St Agnes Primary School - North East Adelaide

[Guest Shandalina]

Hi Everyone,

 

I'm new to the site !

 

We are looking forward to landing in Adelaide early Jan 2013, and have 3 weeks to school my girls ages 4 and 8 years.

I have been looking at Primary schools in hopefully good areas in North East Adelaide and am impressed with the St Agnes Primary school,

however ,aside from the official school web page, I can't seem to find any additional information in blogs etc.

Could anyone offer up any advice on this primary school ?

 

Other ones I've looked at are Tea Tree Gully and Ridgehaven.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[NicF]

I don't know the school so can't comment, but have you looked at the myschools website? It won't tell you what the school is like but it will tell you if it's zoned, and if so what the zone is, and it will give you the Naplan results (a bit like sats). Also have you read the schools context statement? These can normally be found on the school websites. This tells you things like the number of kids at the school, how many are on school cards or from non english speaking backgrounds etc. It's the nearest thing I've found to the ofstead reports in the UK. I'd also try calling the school and talking to them. My OH called the school my kids are at now before we moved over to find out about getting them a place etc. You can get quite a feel for what the ethos is by talking to the head teacher. Are there newsletters on the school website and if so have you read them? These can give you a bit of a feel for a place as well.

 

There aren't as many people on the site that live up in the north east, but hopefully someone will be along with some more insite. Good luck.

 

Edited to add if you are thinking you will be living in the area long term also check out the senior school. We ruled out a number of places because although the primary schools looked good we didn't want our kids going to the senior school that the areas were zoned for. It's a bit more relevant for us though as my oldest is eleven.

Edited September 28, 2012 by NicF

[newlife]

Hi, can't help first hand with St Agnes primary but my understanding is that most of the primary's in the North East are good. It's best to leave it till you get here and go and visit the ones closer to where you are living, that way your kids will have friends locally outside of school too. Other primary schools in the North East are Redwood Park, Greenwith, Golden Grove, Fairview Park, Banksia. ( there are more but I'm sure someone else will be on to list them)

good luck with the move

 

Wendy

[Diane]

St Agnes was one of the ones we looked at when we first arrived, along with Ardtornish, Fairview Park, Tea Tree Gully, Houghton, Athelstone, and Highbury (we went for Highbury in the end as that was where we found a place to live). It was quite a while ago now (8 years) but we were impressed with all of them, so if you can, leave the decision till you get here and spend some time doing some school visits.

 

If it helps, some of the things that helped us decide were: the helpfulness of the staff in letting us look around unannounced, the interaction between staff and students on the visit (at Highbury for instance, the deputy head that showed us around - in a school of over 500 pupils - greeted every single child we passed by name and with a comment that showed us she really knew each of them as individuals), the facilities on offer and the enthusiasm of teaching staff in lessons, and the behaviour of the pupils both at school and at the end of school (good idea to park nearby and observe at home time - as long as you don't look too dodgy!! There were also some primaries that advocated open plan type learning spaces, and others that had more self-contained classrooms, so that helped us decide, knowing our children and what they were like at the time!

 

Bear in mind too that it is quite common here for children to change primary schools, sometimes several times, so if the one you choose doesn't work out, it's not the end of the world!

 

Have a look at http://www.northeast.net.au (I think it is) for some other general info on the surrounding area too.

[Guest Shandalina]

Thanks so much to NicF,Wendy and Diane for your input. I will have a look at those sites mentioned and as well as the newsletters and statements.

I feel concerned about arriving in Adelaide if I dont have a set school in mind, however the posts suggest that I need only visit the schools on arrival. Since I have 3 weeks until 29th Jan ( term starts ) is it alright to only make a decision and inform a school a few days before ? Do the state schools HAVE to accept you if you are in a postcoded area, no matter how late you inform them ? My children attend private school here in London with incredibly strict rules,so this more lax approach is so different to what Im used to over here.

 

Taken the point in looking at good secondery schools as well within the same borough - thanks

 

Will take a look at the additional schools everyone mentioned as well.

 

Many thanks

[Diane]

I don't thinkl there's any major rush to get them into school as soon as youi arrive, so take your time and if they are not open to visit until term starts, there is no problem with starting them a couple of weeks into the term. Some schools have catchment areas, but most don't so ask when you look around. You'll probably find if they have the space in the right year group, you can fill out the forms and they could start the next day, as far as I remember

[Guest Shandalina]

Thanks Diane, your feedback is very calming !