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How did you choose a primary school for your kids? Did you go public or private and why?

Answered 3 years ago

My little one is due to start prep next year and I’m having an impossible time deciding where he should go. We have a private school near us with a lovely looking campus but fees are $22k a year and I don’t know if it’s worth it. We can afford it, but it’d be at a stretch…


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ANSWER
3 years ago
Public for me. The school was across the road and I knew all my kids friends would live local. I went to a private school and none of my friends lived near me. I love that my kids could have play dates easily. Meet at the local park etc. I stayed public with highschool because the school had great programs. My advice is look at what each school has to offer and go with the school that would best suit your kids’ needs. All schools have good and bad kids and all schools have good and bad teachers.

ANSWER
3 years ago
My son has special needs. Public where we are has better support & is a smaller school & is well run so we chose that option.

High school will be private. Our catchments are strict & ours is horrible & has a bad rep.

Lovely campus means nil. Tour the schools, find out which one aligns with your needs & weigh it up. Personally I'd never sacrifice having a life for school fees if public was a good option.

ANSWER
3 years ago
Local public school. It had a big drawing area with diverse students and lots of extra curricular stuff. It was also closer to home than the private options. All went well.

ANSWER
3 years ago
We moved to a new area just before our eldest was meant to start school, so we really had no idea which primary schools had the better reputation. We ended up choosing a private one based off a couple of points. 1, the facilities and opportunities at the private school were better than the public school (brand new playground, new music equipment, foreign language courses, a huge selection of sports equipment, etc). It's also a religious school, and I liked that it gelled with our own faith. 2, I saw several confrontations (including instances of violence) out the front of the public school in the carpark. Which I felt was not conducive to a good learning environment.

Why not organise a tour of each campus, meet a couple of teachers, and decide which points are most important to your family. There are good and bad elements in every school.
Although, you night need to check you haven't left it too late to enrol at the private school. Our school takes enrolment 2 years in advance, and has a wait list.

ANSWER
3 years ago
We went with our local public school, didn't look into any other options. Figure we'll start there and look further afield only if needed. Both my husband and I went to public schools.

ANSWER
3 years ago
Public school here. To be completely honest I think private school is a waste of money for primary age. Highschool I could justify it but not primary.