Another NSW School Dilemma (Yawn)
 

Me again, banging on about schools...

Does anyone know if the requirement to provide public schools with a rental agreement in order to enrol applies to all schools?

Husband now has a job and a start date so we'll be ping-ponging back to Sydney in the next couple of months. We have PR.

Ideally we'd stay in a serviced apartment / short term accommodation in the catchment area until our container arrives, when we'd move into a longer term place (probably 12 month lease). BUT, I've read that many schools won't let you enrol without a 12 month lease.

The alternative is getting a 12 month lease asap after arriving and renting furniture / camping on blow-up beds until our stuff arrives - not ideal.

Basically I'm aiming to reduce the length of time the kids are out of school from an academic, social and sanity (!) point of view. The Enrolment Manager at the school is reluctant to discuss things until we're actually there. This particular school is new and not over-subscribed yet.

Thanks.

Re: Another NSW School Dilemma (Yawn)
 

Hi,

I'm in Vic, not NSW, but down here a lot of schools will demand a 12 month lease or evidence of purchase. There will be schools that don't but a lot of the "better" and more sought-after schools certainly won't let you enrol without it. It would be worth contacting the schools you are interested in to ask, as you never know. If you can get a short-term rental/serviced apartment in the area they may accept that given you are moving from overseas.

We moved suburbs 18 months ago for my daughter to start high school, and we couldn't enrol her until we had [U]settled[U] on the house, not just had an accepted, unconditional offer.

Re: Another NSW School Dilemma (Yawn)
 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I thought that might be the case :(
Will try the school again to see if they'll give specifics.

Re: Another NSW School Dilemma (Yawn)
 

You should see some of the games people play to get their little darlings into a 'good' school. It's been known for people to rent somewhere in the catchment, and not live there themselves, just to get the relevant address. There are certainly some who move in for 12 months, and move out again once their kid is ensconced.

You also need to consider the mechanics of finding somewhere to live. Rough rule of thumb is it will take 3 months for your stuff to travel by ship. You should also allow 6 weeks to find somewhere to rent. Therefore, one way or the other, you are going to be without your goods for that 3 months.

What many people do is ship off their stuff 1 month before flying out. They then spend that first few weeks trying to get somewhere, and have ~1 month before their stuff arrives to sort the basics out.

Therefore you will probably need to get some stuff for temp at least, and that might determine what you actually send in the first place. One thing you can consider, you might well buy bed/fridge etc. new here anyway - it's more practical.

Re: Another NSW School Dilemma (Yawn)
 

Thanks, good tip about shipping before you leave (providing you have somewhere else to stay).

This will be our 6th international move and 2nd one to Australia so I'm au fait with the relocation stuff but it's our first with school-aged children, hence all the questions. I just wondered if the 12 month lease requirement for enrolment is mandatory across the board.

Re: Another NSW School Dilemma (Yawn)
 

Something to understand about Australia - it's very tickbox. Don't give them excuse to have to think (and that means get that 12m lease). That's not to say that its necessarily mandatory, but exercising judgement isn't what I'd call a strong suit.