Adelaide primary schools/ Naplan results

[TALLULAHBELLE]

Wondering if there is anyone in Adelaide who can give me a bit of advice regarding choosing a primary school for DD1? We live in Mile End.

She currently attends kindy at our nearest state school. Most of her kindy friends will go on to primary there. It has nice facilities & small classes but got very poor Naplan results. I have been very happy with the kindy but as she goes onto more formalised schooling I am concerned about the levels of numeracy & literacy at the school. Just not sure how much you can go on Naplan results. Obviously they are just a snapshot & there is much more to a school but ATM it's all I've got to go on.

We have a local Catholic school which did achieve ( marginally) better results. I visited & liked the school & the principal. But none of her friends attend & we are not remotely religious let alone Catholic. The principal
doesn't mind but I have to admit the religious side does not sit easy with me.

Third option is private school - but whilst they have facilities & results to die for we have another 2 DD's to follow and the fees would be crippling. Plus all the private schools seem to be religious in some way. Is it worth the fees at primary stage or should we be putting that off until high school allowing us some sort of lifestyle for now?

So really any advice/ experience welcome. Thanks.

Hi there, I'm in the Adelaide Hills so can't help with schools in the Mile End area. But . . . have you visited your local primary? Naplan tests are a very rough guide. Talk to the teachers about their literacy program, what is the make up of the school - what is the % of English as a second language for instance. It helps to know if they are starting from a low base. Also what is the Special Needs provision?

Some excellent teaching goes on in schools with low Naplan scores - it is very rough data.

We have a local Catholic school up here, it's not overly "Catholic", lots of families are non-religious, but they do spend quite a lot of time studying RE. And you still have to pay - although less than a swanky Private school.

I guess if the fees, even at primary level are crippling then Private school is out of the question, no? Or you could look at one of the bigger Catholic schools - Mercedes?

Oh, and I think unless you go for a Montessori Primary School then all the Private ones are religious.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I know the school pretty well and have had 'the tour'. The school has a NAP prog & 70% ESL. Also quite high % indig students & fair few students with additional needs. The school does well with these kids but DD doesn't come into any of these categories. I would like her to be with her friends & the school would be convenient as other DD's will go to kindy & nearby activities there. Don't want to compromise her education for sake of convenience though. Can't come to a decision for the life of me

The fees at the Catholic primary are pretty cheap anyway & good sibling discount.

Would love Montessori option but only ones I could find were in the Hills or O'Sullivan beach so no go.

Don't worry about NAPLAN. Two of the papers are multiple choice, which, in terms of testing reading, is risible. The writing paper has some validity, but then every year 7 child I teach is up to the gills in persuasive writing. And hates it.

Thanks echt, that's useful to know. I am/ was a teacher in Scotland so understand the national tests & what the results mean & their limitations -but I have no clue what Naplan really tests. Do you think the numeracy results are a fair assessment?

Following on from your other thread, I think the important thing to do is to actually go look at some schools & see what feeling you get. Read their contexts statements online or ask for a hard copy.

Look also at their bullying policies.

I put dd into a primary when we got here that had a good reputation. We loved the kindy & reception stages, but hit a huge obstacle in yr1. She was in a mixed 1/2 class with 2 teachers. One Mon, Tue, Wed the other Thurs, Fri. They had a high % of children with special Ed needs in her class (over 60%) as well as behavioral issues in around 80% of them.

They also had the average kids (my dd incl, although she did show strength in math) & one or two gifted children (one being my friends dd).

My daughter was not tested for reading/literacy for OVER 8 months. One teacher thought the other did it. Reading, once tested (at my insistence) shot from lvl 8 to lvl 18, no wonder my dd refused to read her school reading books! When I spoke to the teachers, they simply admitted that they had too much to contend with. Admitted that children like my dd would just coast, (with little input from the staff there) because they did not have the resources to do much else with her. They said that this would continue through out the school, as being so small, there was only 1 or 2 classes per year, so she would just be with the same group, with over worked & stressed teachers. The reason they had a good rep is that the children with SEN excelled, because they were the children getting all the funding & all the attention. They weren't a bad school, just did not have the resources/staff to cope. They also had a high turn over of staff.

I eventually pulled her out (as did my friend) & they are excelling where they are. Myschool website sites not very much difference between the two according to the results there, but believe me, there is a HUGE difference. They are in a much larger school in terms of numbers (we are the biggest primary in SA) but they are thriving. In less than a year my daughter became a free reader, she has a much higher spelling age (it was at least a yr under the average as the teacher at the old school didn't correct any spelling in her books) & she is back on track.

So, I guess the moral here is, don't jump in just because of test results. Use your instinct. Visit some places. And know that if you DO stuff up. you can put that right in terms of moving her.

I have learnt through my experience with school #1 that all parents have different expectations. I know of a couple of kids who would thrive in a different school (dd still has friends from school #1 who we try hard to maintain relationships with) but parents see no need to move them, because they have lower expectations. I however, swore to move back to the UK if I couldn't find a decent school for dd! So it can be very personal.

And as an aside, I have just changed Kindys for dd2, due to issues I wasn't happy with.

To follow on from what etch said, the persuasive writing test is the same for all the year groups taking the test. I don't know why, but that doesn't sit well with me.

Thanks Different. Glad you got your DD sorted eventually.
I have visited a few schools, they have all been a bit easy oasy IMHO & don't seem focused on academic success ( except the lovely private school we could never afford) .
I guess you don't really know until your child actually attends how it will be. All the parents I have asked are happy with their school choice but I get the feeling they didn't give it much thought initially & don't seem to expect much . One told me that he didn't expect the school to teach his DD anything much - he accepted that he would have to pretty much have to do that at home. School would be where she would gain social skills. Surely that's totally a about e !
I can't help comparing with home & focusing on stuff I don't like . I am not a big fan of the Aussie system so that's nothing to do with individual schools. For example I'm pissed off that DD will have to do 6 terms of reception.
But you are right she can start somewhere & move later if she is not progressing. Great that you managed to find somewhere where your DD is thriving. I live in hope.

If you're thinking of looking at private schools at any stage, I can recommend St Andrews in Walkerville. Ds spent a year there and it was a wonderful school. Although its an anglican school, religion was limited to a visit to the adjoining church once at the end of term.

Thanks Snoozy. We visited St Andrews - it is our dream school - but with 3 DD's it is waaaay out of our price range.

Both my daughters are going to do/have done 6 terms in reception too. All the teachers and Aussie mums all coo excitedly at the prospect saying how wonderful and fortunate they are.

I can't see it myself, and having one perfectly normal to bright ish (ie not utterly thick) daughter though I can't see the benefit at all. Since she's been in year 1 she's come on in reading etc much better. As far as I can see 6 terms in reception is a waste of at least 6 months.

But hey ho, that's (currently) the system. And I'd rather they were in school at 5 than kicking around for another 6 months in kindy.

I grew up in the street where St Andrews is and my mum still lives there. My parents married and I was christened in that church.
(irrelevant interjection).

Saffron it's luvverly round there. What a nice part of town to grow up. Are you still in Adelaide?

Have you tried St Ignatius. I know its a lot cheaper. We had friends who used it at secondary level. The only bad thing I've heard about it if from 1 mum who withdrew her son from St Andrews because of costs and travel - they came back to St Andrews 2 terms later. I think the problem was mainly because her son was a very good reader and she was disappointed in his prgress when we went there (i.e. he was reading at a level way higher than the others so they didn't pay so much attention to him).

I still miss St Andrews. I cried when I realised we were coming back to the UK and would have to leave the school. And the area around it is gorgeous. I used to dream about being able to afford a house there. The only thing that makes me feel better about the whole thing was the uniform change, I much preferred the ole uniform.

ClaudiaS I live in Melbourne but am in Adelaide often to visit my mother and sisters.
St Andrews has always had a wonderful reputation - I didn't go there but some of my cousins did. I don't know much about schools near Mile End, OP. ( but it would be a great place to live, so handy for town.)

Claudia - yes I'm & about the 18 months of Reception. I'm sure there are a few kids who will benefit but for the majority it is wasted time & opportunity for learning. Worse still is the thought that DD will be 13 1/2 before she even gets out of Primary School. I was in 3rd year by that age!
Anyway, we have enrolled at a nearish Catholic Primary - St John Bosco. It looks nice & the Principal was very welcoming but we don't know anyone there. Will just need to hope for the best & bite my tongue if she comes over all religious on me

St Ignatius looks nice Snoozy - just had a look @ website.
We have really left it too late (last min change of plans - should have been home in time for DD to start school). I think we will stick with local school for the time being - will give it a chance but keep looking too so we are prepared if we need to move her.

THIRTEEN AND A HALF when coming out of primary school!! FAR OUT! Man I'm really at that. I haven't done the maths for my daughters, I can't bear to work it out. Does that mean she'll be about 35 when she leaves school? Oh God.

It's so infantalising (sp?), it drives me nuts.

Personally, I don't worry about my daughter (just turned 7) coming home and praying for us. I quite like it really. Plenty of time for full on Enlightenment and dreary Rationalism when they grow up isn't there. I like it when small children are fiercely pro baby Jesus. It's very sweet.

Good luck, I hope she settles well and I'm sure you will v quickly meet some nice local families.

It's me again. The NAPLAN common writing task enables the government to have more reliable data, which seems to put the cart before the horse as the kids are prepped like mad in this style of writing to the exclusion of other kinds. It will change, I would guess in 2014.

The first common task was story writing from a common prompt: "The Box" was one, but this was changed as imaginative responses were felt to be unfriendly to boys.

Tallulah I wouldn't worry too much about the late start to secondary, they still seem fine to me, dealing with them at the exam end of the system.