Roofus

Hi All,
New to the Forum but useful to be in touch with folk.

We are leaving UK on August 3rd on subclass 457 visa now granted after three months messin around. I am to work in Frankston, Victoria and will need to live fairly close by but not in Frankston.

Any advice about the areas surrounding would be really helpful especially about the schools in that area. We need both Primary and Secondary and my children are all very sporty (canoeing, gymnastics, swimming).

Look forward to hearing from you all.

R

ABCDiamond

Welcome to the forum.

Cant help much on Victoria, but you may get some local knowledge from
http://s7.invisionfree.com/BritVics

fireeater

There's also this site, which may help

http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/schoolsonline/

Roofus

Thanks for that - really useful site

R

OzTennis

My brother's 3 children have all attended Kingsley Park Primary School and he speaks very highly about it; 2 children are currently at Frankston High School and he also speaks very highly about it. Both schools are zoned though - they lived in the KPS zone but had to move house (down the hill in the direction of the HS) for the children to be able to attend FHS.

I was just speaking to him a few hours ago about their schooling (bizarre co-incidence) and we were discussing VCE results (one daughter had just sat her first exam). He was saying that FHS ranks quite highly in the state and is up amongst some of the private schools and is certainly one of the better state schools. It is particularly highly regarded for its 'laptop program'. Parents can opt for their children to do all their subjects on this program. You have to purchase a latest model Toshiba at very favourable prices and Toshiba has technicians on site at the school to carry out repairs, install software etc.

Both his daughters are very I.T literate as a result of using their laptops every day. I appreciate some parents may not want their children to be on such a program or may not be able to afford the laptop (there are pay by instalments schemes though) but IMHO that would be selling them short as life becomes more I.T dependant. There sermon over!

So, Kingsley Park PS and Frankston HS I can recommend.

You can check out VCE results (roughly equivalent to 'A' levels/Scottish Highers) at:

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/stati...choolstats.pdf

OzTennis

floss

I've spent hours pouring over these stats, though, and it is very confusing.

Accepting that a school is obviously much more than simply the sum of its VCE results - according to these results, Frankston HS's pupils do not appear to do as well in their VCE exams as Mt Eliza, Patterson Lakes and Mordialloc College, which seem to be the other main secondary schools along the coast...

Everything I hear about Frankston does sound great and it does seem to be regarded as a really successful state school, but simply in THESE terms it doesn't notch up as many really high grades, nor is the average score as high... (again)

This may be one of those anomolies caused by a school having, for example, an Accelerated Learning Program for its academically brightest pupils... I don't know if this skews the results, because Mt Erin has one of these programs and yet ITS results are the worst of the lot!?!

Anyone throw any light on this????

Brain ache.....

OzTennis

Not to put too fine a point on it but you will find that Frankston draws pupils from a wider range of the socio-economic profile than the other schools you mentioned (particularly Mt Eliza). Put bluntly, Frankston is at the lower end of the spectrum property value and average household income wise. It has areas with more than their fair share of single parent families, tenanted families etc.

Taking this into account, Frankston achieves outstanding results considering the background of some of the pupils (98% VCE pass rate). I wouldn't think of a school with 99 or 100% as being necessarily 'better' than FHS. This is where educational league tables can be misleading. I could for example point out schools in suburbs with median property values much higher than Frankston but they have lower VCE pass rates!

Look at the subjects offered, the extra-curricular activities provided, the facilities, the opportunities for accelerated learning, laptop program etc, etc as well as exam results.

I'm not sufficiently au fait with some of the statistics quoted to be able to know what they mean in their totality. I have just looked at % satisfactory VCE completions. The fact that 87% of FHS students applied for tertiary courses seems impressive to me (again given the socio-economic profile).

OzTennis

floss

This is what I had imagined is the case - FHS seems very similar to one of our local comprehensives.... VERY varied intake and yet how they seem to bring all their pupils on (what they call the "value-added") is fantastic. Certainly, as you say, the extra-curricular activities and facilities seem almost too good to be true.... not much between them and a top independent school I went to for a bit which is internationally famous for its sports. Thanks for this, Oztennis, it confirms what I hoped was the case, and is why I intend to use a relocation agent to find us accomodation in the zone. FHS have confirmed to me that if you are in zone they guarantee your child a place. Hope to see you there!!!

Slightly disappointed to hear that the Primary School you say is so good only takes pupils from its zone - and that this is too far away from FHS. I have been in contact with Overport Primary which I had thought, being next to FHS, would have strong links. I have a few concerns which I hope the school can put my mind to rest on - but they led me to understand that generally primary schools accept pupils irrespective of where they live. I guess the really popular ones are oversubscribed and so have to restrict applications by zone.

Thanks (yet again) for your info,

kirsty&al

Just out of interest and you may not know the answer: but someone might. The Oz govt allows 1 laptop a year to be bought through salary sacrifice. I assume it is possible to buy the laptops at the school in this (tax efficient) way.

Regards
A.

OzTennis

Alistair

I'll ask my brother because he is sure to know. Although he is a Senior Lecturer at Monash his wife doesn't work so on his salary it is a struggle with 3 at school and 2 on the laptop program. He will be aware of the most tax efficient and cheapest ways of procuring the laptops for his daughters.

OzTennis

OzTennis

I would think that Kingsley Park PS is not as strict on enforcing zone as Frankston HS. My brother and his wife chose to buy a house close to the school when they first bought. It was almost brand new then and had already acquired a good reputation. This was over 10 years ago so now the memory is playing tricks - do they have a zone at KPPS I'm wondering? I ask bro next time I speak to him.

Value added is a good way to think of it. I'd argue that the good schools in not so good areas, like FHS, might just add more value than the private schools with their intakes from better off families and scholarship winners.

OzTennis