Hi, what would like to know re schools?
School is compulsory here from Year 1, the year your child turns five. It depends on the year in which he was born, so the oldest child in the class would be then one born in January, the youngest the one born in December.
Schools do have Kinder 1 and Kinder 2, though, but they are not compulsory. Kinder 2 is equivalent to Reception Class in England, Kinder 1, to the "nursery" year from 3 - 4.
There are three types of schools - government (state), private, and church schools. If you're interested in private schools you need to get your child's name on the waiting list asap.
You have no choice as to which government school your child attends - he will go to his local school and that's it. Distances, siblings etc don't come into it. You are guaranteed a place at your local school from Year 1, though not for the Kinder years. (There are ways around it, if, for example, you work in another area and need your child to go to school in that area, but it's still not guaranteed as places will be offered to children who live in the local area first.) So if you're interested in government schools, think carefully about where you want to live.
Church schools are done by a lottery - the first name that comes out of a hat gets first choice of any church school in the country, and so on - the lower your number the less choice you will have, as places will be filled. Church schools also allocate places before opening up the lottery, to siblings, children with special needs, and children of lone parents. For primary, you only have two chances at doing the lottery, and I think they are at Kinder 1 and the end of Kinder 2, so you may be too late for that.
Ask away if you have more specific questions :)