New member alert!!!! Moving to Adelaide jan 2015.

[EmmaB]

Hi!

 

My family and I are making the move in January, a pretty short time frame to start planning so happy for any hints and tips. My main concern is schooling for our soon to be 9 year old and 7 year old. We are visiting end of Oct and trying to fix an itinerary with school visits, bug question is what should be our search area? What's the verdict Hills vs Beach? North vs South? I am drawn to the hills but don't want the commute to be nightmarish as my husband will be working north of the city.

 

where are good family areas and where should be avoided? I want an established area more so than a new suburb, parks, greenery is also a must.

 

thanks

 

Emma

[Blossom]

Welcome to the forum. :-)

 

How far north of the city will your hubby be working? It's actually a real pain getting to the bottom of the freeway from north a lot of the time.

[NicF]

There are plenty of hills east and north east of the city, you don't have to be south for hill areas. If your husband is going to be working north of the city I would suggest heading north east to somewhere like Highbury, Tea Tree Gully, Vista, Banksia Park or Fairview Park. These are all lovely green, leafy areas in the foothills with easy access to the city via the O-bahn and about 30 minutes from the beach down Grand Junction road. Or, if you want to be near the beach, have a look at Semaphore or West.

[Diane]

Hi

We moved out here when our kids were 7 and 9 too - it seems a good age generally to enable them to settle well. Mine are now 17 and 20! As NicF above says, check out the areas in the northeast. Highbury is where we chose, we are alongside the Torrens Linear Park which is the most beautiful, green, leafy park that runs the length of the river from the hills to the beach at Henley. As I come down my road, the hills are all around us and it feels like we are embraced by them. Getting into the city is really easy, although I'd probably catch the O-Bahn rather than driving just because it's so quick and easy. There are excellent schools around (mine went to Highbury Primary School which was - and is - very good), good shops, plenty of places for walking and cycling (Anstey Hill, Blackhill, and the park as mentioned) and a good selection of different housing types and styles. The beach is an easy half hour drive (Semaphore is the nearest beach which is a gorgeous long stretch of clean white sand and safe waters), and the Barossa is on our doorstep for drives out at the weekend, as is the Adelaide Hills - we did a girls' winery tour of the Hills winery in June and it was stunning. My husband used to work at Golden Grove, Elizabeth and the City and I work at Port Adelaide - all are within an easy half hour drive (or a cycle ride, which is the way he used to commute).

 

Definitely recommend this side of town.

[samandcraig]

Hi and welcome, we are hoping to get out there at the end of March we can't wait, I hope this forum helps you, I'm sure it will, I have an 11 year old and a 4 year old, best of look to you and hope your move goes smoothly.

[Guest IreneChew]

Hi There,

I have same questions facing as Emma, too. Just my kids age turning 5 & 7 by next year, so i need to find Kindergarden & Primary for my both little boys.

My husband haven't get any job offer, so is it advisable to rent a house to stay then only to seek a job in Adelaide?

Highbury as recommended by Diane & NicF sounds pretty good, just wonder how's the rental fee & any good kindergarden surrounding may introduce?

thanks

 

Irene

[Diane]

Hi There,

I have same questions facing as Emma, too. Just my kids age turning 5 & 7 by next year, so i need to find Kindergarden & Primary for my both little boys.

My husband haven't get any job offer, so is it advisable to rent a house to stay then only to seek a job in Adelaide?

Highbury as recommended by Diane & NicF sounds pretty good, just wonder how's the rental fee & any good kindergarden surrounding may introduce?

thanks

 

Irene

 

I think Highbury Primary School has a kindy attached to it http://www.highburycc.sa.edu.au/ but you can also look here for other info about the North East area http://www.northeast.net.au/index.php

[Fotherespie]

Hi, we've been here 3 months and we are in exactly the same dilemma! Its all so nice! Diana - Highbury sounds very nice, does it have a Centre? We are looking for somewhere that has a few cafes and bars that we can walk to.

[Diane]

No, for that sort of thing you need to look around somewhere like Norwood. We do have one restaurant and a pub that we could walk to, and a deli and a chinese takeaway but that's about it!

[Guest IreneChew]

I think Highbury Primary School has a kindy attached to it http://www.highburycc.sa.edu.au/ but you can also look here for other info about the North East area http://www.northeast.net.au/index.php

 

Hi again!

 

Thanks a lot for your feed back and a fantastic forum place. It seems Highbury is a highly recommended place to stay.

But beside that, any other good place to stay for us to survey? For family and also for children and convenient.

As I understand, trains only serve the western part right?

[EmmaB]

My husband will be based up in Elizabeth so pretty north. As I am usually tasked with the school run, location does not matter so much providing that the area is family friendly and the schools of high standard. My research had led me more towards the the foothills a little south of the city around Springfield or further out towards Stirling, but I am no expert and until we visit at the end of the month have no experience to base my decision on.

 

Any views on these areas?

[NicF]

I don't know the areas that well but I do know your husband will have a pretty long drive to work from there. Have you looked on google maps to see where the two places are in relation to each other? Compare that with places like Fairview Park or Highbury. I'd find it a bit of a commute from where we are in Rostrevor - check where this is on google maps as well.

 

In terms of things like schools and suburbs have a look at this site http://house.ksou.cn. It's a Chinese site that has information on all things suburbs designed to help Chinese people find the best suburbs to live in. Also check out myschool.edu.au for more detailed information on the schools in the areas you are considering. Have a look at the schools own websites and look for the context statement which this is the nearest thing you will get to an Ofsted report here. It's written by the school itself but has lots of factual information about the numbers and background of the kids at the school.

 

When you get here, if you are interested in green, hilly areas I'd definitely take a drive around places like Banksia Park and Tea Tree Gully. Maybe start at Springfield and drive east through Wattle Park, Stoneyfell, Magill and Rostrevor (check out Morialta Conservation Park) past Athlestone up to Highbury and on to Fairview Park and surrounds. I'm not sure where you have done your research but these are all lovely green foothill areas with plenty to offer families.

[NicF]

My husband will be based up in Elizabeth so pretty north. As I am usually tasked with the school run, location does not matter so much providing that the area is family friendly and the schools of high standard. My research had led me more towards the the foothills a little south of the city around Springfield or further out towards Stirling, but I am no expert and until we visit at the end of the month have no experience to base my decision on.

 

Any views on these areas?

 

Just mentioned this to my (Australian) husband and his first comment was I hope they have plenty of money. Apparently Springfield is a rather pricey suburb - one of the more expensive in Adelaide. Out towards Stirling is pretty expensive as well apparently. They will be very nice areas but are still quite a trek from Elizabeth. For nice areas a bit closer definitely check out the eastern suburbs foothills (Stoneyfell, Wattle Park, Auldana, Teringie). Some excellent schools in these areas as well.

[EmmaB]

Thanks for the tips. I have looked at maps etc.. And began researching schools and had been working my way through the list of the supposed highest scoring schools. Problem is that some schools have catchment areas and as we are not yet in adelaide we can't enrol our children. Also we are moving initially on an employer sponsored temporary visa and are therefore not necessarily eligible to government state schools (or so I read, I may stand corrected). Presently I had been focused more on catholic schools as they are private but not with extortionate fees, plus the children are baptised. I also wanted a school with the IB primary years program so if move again the children can have an easier transition. Mercedes college caught my eye as it ticks these boxes this therefore led me to Springfield area. We would be renting not buying so hopefully rents are more reasonable than purchase prices. Not fixed on anything awaiting our trip to help with planning.

[Diane]

Firstly no worries on the state school front - South Australia treats most people on employee sponsored visas (457s?) exactly as they treat the locals so you won't have to pay international fees!

 

Secondly most primary schools don't have strict catchment areas - the odd very popular one does, but most don't. Private schools don't care where you live as long as you can pay their fees! You could look here for Catholic Schools http://www.cesa.catholic.edu.au/our-schools/find-a-school or google IB schools in Adelaide (I found this but you have to go through and look for the SA ones http://ibo.org/school/search/index.cfm?nextStart=1)

 

I'd second what someone said above - getting from anywhere south across the city up to Elizabeth will quickly drive your husband mad! Have a look around Golden Grove - Pedare is very reasonably priced I understand, and there is also Gleeson - both private - and Golden Grove which is state but has a good reputation and shares facilities with the two private schools.

 

My children both attended St Ignatius for High School - I think the prices and standards for them and Mercedes are pretty similar - the two colleges compete in an annual Intercol competition so I have been to both (as a spectator)

[NicF]

Have a look here http://mercedes.catholic.edu.au/enrolment/tuition-fees/ for the fees for Mercedes Collage. Not exactly cheap, but if you can afford it then why not. For IB schools Rose Park primary (government school is zoned) does IB, and the school my kids go to (Stradbroke primary - government not zoned) also does IB. I think Pembroke (private) does the IB program as well, although Pembroke isn't catholic and is a co-ed school rather than an all girls school. And it's even less cheap than Mercedes.

 

To look at what is available to rent have a look at realestate.com.au. They have an app for the iPad as well which I spent a lot of time on before we moved. I just had a quick look and there was nothing available to rent in Springfield itself, although plenty in the surrounding suburbs.

 

While it's nice to have an idea of where you might like to live unless you have been before I would keep an open mind about areas until you have looked around some. I appreciate that having a good school is important to you - it was a large factor in where we decided to live - but there are lots of good schools around and being a bit closer to where your OH is working may prove a big advantage in the long run. Unless you prefer him to be away from the house for longer

[Guest roo]

We based our choice on the schools - this helped us to make a start then we visited LOADS of them and Stirling East came out top for us (our son has only been in the school 4 weeks so hardtop say long term but so far I am really happy with the school and the system - and i have to say we saw some pretty mediocre and a few really bad schools when looking!). Only problem is it has a zone so you do have to live in a certain area (which is pricey and hard to come by!) but Stirling and Aldgate are gorgeous, the community is really friendly and the school is fabulous!). Takes us about 20 minutes on the freeway to get into Adelaide so not bad for commuting (hence the prices!).

 

My little boy is at the Kindy (Stirling East) and I also think it is fab there - he has made loads of friends! In fact having only been in the school/kindy 4 weeks they haven't done bad at all - 2 play dates, 2 birthday parties, 1 BBQ, I day at a 'community garden', 1 afternoon with all the mums and kids at a beer garden after school and I have even had a night out with the mums from my sons class! I haven't really had to try hard at all - people just started to ask!

 

It is pricey but I have to say Id rather pay more for a rental and be in a really nice place with a fabulous school than pay less and have to put up with a school that is ok. Horses for courses though. Good luck with your decision!