Help....Emigrating and applying to schools.

[will87]

Hi

We are looking to move to Adelaide in one year (august/september). We have a daughter who will be 7 by then and we are just a bit worried, how difficult is it to apply for a child to attend a school near home, i.e. is there a waiting list? We're worried about moving into a house and having to take our daughter to a school miles away. Is it easy to attend a local school when moving to a new area?

Any info would be great.

[snifter]

Unless a state primary school is zoned, you can enrol your child at your nearest primary school without issue. And can even go a little further afield should you prefer one slightly further away though the school may suggest you consider the one closer to you but that doesn’t mean you *have* to send them there. We preferred one a bit further away so did this the first 7 months till we bought well out of the area and then moved schools to keep close to where we bought our house. It also happened to be a zoned primary school and we were within the zone for it after we moved. No brainer for us as we didn’t want to stay long term in Glenelg or keep our son at the school we had decided on for the interim (till we bought elsewhere). It was a nice school but not a great one. So suited our purposes for the short term but not longer term plans. Our current school I rate far more and haven’t looked back since we moved there. Son is happy and doing really well. Moving schools didn’t harm him at all and he settled within a few weeks. 

Not many primary schools are zoned. If they are, for most of them you do need to be residing within the zone to apply for a place but if out of the zone you can apply to the school direct and see if they offer you a place. 

I’d suggest taking your time researching areas and what you want from them and the sort of school you are wanting/hoping for. There can be a big difference between areas and schools. 

 

[HelenS]

If you are moving into an area where the local school is zoned, I would suggest that you call the school before you sign a lease. There are quite a few schools in the eastern suburbs that are oversubscribed and even if you are in the zone they won't be able to take you. 

[ADL_tchr]

You can email your dream school directly before you leave :). Once you pick the suburb, check google for local schools, find a range of school websites. Their emails are listed at the bottom of their page