Moana primary

[Macklins]

Hi, we are moving over in January and will be renting in Moana for 6 weeks. Our son has just started school here in the UK and is loving it, the school he is going to is a lovely small village school. We have been researching schools in Adelaide and Moana, Seaford K7 and Port Noarlunga all look good but I just wanted to know if they all have a good reputation?? is there any we should avoid? we will be looking around all of them when we arrive but just wanted to hear from people actually out there now. Our son will be starting on 30th jan so if anyone one else has children starting at any of these schools please get in touch. Any advice greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Hi, we are doing the same as you! We arrive in Adelaide from the UK on the 4th of jan and have a holiday let for a few weeks. During those weeks we will be very busy finding a house to rent and enrolling the children into (hopefully) Moana school! I have the same concerns about the school although knowing that they have a zoned area I'm hoping that shows that it will be a good school! I have a daughter who is currently in yr4 and a son who has just started school in sept. They are both very nervous about moving schools so is great to hear so many children have settled and are happy there. Look forward to meeting you on the playground!! X

[snifter]

Hi, we are doing the same as you! We arrive in Adelaide from the UK on the 4th of jan and have a holiday let for a few weeks. During those weeks we will be very busy finding a house to rent and enrolling the children into (hopefully) Moana school! I have the same concerns about the school although knowing that they have a zoned area I'm hoping that shows that it will be a good school! I have a daughter who is currently in yr4 and a son who has just started school in sept. They are both very nervous about moving schools so is great to hear so many children have settled and are happy there. Look forward to meeting you on the playground!! X

 

This thread is from 2011 btw, so posting a some links etc to help with current situation/rankings/zones etc

 

Don't read overly much into it, be aware Naplan results for Moana are not great. It ranked 341st in 2013, before that 330th, 357th and in 2010 407th. Seaford ranked much lower. Port Noarlunga ranked a bit behind Moana. You can see schools listed here or search for individual schools. Bear in mind a number of the ranked schools are private or faith based, although plenty of state schools are on there. Just scroll down the page to view the top ranked 150 schools based on Naplan (over 2 pages), or enter each school you want to see in the search box - http://primary-school-ranking-adelaide-south-australia.street-directory.com.au/#search_schools

 

Of course, Naplan isn't the be all and end all of a school, far from it, but it is something many people look at for whatever reason. I know we did and based on Naplan and a number of other aspects important to us decided to focus on areas with schools in the top 150. This was also with a good choice of state high school in mind for in a few years should we go the state route. If we go private we already have schools in mind regardless of the area we live in. Our area search wasn't based in the same suburbs you are looking at but we found a great school in one of our preferred suburbs and our son loves it and is doing really well. Having said that, I toured a school I absolutely loved, was wonderful, had the kitchen garden, great facilties for special needs kids, lots of space and more and it ranked in the low 300's. I'd have happily sent my son to that school based on how I found it when I visited, the staff I met and other things. And not a jot based on its Naplan. As it was, we didn't buy in the area so it was not one we could consider as a viable option. And I liked the school we eventually opted for a lot more when we took the tour and met the principal. I didn't get the tour with the principal at the other school and to me the principal is a key thing in the school, so I place a fair level of importance on how I find them and their goals and aims for the school etc.

 

This website is also a goldmine of info if you take the time to wade through it - http://myschool.edu.au/

 

We had already pretty much set on a school before I looked at that site, our offer on the house had been accepted and we were under contract. Thankfully we fell in the zone of the school that was our first choice but our second pick school, not zoned wasn't that far off on the things we were looking for.

 

ETA - My understanding of zoning is that it isn't always because they are a high perfoming school results wise iykwim, it can also be down to the area, the amount of people putting their kids into a school and then being full to bursting, so having to implement a zone to ensure they don't overfill and that they can also take kids living in the local area first, over kids coming from further away for whatever reason. Often if a zoned school isn't full for whatever year group or near full they will then take kids from outside the zone. But once close to full or if a lot of enrolments for YR say, they will apply the zone.

 

If you want to compare zoned school results, here is the list of zoned schools in the southern suburbs - http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/locs/pages/default/hszoning/?reFlag=1

 

If you look through them all, not all of them rank highly for Naplan but may rate well in other areas, but may not. For example, we opted against Glenelg primary when we lived there as it is a huge school numbers wise, 700 kids or so on a small area of land, squished in like sardines, plus on the corner of a very busy main road and I just didn't like the feel of it. So opted for one further away, smaller, quieter road and had a nicer feel. It ranked a fair bit lower on Naplan than Glenelg but we didn't mind that as it felt the right school for us in those early months when we were settling in. We loved Paringa but it applies its zone very strictly as it has a lot of people wanting to send their kids there. Another school someone considered is zoned but they don't seem to currently apply it, but they are not close to full. My son's school is zoned but in some past years have not applied the zone due to having some places spare. However, when we enquired about placing him there this year, they checked we lived in the zone. And they are at pretty much capacity now so am expecting the zoning rule to stick.

 

 

ETA mod bit - I've split your post out from the other thread which dates from 2011. Given you a new thread but left the quote in to keep the context of your post iykwim.

Edited October 25, 2014 by snifter
added mod bit after splitting thread