Primary schools in Aldgate/Felixstow/Belair/Clapham/Grange

[Guest PLowies]

Hi all. We'll be arriving in March 2015. My husband will be working on North Terrace, CBD. I'm looking at the suburbs of Aldgate (or Stirling/Crafers/Bridgewater); Felixstow; Belair; Clapham and Grange - mostly because they are within 20 minutes from the CBD, the primary schools seem to have OK Naplan ratings and the properties seem to be what we can afford. Does anyone have particular opinions about any of these schools and/or the areas themselves?

[cliffy]

I would not call Aldgate or the places listed near them as suburbs. They are out of the Adelaide area in the hills but accessible along the freeway, and I find it hard to believe it lists travel to the CBD as 20 mins, more like double that when I travel. My daughter used to live in Crafers.

Belair is a pleasant leafy suburb in the hills, but in a high fire danger area (as are all the Hills suburbs) and I am not sure about the rest.

I would look at getting a short term rental maybe near the CBD until you can actually see the layout of the city and get a feel for the suburbs.

[Guest PLowies]

Thanks Cliffy - appreciate the comment. The 20 mins travel time I got from Google maps, but then they never say at what time of day so I didn't know how believable that is!

[Diane]

Have a look at places out along the OBahn corridor - Klemzig, Paradise, and Modbury ( for Tea Tree Plaza) anywhere in or around those suburbs he could hop on the OBahn and be at North Terrace in 10/15 mins - so you could look within 10 mins drive of any of the stops. Plenty of excellent schools in the Eastern suburbs

[snifter]

As has been said, some of those you list are not suburbs but small towns up in the hills. IIRC the Stirling East primary school has a great Naplan record. Aldgate is also up there but not ranked quite as high. Also Crafers. Probably the other small towns you list have good results also.

 

You can check this list to help re Naplan if you've not been using it already. If a school isn't ranked in the top 150 doesn't mean its a bad school or that its not worth considering, some may fall just outside of it or well out of it. And that it contains private and state schools also plays a part. Also, Naplan isn't the be all and end all when deciding on a school and its still early days with the testing and results really. I did though primarily look at schools that were achieving good results across the years when we were looking to buy. Both primary and high school. I used the top 150 list to get me started and it did help me narrow down areas and so on in an easy way and then I investigated the schools more after that. I checked to see if any of the schools listed were in areas we were looking to buy in and visited a fair few that made my short list. I visited some wonderful primary schools that were not ranked in the top 150 and would happily have sent my son to a couple of them had we ended up buying in those areas. But high schools for those areas were not great so we were looking at private options then in a few years. You can use the search function there for a school not on the list

 

http://primary-school-ranking-adelaide-south-australia.street-directory.com.au/#top_schools

 

Be aware Stirling East is a zoned school and you will need to be living within the zone for the school to *have* to take you. If they have a low intake year or some such they may take form outside the zone but that would be on a case by case basis and by application I would expect.

 

The suburbs you mention, I know and like Belair a great deal. We spend a fair bit of time that way for cricket and other things. I'm not sure which schools you would be looking at around that area, Coromandel Valley primary does well on Naplan and I heard very good things about it when we were looking round the area. Again, its zoned though. Could take the train in rather than drive, worth a thought.

 

Clapham is a good suburb IMHO, we have family around there. Its more down on the flat than hilly but its still got some going on. Its a pretty straight drive to the CBD but in rush hour, I'd double the time the maps give you to be cautious but it may not be that long, never driven it in in rush hour. Also its nicely placed for access to Westfield Marion, the hills, Belair national park and Burnside shopping isn't a million miles away heading the other way. IIRC there is an outdoor pool around there also, and Tusmore park has a fab huge covered paddling pool for kids that is a favourite haunt of ours in the summer. No clue of schools there though.

 

With regard to the fire risk, all the hills and suburbs sitting in them are classed as fire risk. Fire season is upon us and I've taken it seriously given we live less than a couple of hundred metres from open hills, fields and bush. I've also tried to learn a bit about how fire travels, when and how the winds work and have the feed for the CFS on my phone and so on. We live in a suburb in the foothills so fall in the Mount Lofty range. But am I fretting day and night over it, no. It does not affect our day to day life and we carry on as normal. If we were living right out in the hills or on a small holiding or some such away from a town I'd of course be far more concerned and would have a different plan to the one we have here. Yes there is still a risk but you have to decide based on your research what you are happy living with. Many live in the areas and towns you list. Some choose not to live in them because of it. When we were considering Stirling and looking at houses up there, I heard no end of times from one family member about fire risk up in the hills, how just because it hasn't all burnt yet doesn't mean it won't and how people are complacent perhaps because of that so more and more live up there. It didn't sway me one jot though, we kept on looking. The only thing put me off was the travel times to places, the main roads carrying all that lovely rush hour traffic and that we couldn't find a house we liked that ticked our boxes. We found a few up there but not right for us.

 

You can find the fire ban district for any suburb here http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/site/fire_bans_and_ratings/find_your_fire_ban_district.jsp

 

I don't know anything about Felixstowe other than its further north than the other suburbs you list

 

Grange, its nowhere near any of the other towns or suburbs you list and its a beachside suburb so no hills, no gum trees (well, there are but not like in the foothills and hills) and koalas and its a different style of living IMHO. More real suburban than you get in the foothills suburbs. No clue on schools there. That its so different to the others you mention, am not sure why it appeals? Schools and property, I'd say I prefer the foothills and hills more but each to their own.

 

Any school you are considering you can check out in more detail on this site

 

http://myschool.edu.au/

 

We bought in a suburb with a good choice of state schools and with private options in future if we wish but so long as the HS keeps performing well and remains a good school, we shall probably go with that. The primary school we settled on is zoned and they do apply it as the demand is high. It was very well spoken of by locals and teachers I know who know it so that helped me. Its been a fantastic school so far and we are really happy with everything. I think all the hours I spent reading and visiting areas, schools and so on was worth it. Don't rush into things. Arriving in March, you could take a bit of time and aim to get kids into school for term 2 in April and enjoy the school holidays and the Easter break. That way you'd not be under too much pressure to begin with if you are looking at areas with zoned schools. You would have plenty of time to check out all the areas you mention, get a feel for them and hopefully visit the schools before they break up.

 

Term times here http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/custserve/pages/default/pubhols/?reFlag=1

[jim and adel]

Regarding fire risk, I'd rather live in some of the towns in the hills - Stirling, Crafers etc - where there are several routes out if a fire starts (including a wide two-direction freeway), rather than some of the foothills/hills-facing suburbs where there's one winding, hillside-clinging tree-lined narrow road. A tree down across the road is one of the nightmares in a bushfire.

 

To the OP, Stirling to CBD can be done in 20 mins if setting off before or after rush hour - it's only 10 mins down the freeway and a further 10 mins along Glen Osmond road. Try it at rush hour and you'll crawl along for half an hour from the bottom of the freeway to the CBD. Aldgate's a further five-10 mins (depending whereabouts), and Bridgewater another five-10 mins. Personally, I wouldn't live in Aldgate or Bridgewater due to them being heavily wooded, and in all cases I'd avoid the 'one way in, one way out' scenario.

[Guest PLowies]

Thanks Snifter! Where did you guys settle?