Moving to Brisbane, Aus. Suburbs and schools

[MinervaVause]

We moved from the UK here to NZ almost 7 years ago but now DH’s company have asked him to manage their office in Brisbane. We’ve decided to give it a go.

We actually have a 2 week holiday to the Gold Coast booked and paid for in January so we’re still going to fly out, we just won’t be coming back Plus we wanted the dc to finish this year at their fabulous school before moving so it all ties in well.

So onto the help I need. Which suburbs do we want to be looking at when we go over? Our top 2 priorities are

*Easy commute (on public transport) to the CBD
*Good schools for the dc (10 & 9 years old) Ds1 will have just finished year 5 and ds2 year 4. I think when we move they will actually go back into year 5 and 4. Have I got that right?

We would love it if the dc could continue with their Aikido and Scouts too so if anyone know any good groups/clubs around?

Fortunately the company I work for is an Aus company so I can just transfer to whichever branch is closest which means that when our 2 week “holiday” ends, well both be working straight away. Which reminds me, how do I go about finding school holiday care for when we get there until the new school year starts?

I would have a look at the area of New Farm. Its a family area, and has lots of green spaces and playgrounds. its also a 15 minute cycle/20 minute bus ride to CBD.
in terms of schools, there is new farm state school, which goes up to year 6. from there, there is coorparoo secondary, which is a 15 minute cycle from new farm x

and in answer to your question about scouts, there is brisbane central scout group which is based in new farm, and an aikido class too.

oh and in terms of childcare, YMCA run childcare camps where they play games and do different activities like cooking, sports etc. you can see if you can book your dc into one of them x

Rainwoth State School
Ironside State School
Wilston State School

Check out www.betterschools.com.au

Sorry it's www.bettereducation.com.au

I'm biased, but I think anywhere north of the CBD all the way up to about Northlakes is great. There are loads of great public and private primary and high schools in that corridor, as well as trains and buses to the CBD, and tunnels make driving there easy as well. From north Brisbane you're a short drive from the Sunshine Coast. I've lived all over Brisbane and north Bris is by far my favourite.

Re school age, children need to have turned the relevant age for their year level by 30 June - so they turn 5 by 30 June for their prep year, 6 in year 1, 7 in year 2, 8 in year 3 etc. Pretty much all primary schools have after school care and vacation care programs, but your children would need to be enrolled in the school to access the programs. Some PCYC clubs have vacation care programs that any children can attend.

sleep New Farm looks lovely and sounds perfect. Will definitely have a look around when we get there. The YMCA suggestion is really helpful, thanks.

We’ve been advised to look around Indooroopilly with a view of sending the dc to Indro state high eventually. Don’t know how long it would take to get to the CBD from there though?

Thanks for that website link GAD Makes things much simpler.

sugar Thank you for the info. So it looks like ds1 will go from NZ year 5 to Aus year 6 and ds2 will go to Aus year 4 from NZ year 4 due to his birthday. That’ll be strange, they’ve always been in consecutive years.

Trying to decide whether to sell our stuff here and re-buy over there or to ship all our stuff over. We’ve had conflicting advice about that.

Indro SHS is in the Western Suburbs, it has one road in and out of town and can be a nightmare traffic wise.

New Farm is a good state school and there is a new high school being built in Fortitude Valley. It looks like it will be quite awesome (vertical inner city school). Other alternatives are Brisbane Grammar (private boys), Brisbane Girls Grammar (ditto girls), or Terrace (Boys Cath ed) - inner city schools.

Hint - if you're even considering Private/Cath Ed secondary, get your applications early. Lots of people here enrol during toddlerhood. Similar challenges with Nursery places...

Paddington / West End would be my first pick. West End State School feeds Brisbane State High, which is highly sought after.

If your appliances/furniture are in good nick, and shipping isnt too expensive/won't take too long, I would hang on to it (you can rent furniture short term to tide you over).

Agree with GADDay, if you're happy with your current appliances, I'd keep them. One less thing to worry about. Have a look at Kedron - it's 10km from the city and close to several good roads and train lines. Kedron State High has a good reputation. Lots of beautiful areas to live in around Kedron.

If you're thinking of private schools for high school, Kedron is close to a couple of great schools - Padua, Mt Alvernia, St Rita's, Nudgee College.