ginabridget

Help!! I'm in the process of enrolling my eldest child in primary school and am in the zones for three and can't decide between them. I've visited two and met with the school principal and had the tour and full sales-pitch but am still no closer to making a decision (the third one is sending out a letter to all prospective parents rather than letting them visit??). So I've decided that the decision would be made easier if i could suss out where she'd be going to intermediate and secondary school, thinking that as we're renting now we could move into the zone for the suitable high school closer to the time.....but I've been searching high and low for some sort of league table to see which school performs best...have found some statistical info that I can't make head nor tail of.....and was wondering if anyone has some personal experience of/knows someone who knows someone that has kids that go there (OK I'm starting to grasp at straws here ).

Anyway to cut a struggling thread a little bit shorter my question is this: can anyone offer me an opinion of Macleans College, Pakuranga College and Howick College? I've heard that Macleans is very results driven, Howick is great if you're arty, I haven't found any info on the ethos of Pakuranga College.

Also, same question for Pigeon Mountain Primary and Wakaaranga Primary, if you could pick one which one would it be and why?

Any opinions/experience would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Gina

sean n

Hi Gina,

I have had 2 children go to Wakaaranga, my oldest who is 10 has just gone up to the intermediate which is farm cove,that is right next door to Wakaaranga.

I cant fault either school, they, in our opinion are fantastic.The boys have never been so happy in school.The standard of education and discpline are high.They work very hard to ensure that all children are happy and their needs are met.

We cant fault it in anyway and would highly recommend both Wakaraaanga and Farm Cove.

We dont have experience of colleges as yet but we have been told that Pakuranga College is better than Howick(but thats only friends opinions) and Macleans is good for high achievers.

I hope this helps,feel free to contact me via pm if you need any more info.

Good Luck,

Vikki

garryhg

Hi there ,would probably agree with Vikki...McLeans is a good school and does the Cambridge exams,its very strict and has a great success rate,having said that if your childs not particularly academic they can get lost in the crowd quite easily....Pakuranga has got a good name now and seems to have pulled itself up .and Imho sits second best after McLeans....My daughter is at Howick college and has excelled in her exams ,she is very arty and thats why we new it would work for her at that school..There is a new head teacher at Howick College now(who has came from McLeans) and seems to be making his mark there for the better..But go visit the schools and speak to them all,it will give you a better feel for them..but check out your zoning for Intermediates,and IMHO would stay clear of Howick Intermediate,...hope this helps..Jacky

sean n

Hey Jacky,

New youd be able to say about the colleges and that.was guna mention it later,xx

CCGM.IN.NZ

Hi Gina

I have two teens at Macleans. Yes the school do like to concentrate on the best performers both accademically and in the sports too. My eldest has been there for two years. She passed all 5 of her IGCSE subjects in her first year there and also all 4 of her AS level subjects, 3 of which she got A's. My youngest has done 12 months at the school and is also doing extremely well. My children are not sporty at all and did not find that there was opportunity for them to join any of the school teams as they do tend to go for the best performers. Losing is not a word Macleans like to associate with, imo. To be honest, my two are quite happy not to be in any of teams, they are quite happy to be in the background. They both have settled at the school, have made some lovely friends and are happy and obviously are doing well so I am quite happy with that. The school are strict and have some old fashioned values, with which I am happy, a far cry from where we came from! School donations are high, almost $500 per year per child. Though they are voluntary and we only pay when we can afford to. We chose the school as it offered the International Cambridge course which is internationally recognised. Make sure you check the school zones as this is also a big issue with Macleans, though it does make rental and property prices a little higher than in surrounding areas. Also, Bucklands Beach Intermediate has a slightly different Zone to Macleans, so check the in zone roads carefully. If I can be of any more help you are more than welcome to PM me.
Carol

ginabridget

Thank you so much for your replies, they are really helpful

I didn't realise how difficult this decision was going to be, although I think I'm nearly there now.

Seeing as though we don't yet know how our kids are going to be when they're ready for high school, whether they're going to be academic for Macleans or arty for Howick and it seems that we might be able to get a bigger house section for our money (fingers crossed) in the Farm Cove area and still be in a nice area then the deal could be sealed with Wakaaranga, Farm Cove and then Pakuranga College....well that's the plan at the at the moment anyhow. I visited Pigeon Mountain and Wakaaranga School's last week and am now in a complete blur as to what was at each school....

Now even though we're not buying a house until the end of next year I've just been searching for properties on Trademe and are off to have a drive around Farm Cove/Sunnyhills and see how lost I can get. All this is because I don't want the kids to have to move schools when we do eventually buy a house, I reckon they've coped pretty well with us dragging them halfway round the world as it is.

Thanks again
Gina