps if you are thinking about selective schools.

KA2002

Thanks for all your advice when you say selective schools when searching the web will they be called selective schools along side the name of the school?

KA2002

Thanks Caroline much appreciated. Do the schools have a similar thing to OFSTED

carolinephillips

You can look on Myschool (you will have to google it as I'm out of touch and technologically challenged so can't provide a link- I'm sure someone else will be able to do so though.) However, be warned that although this shows rankings etc it is not the same as an OFSTED inspection. DD went to a private school, so they didn't as far as I know have inspections, or if they did, kept quiet about them. There are also magazines available in newsagents over here which are like brochures for the schools (private) and one of the things I did was to look up each school on the web and read its own prospectus etc. I narrowed it down to a few and went to see them once I got here with OH and DD who had interviews. Take reports and references (from a minister preferably to show your children and yourselves are of good character) especially if you are going to try for a christian based school.

Just to add, I know that early years has inspections, as the new NQ standards have to be met. There may be others for Primary.

KA2002

Thanks for all your fantastic advice xx

Shipton

Look up the website of the NSW Department of Education...govt departments keep changing their names but this worked on Google. There is a lot of information there and it shows all the selective schools. There are some excellent public (State) schools and people will buy or rent in those schools' catchment areas so that their kids can attend these schools. It really depends on what you are looking for in a school. There are some very ordinary fee paying schools as well!!!!

jad n rich

The main education factor is how hard your kid is going to work.

Private or state, they turn 18 and the kid who worked hard in State gets the same UNI choices as the kid who's mummy and daddy spent up to $150,000 on the last 5 years education.

Then at UNI, unlike private schools nobody is pushing them, if they didnt learn work hard on their own back, they very often drop out.

What happens at the private schools is the kids who don't work get kicked out of sitting for university entrance score ( different name each state. ) Say QLD, its called the OP. If in private your not scoring well then you are not 'advised' to continue. Thats why those schools get so many high scoring kids, they only let the best sit the exams. There is no magic to the education they are giving, they just select who sits the exams.

All 3 of mine went state, they worked at varying levels, all got University offers. But two took other career paths anyway.

The huge amount of money saved on 3 kids not going private was spend on Travel. Travelling from Australia with 5 people is a HUGE expense, christmas hols (the 6 weeks ) are peak, you will pay 10 - 15 K just for the airfares to europe or america.

State is fine if your TEEN is going to work. Thats the hard bit

Molly Coddle

Totally agree!

If you have a bright kid who WANTS to learn, save your cash for trips and send them to a State school.

I think that just about sums it up really.

TimbersBack

@Jad n Rich, to be fair tho.. in actuality, some kids OP will naturally be higher based on the past performance of the school. Kids can get transported along with the pedigree of a school based on global merit.

Example:

2 kids with same ability.

1 goes to St Pauls Public School
1 goes to Woodridge High

The kids above will have very different OP scores.

Molly Coddle

This Australian Education malarky seems very complicated. Is it? Or is it just because I'm not in the system/swing of things yet?

jad n rich

The private school carries weight seemly based on its high performers.

However it works 2 ways. Pick the worst school in Queenland and stick a top performing kid in it and that kid is the big fish in the small pond. Comes out with a brilliant OP as there was little competition.

In QLD the QTAC test is also a key part of the mark. Now most kids are absolute rubbish at this. Learn what makes it tick, my son really got into how this works, a lot of it is how you read the questions, some of its almost a game, a strategy.

He worked it out and came 7th in a school with 360 kids in grade 12. He also deliberately switched to a class that was known for its hellraising kids and crap teacher. Guess who was the brilliant stand out in that class and got an amazing score.

Also and this is pretty unfair, a lot of your grade 12 mark comes from assignments. Now all those teachers kids, we know one family with nice but not very bright kid, parents principal and teacher, well hello who used to get amazing assignment marks

Best way of all to get an amazing UNI place, scholarship is to play elite level sport. You may not have atteneded a math or english class for a half the year missed weeks on end of school in grade 10, 11 and 12, but whoo hoo, blockhead gets into something like physiotherapy at top uni.

None of its fair, our orthodontist with 3 university educated kids gave us the big fish, small pond tip. That works.

Teen hormones will still be your biggest enemy though

Shipton

Totally agree.