Moving to Sydney- Need help reagarding area and schooling

re. moving to australia
believe it or not, i was not able to log on the whole of yesterday as for some reason i was being blocked!
thankfully i am able to get thro' today Smile

re. your question about cricket.....yup...what do i tell about indians and cricket...kids start playing cricket before they even know how to eat Laughing

i used to be crazy about the game as for why not all that much now, well, i have to blame my husband for it....whenever ( meaning be it any country!) there's a match, he tends to foget there a wife n kid at home and this is now slowly getting to me Laughing

i don't think i'm going to get much support from you guys on this Laughing

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I'm afraid you've collected the resident cricket tragics! Twisted Evil

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Quote:

he tends to forget there a wife n kid at home

Is there something wrong with that?

I dont know.......you girls are so hard to please

Twisted Evil

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Sue 13.
I know how you feel... have 3 sons who watch cricket whenever it's on... I never visit them when it is.... talk about watching grass grow.
A thought about the future... as I said, I live on the Gold coast in Queensland. When I first came here 50 years ago the population was under sixty thousand... it's now half a million.. it'sstill increasing by over two thousand a month, mainly people moving from other state's, but a lot come from New Zealand. It's phenomenal growth was originally because it was seen as the place to be ( thereby giving us a huge tourist industry ) also because of it's climate and the life style ( perpetual holiday mode ) we still have it.. but now we are one of the most progressive city's in Aussie.... we are also desperately short of all trades persons. Our boat building Industry is the biggest in Aussie and still growing, the housing industries have been booming ever since I came here... if you want opportunity's for your children in the future... this has to be the place to be. Also have university's and heaps of private schools. Just a thought

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Sorry! had been away and had not been able to log-in for a while.

Thank you anton for the details. must check it out.
We were mainly looking at Sydney as we'd heard from quite a few that it would be the best place for finance guys( my husband has a c.a qualification). but like you said, no harm in keeping the options open!

have also been checking out couple of private schools in sydney. fees is pretty high Sad

but we have only one kid and am thinking now why compromise on education. will keep my options open for the good public schools too...lets see!

does anyone know how the areas : ultimo and wahroonga are ?
margo, if ever you do happen to check back on this thread...would love to know your opinion too! how are rental properties there?

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su13 wrote:

does anyone know how the areas : ultimo and wahroonga are ? quote]

Jeez, su, you couldn't imagine a greater contrast - I couldn't see these as alternatives.

Ultimo: just at the edge of the city proper - so old houses, becoming yuppified, some appalling apartment buildings, some fancy-schmancy new apartment or townhouse developments. Universities, TAFE's etc in area, students in digs, lots of traffic, busy streets. Densely populated. Shopping - city or Broadway. Schools - I have no idea - but I don't think it's a terrifically kid-friendly area. The International Grammar School is somewhere in that area, I think. Watch the cricket on telly at the pub down the corner. Big new swimming centre is opening in this area soon.

Wahroonga. Old money and plenty of it, big houses, quiet tree-lined streets generally. Good but very expensive (sorry - bloody expensive!) big name private schools in area - if they'll accept you - you may need to have had your child's name down at birth - or offer to build them a additional swimming pool or something. A total contrast to Ultimo. Much further out of the city -on the railway line, but then, money's no object - just drive the Merc in. Probably only watch the cricket from the Members Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground. One doesn't use public swimming pools you know. One has a deceent-sized backyard pool, of course, if needed.
(Can you tell it's not my cup of tea?! )

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re. ultimo & wahroonga
margo, thank you! that was some write-up :-) ....really enjoyed it Laughing

well, you have given me the exact picture of the two places. my god, from what you have mentioned, price-wise wahroonga seems way over our head Sad

my reasons for mentioning these two areas were 'coz i was looking at international grammar school and abbotsleigh ( at wahroonga). abbotsleigh wrote back saying they have a place! school fees are really really expensive but after reading yr remarks on the area, i get the feeling it might go way over our budget.

as fr international grammar, its on waitlist. if ever she manages to get there, what areas d'yu think i should look into. don't want it too far off from school. near enough that i can drop her by bus/ walk!

thanks once again!

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Quote:

One doesn't use public swimming pools you know

I can just hear the Double bay/Vaucluse private school accent.

Margo have you ever noticed a Melbourne accent.

I fancy i can hear a sydney accent sometimes.

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re. private school accent !
private school accent ! hmmmm...didn't think there was one Laughing

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su13
Abbottsleigh is one of the best known girls' schools in Sydney - Anglican (I think) snobby but an excellent reputation for turning out quite well-rounded kids. It was Abbottsleigh I was thinking of particularly when you asked about Wahroonga - imagine them having a vacancy - or have you promised to build them a new wing for their science block or something?

You don't have to live in Wahroonga, although that would probably be preferable, but somewhere a station or 2 up and down that railway line would probably be all right. Kids travel long distances to go there - but your kid is a bit young to travel far.

It is the north shore though (say nawshaw in a nasal tone!) so a bit snobbier and more self-important than the rest of Sydney (I'm a dreaded westie- (from the poorer, less socially favourable, western suburbs) although now from inner west - but I was a real westie some years back!). There is a north shore form of a accent.

dadpad - I don't think it's so much a Melbourne accent, but there is a different way of pronouncing some words - I notice that album comes out as el-bem in Melbourne, and al-bm, in Sydney. When I'm in Melbourne, about once a year (tennis tragic, you know!) I notice other odd pronunciations.

I'm not sure if there's a Sydney accent. Some 20 years back now, I was in the Royal Albert Hall in London, for a concert, and said to my (English) companion - "Is there somewhere around here we can get a feed?" An English-accented fellow standing beside us turned and said: "If you go around that corner, you'll get a meal every bit as good as at the Sydney Opera House!"

This really rocked me:
1. Did he pick my accent as from Sydney in particular (wot accent - I don't have an accent!)
2. Is the food of London really that bad (then, yes!) - At that time the food available in the vicinity of the Opera House was universally deplorable! It's improved a bit.

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Quote:

1. Did he pick my accent as from Sydney in particular (wot accent - I don't have an accent!)

Margo
My daughter spent a year in Sweden as an exchange student. The other exchange students Yanks, Cannucks, Brazilians, French, German and her swedish friends couldn't pick the difference between Aussie and Kiwi accents.
wtf!

lots of girls say Aussie accent is sexy.

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re. abbottsleigh
margo,
thank you for that info on abbotsleigh.
re. a for a place in the school for my daughter, well, it was pretty straightforward. i had sent in an enqury regarding availability and the response was immediate. didn't realize it was one of the best schools! now i'm in two minds Smile

. the only thing is, the school fees if i am not mistaken, has to be the highest in sydney. makes me wonder if i'll be able to afford it in the long run!
as for the science-wing...oh, do i wish i had that kind of money Laughing

!

another school which confirmed about seats being available was Reddham House. Have you heard about it ? They are located in Woollahra. Would you be able to give me any idea about housing around there ?

re. the debate going on about accents, well, i can definitely make out the difference between an australian, british & american accent. my daughter's class has kids even from various european countries and each have a very distinctive accent which is so nice to hear...

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My friend's daughter went to Redham House for her final years at high school. She loved it - but then, she came from the local high school (Burwood Girls High) - which isn't the greatest - and didn't really stimulate her. She really took off at Redham.

It's new-ish and not mainstream. It's background is South African - not sure what difference that makes. Said to be quite challenging and involving. She certainly expanded her horizons. (she's working in an animal refuge somewhere in Chile at present, while waiting for university to start for the year)

Living - well - Bondi of course! Eastern suburbs of Sydney. Can be pricy - but some not so expensive options. Not sure about transport to school.

One thing I was thinking of, over the weekend, is where you and/or your partner are likely to be working. Sydney is a hugely spread out city, and living in near proximity to an eastern suburbs school may be a bit of a pain, if one of you then has to travel 50 kilometres the other side of Sydney for work. Although there is plenty of public transport, it's not all that flash. And traffic can be a nightmare.

Do you have any idea of work locations as yet?

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private schools
Thank you Margo for that info on Reddam House. Seems an impressice school!

Re. work location, yes, you are absolutely right about the traffic factor. Unfortunately we have no idea where my husband will be placed as he'll be looking for a job once we come down to sydney. We would've preferred if that were not the case but were told that we should be in the city when job offers come so no point in applying from here. As for me, well, I left my job after the birth of my daughter thinking I shall get back within a year or two but she is a bright kid needing a lot more of intellectual stimulation and so I decided it would be best if I stayed back home. Yes, definitely worth the sacrifice :-) . So its just going to be my husband's work-location that will need to be looked into.

I was reading an article the other day which had appeared few months back in one of the Sydney Newspapers about Private Schools and if the high fees charged were justifiable. More than 80% felt it was not (!)and quite a few had commented that it would be far better to save money on a house and on extra activities like music, dance etc. They also mentined that putting a child in selective schools or even private schools at Year 7 is worth considering but not before that. Must say it makes sense! What d'yu think? Its so confusing for me right now Confused

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su13
Remember - I have no children - and I'm regularly outsmarted by my cat! I was a bit slow - but the Possum-cat is getting me trained finally! I wouldn't ask my opinion on educating anything!

It is often the case that people move their children to the private system at the beginning of high school. They look for greater discipline and more emphasis on academics than is usually found in the state system. There's also the feeling that they develop better networks, and are advantaged a bit socially. I'm not sure that this is the case. I went to a private (Catholic) school - and don't maintain any connections with anyone from school. Perhaps I went to the wrong one!

That said, there are some primary schools that have opportunity classes, and certainly some in the religious schools - a friend sends her boy to the local Anglican school, and her daughter to the local Catholic school. Both are in primary, and it was decided this was the best for each child at present. They live in Strathfield, where they are spoilt for choice, though. Mind you, the boy will be expected to go to St Pats (Catholic) for high school!

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opportunity classes in schools in sydney
Margo, I do like your sense of humour Laughing

( re. the cat training you !!!)

You have been so very helpful Margo and I can't thank you enough for that !

Yes, I have been looking into schools with opportunity classes too...didn't realize they had one in strathfield ! Would your friend be able to give the name of public school in Strathfield which has these classes? When I had put in my query regarding areas, Strathfiled was one location I had been looking into mainly because I saw from the map (that Dadpad had given the link for....that reminds me...where is Dapdad these days Question

) that Strathfield is pretty well connected by rail and bus. Since I don't drive, makes sense in looking into areas which are well-connected.

What does your friend feel about the local ( OC) school ? If she recommends it, then I'll check on the school through the net. At this time, I'm keeping my options totally open !

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Moving to Sydney- Need help reagarding area and schooling

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