Choosing a school ...

[Captain Kickass]

So here's the deal. With the passage of time, I now find myself with three kids aged between 11 and 5. The eldest girl (we call her Bozo) is in Year 6, turns 12 in April, and we have to make decision on her high school options ... well, pretty much NOW !

Me and the wife are pretty tight. We've tried multiple times to resolve differences and beliefs but everytime we reach a consensus and think our mind is made up, something else to consider comes up. We've sought a range of opinions from family, friends, neighbours, workmates, school parents, teachers, people we knew in school who became teachers, and so on. We've had a stack of conversations over a number of years and the range of criteria that's important to people never ceases to amaze me. Location, convenience, fees, curriculum offered, avoiding certain undesirables (family/neighbours/parents of kids friends), career pathways, networking opportunities, sport options, religious options, private vs public, etc, etc, etc ...

So I figured 'bugger it' ... if nothing else, The Kennel would be as good of a place as anything else we've heard for random input.
If you're a parent, think back.
If you're not, put your imagination hat on.

Question 1 = What things are/were important to you when it comes to choosing schools ?

(Me, I reckon if you use high school well you can shape your future path, but it doesn't necessarily define your future path because life sucks, tragedy happens, people are bastards, and it's not what you know it's who you know ... So enjoy it, be with friends for six years, and try to learn about the things that 'fire you up'. I've watched private-educated types wind up in gaol. I've watched dropout-in-Year-10 types go on be successful tradies with 12 staff and a 6 figure income.)

Questions 2 = If you could change one thing about your schooling to ensure a better kickstart once finished, what would you do different ?

(Me, I think if I went back I would enjoy a more rounded syllabus. I regret not dabbling in another language like French more, I wish I did a year of photography, and I could have challenged myself harder on the science/maths areas ... physics, chemistry, biology, horticulture, statistics and numbers all intrigue me the older I get)

 

[UmoGus]

Don't assume that a private school will be a better environment then a public school.

I went to a private school and my peers were more fucked then the public school down the road.

 

[CroydonDog]

I think there is no one size fits all for everyone. some kids would benefit from private education, others from public.

In 2018, in my view, there are no real "networking" advantages to going to a top private school, like there once was in ye olden days.

Some public schools can be a bit hit and miss, but often of course you are restricted by zoning. As someone who is days away from having their first child - we have been looking at zoning maps to determine where we want to eventually purchase our "forever" home, as they call it. Luckily in our suburb and the next one over there are public schools with excellent reputations (an in Brisbane one has a lot more choice over where they live than Sydney).

I am a product of the public system and don't feel it has disadvantaged me in any way - but my parents were also very active in my education, and in my small town, I was lucky to not have too many derros bringing the standards down. Mrs CD is from a country where the public system is terrible, and middle class people put their thee year olds into intense training to get into a decent private kindergarten to set them up for the future (as my poor niece is now doing). Lucky we aren't like that

Good luck with it all.

 

[Wahesh]

John Howard went to Canterbury Boys High.

It's not the school, it's the child. If your daughter is bright, she'll do well no matter what school you send her to.

I don't know why you call her bozo though lol.

 

[rainman]

Zee said that he studied natural French when he went to school, but that was back in India
Go figure

 

[Captain Kickass]

- Her name is Zoe
- Beau = 'beautiful'
- It's a mish-mash of Beau and Zoe (long story short : She likes doing videos on the iPad. She watched a bunch and then did a make-up tutorial. We were brain storming ideas for future and the idea she could one day start her own range of products came up, and the brand name BoZo emerged.)
- Nothing to do with that Manly idiot.

 

[Mr Invisible]

I don't see religion as a major thing for schools moving forwards. I'd be looking at what the school offers that will actually be relevant for her in working life later on.

If she isn't at all interested in D&T, then stay away from something that focusses on that. Ditto not into a sports career, then avoid sports orientated high schools.

 

[Alexander the Great]

I think Hot teachers is a must.. Parent and teacher interviews you will look forward to...

 

[Indiandog]

fact is fact : home school is the best.

if you can do it.

 

[maroondog72]

Both of my kids are at a private school, my daughter(16) would have thrived at almost any school.My son on the other hand(15) has really benefited from the extra discipline compared to his mates at the public high school,having said that you really have to do a lot of research on the schools you are looking at and how they will suit your kids personalities
best of luck.

 

[Bulldog_4_Life]

What area are you talking about mate.

 

[EXPLORER]

fact is fact : home school is the best.

if you can do it.

Wow
Do you honestly believe that?

I'm not knocking it mate

Just very curious

 

[Indiandog]

Wow
Do you honestly believe that?

I'm not knocking it mate

Just very curious

yep, the child doesn't have to deal with issues of bullying and shit plus he doesn't learn bad habbits from other kids and learn the way you want them to learn.

Also it is already proven wrong that home schooled kids become socially outcast as it is entirely untrue, I know and met people at uni who were home schooled and were very bright students

and top of all, you save all that money of paying private fee and pick and drop from school.

but it needs commitment from one or both the parents. if you can do it properly its good other wise stick with private.

 

[rainman]

Underbridge private college

 

[Baby Blues]

John Howard went to Canterbury Boys High.

It's not the school, it's the child. If your daughter is bright, she'll do well no matter what school you send her to.

I don't know why you call her bozo though lol.

Canterbury Boys was a selective high school when John Howard went there. Selective high schools are a good way to an excellent education but they are evry competitive not just to get into but keeping up when you're in there.

 

[Alan79]

So here's the deal. With the passage of time, I now find myself with three kids aged between 11 and 5. The eldest girl (we call her Bozo) is in Year 6, turns 12 in April, and we have to make decision on her high school options ... well, pretty much NOW !

Me and the wife are pretty tight. We've tried multiple times to resolve differences and beliefs but everytime we reach a consensus and think our mind is made up, something else to consider comes up. We've sought a range of opinions from family, friends, neighbours, workmates, school parents, teachers, people we knew in school who became teachers, and so on. We've had a stack of conversations over a number of years and the range of criteria that's important to people never ceases to amaze me. Location, convenience, fees, curriculum offered, avoiding certain undesirables (family/neighbours/parents of kids friends), career pathways, networking opportunities, sport options, religious options, private vs public, etc, etc, etc ...

So I figured 'bugger it' ... if nothing else, The Kennel would be as good of a place as anything else we've heard for random input.
If you're a parent, think back.
If you're not, put your imagination hat on.

Question 1 = What things are/were important to you when it comes to choosing schools ?

(Me, I reckon if you use high school well you can shape your future path, but it doesn't necessarily define your future path because life sucks, tragedy happens, people are bastards, and it's not what you know it's who you know ... So enjoy it, be with friends for six years, and try to learn about the things that 'fire you up'. I've watched private-educated types wind up in gaol. I've watched dropout-in-Year-10 types go on be successful tradies with 12 staff and a 6 figure income.)

Questions 2 = If you could change one thing about your schooling to ensure a better kickstart once finished, what would you do different ?

(Me, I think if I went back I would enjoy a more rounded syllabus. I regret not dabbling in another language like French more, I wish I did a year of photography, and I could have challenged myself harder on the science/maths areas ... physics, chemistry, biology, horticulture, statistics and numbers all intrigue me the older I get)

I went to three different high schools as a result of my parents habit of moving house pretty frequently and honestly think that kids will only get good results if they're engaged in subjects they like. I left school and went into a uni degree that I didn't really enjoy and didn't complete since I hated it and opted to work full time while studying full time concurrently. I opted out of the degree when burnout eventually hit. Sooo

Q.1 I'd say if there is a school that offers learning options she would enjoy I'd aim to get her in there. If she has no specific areas of interest that would pick a school for her, I'd look for a school that offers a diverse range of optional subjects so she's got room to explore things as she becomes interested. With any luck she will know what she wants by the time she leaves school. But failing any options that fit the bill, look at where her friends will be going and try to keep her happy with continuity in her friendships. It's harder to find a good social group as you progress through though so if possible at least find a school that has a long term reputation for getting good results with students and try to stick with it if possible. One of my nephews that wasn't very scholastically inclined went to a high school with a performing arts program that specifically offered him the chance to do acrobatics and circus skills as a sport. He's told me stuck with school through year 12 because he enjoyed that and despite not working in a circus these days, he's glad he finished year 12 since in year 10 he was messing around too much and got poor results. The extra two years of maturity allowed him to improve his results before he finished.

Q.2. Your kids will only get results if they put in. So to me that comes down to ensuring you learn them to be serious about edumacating themselves. If they've got a clear idea what they want straight out of school that allows them to leave after year 10 to pursue then encourage them to get their best results early on. If they're undecided then encourage them to continue through till year 12 but to look at what they enjoy while they're going through school.

 

[CaptainJackson]

but my parents were also very active in my education,

I think this is the most important part more than anything else.

And I'm not talking about teaching science, maths or English

It's teaching those things but also teaching your child how to approach it and how this relates to life

 

[Wolfmother]

I was like you! There were so many considerations but I found in the end there was no school that was perfect..
My daughter was huge on sport and played soccer at lunchtime in primary so I wanted to send her to a high school that had an oval, the other consideration was a school that allowed children to learn with minimal disruption and distraction in the classroom so I chose a girls Catholic school and another consideration was vicinity...

Even though the school we chose ticked all the boxes it still had its short comings..
There were restrictions to when the kids could use the oval and most of the girls came from Catholic primary schools (concrete jungles) and didn't play soccer anyway lol..


Btw I love the Nick name!!

 

[Mr Invisible]

fact is fact : home school is the best.
if you can do it.

That way you can teach them as many anti US sentiments as possible

Nah we all know Indians don't attend school, they attend language college.

 

[hayes]

It will probably going to hard to get into private or Catholic school unless your in the feeder school.

The change a lot of the requirement last year enrollments had to be confirmed start when they year 5. I daughter had individual and then family interviews last year.

Changes to system is so the plan to be able offer position outside the feeder system.

So if you are in the catholic or private and you move you generally get automatically place in you new area.

Also with three kids you get heavily discount rates and they don't have to be in same school only the system e.g. Catholic