Migrate to Sydney

[JessHo]

Hi, we’re going to migrate to Sydney soon. I have a son, Year 7, will enroll to secondary school there and daughter, Year 5, to primary school. Anyone has any ideas of which suburb should we aim for my kids’ education? Thanks in advance for your help.

Sydney is immense so you should start with deciding your max commute time and commute mean of transport, because if you work near the airport you can't live next the Manly selective school.

There are a lot of question you need to ask and answer. First is how the school system works between public (free government school), religious or independent schools. Are you looking for private or public. Are you looking for the selective schools in which case on which visa are you as temporary visa holders cannot apply to these.

How is the ranking of the school done and can it be trusted. How much - heavy - tutoring goes in the top school? Single sex school or co-ed?

Where is work? Are you more thinking to stay close to coast or inland? There are great school in many many suburbs so you need to narrow it down. What is your max limit for the weekly rent? Housing is crazy expensive in Sydney, this will affect which suburb you can afford.

I would work out where you'll be working, find a suburb to live in with an ok commute and then look for schools near there. We love in Sydney and it is huge so where you work and how big a commute you want really do impact which school you would choose. For state school, most have a catchment area. For private schools, it depends on the type of school as some have waiting lists (and cost $$$) but others have more availability and/or cost less.

Thank you King and theRedRoom. Just wonder if the nearest school of my future working suburb is "Selective School" and my kids don't qualify to enter, what should I do? Thanks

I don't think the only available school will ever be a selective school. Definitely not in the case of the example given.

You'll have a locally zoned high school and as long as you live in the catchment area, he'll get in. Rules changed recently.

But, yes, Sydney is massive and all the water can complicate getting from places that look near to each other. So where you'll be working is important.

Secondary schools _bettereducation.com.au/school/secondary/nsw/sydney_top_government_secondary_schools.aspx
Primary schools -
bettereducation.com.au/school/Primary/nsw/sydney_top_primary_schools.aspx

Have a look at these ones - if they are state schools they'll have a catchment area where you have to be living to get in.

In general I've found that there are some decent choices for schools in most of the main Sydney suburbs so unless you have a particularly one in mind, I'd start by thinking about commute, budget and lifestyle. For example, if you really want a large house and garden/pool then you might find your budget is stretched if you're looking in the Inner West areas, or you might really want to be close to the beaches but not bothered about having outdoor space etc etc. Traffic in parts of Sydney can be horrendous during rush hour so working out how long you want to spend commuting is a key factor - We currently live in the Northern Beaches and it takes about 50 minutes on the bus to get to work in the CBD.

The two things that will affect schooling are your kids' birthdays (school years are different here - your kids will not necessarily be in the same school years as they are in the UK), and what kind of visa will you be on. If you are on a temporary visa (they have changed the numbers so it used to be a 457 but it might be different now) you will have to pay for public schools and you won't be eligible for selective schools or "Opportunity classes". If you are hoping for your kids to start end of January 2019 then your choices will really be limited to your local schools (and they don't have to take 457 visa students if they are full). If you can answer the above I can try and help you further. We moved 11 years ago with three kids and have found the Australian schooling system so much better than the UK but we have chosen private schooling. There is a lot of choice here.

This article from the Sydney morning Herald will help you narrow down the suburbs www.smh.com.au/education/where-you-live-is-determining-your-school-s-naplan-score-20181126-p50ibq.html

Thank you all for your valuable inputs!