10 January 2009

HELP!!! OPINIONS ON GOLD CREEK HIGH SCHOOL.......

| Muggle
Join the conversation
19

Hi,

I really am after some honest opinions and advice. My son is 11 going into year six next year….. our catchment area for highschool is Gold Creek. I have heard some very bad things about this highschool….. I know things go on at all schools on one level or another but is it particularly bad at this school? I am really worried, but we cant really afford private school and Amaroo wont consider us as we are out of area.

Anyone have kids or know of anyone who is there or has been there?

Any opinions or anything you can share would be appreciated.

Thanks

Join the conversation

19
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Aurelias you are a big mouth. Be quiet so intelligent people can speak.

Ari, you should grow up and get a life.

Drummet, well said. I had a bit of a laugh, cool and calm always wins over ignorant fools. You sold your school well.

Thank you. You are one of the few people on this site that understood what i was trying to say…

I’m glad you feel so passionate about your school. Treasure the friends and the memories and follow your dreams. I wish you well!

Ari said :

Dummett said :

made me into the person i am today.

Borderline illiterate?

Great work Gold Creek.

Does that make you feel big?

Dummett said :

made me into the person i am today.

Borderline illiterate?

Great work Gold Creek.

hey everybody,

i would just like to start off by saying i am an ex student of gold creek school (1998-2008)and although you could say i have never experinced any other skool frankly i wouldnt want to.

i had some of the best times of my life at gold creek which i will remember forever, i have made friends that would do anything for me, gained tutors that have influenced my life and made me into the person i am today.

to be honest i only opened this forum to have a go at who ever had the nerve to bad mouth my skool so please tread lightly because that skool is my life.

Hi Muggle,

I was in a similar situation at the end of 2007 when I had to choose which school to send my son to since the nearest school wasn’t an option, although he was going to primary, and not high. Up until that point, I had heard not one good remark about Gold Creek High.
After speaking to principals and deputies in the area, we narrowed it down to Gold Creek or Amaroo, since we already have children there.
We have gone Gold Creek. I am really involved in the school and have got to know teachers in the primary and high sections, as well as principals and deputies, and I honestly don’t think I have experienced such a wonderful school (and I have experienced 3 so far!!!).
Don’t get me wrong, there are probably still “bad eggs” in the school, but the way it is being run is awesome. I have great respect for the principal and how she has changed the school.
I think there is a saying that you can get a bad reputation in a second but it takes years to build it back up.
Oh, and after experiencing Amaroo for the last couple of years, I would advise not to send kids there. I think I have heard of only a couple of people who have actually been happy there, and I am not one of them.
Whatever happens, if you are concerned, make sure you speak to the teachers, and get involved in the school – P&C etc.
All the best with your decision.

GardeningGirl11:10 pm 11 Jan 09

Hi Muggle.
More than a decade ago we found ourselves in a situation where attempts to make things better weren’t working so we joined the (to me surprising) number of parents who sent their children out of area. The next closest school wouldn’t take us as schools in newer suburbs with growing enrolments will not take out of area kids, as you found with Amaroo. So we ended up at one of the small inner suburb schools that had vacancies and was more than happy to welcome us. Unfortunately I suspect the school closures of recent times would have limited this option. We were concerned about not having friends nearby but it turned out that most close neighbours chose out of area or private schools anyway. Quite different to my own experience growing up here.
There are some encouraging comments on this thread about Gold Creek and it’s obvious that you are most certainly not a hands-off parent otherwise you wouldn’t be doing this research, so I’m sure you’ll work things out just fine. My best wishes to you and your son.

The partner has been reduced to a nervous wreck by the management. Being required to apologise to mongrel bloody slime students for causing her actual bodily harm – This is no way to run a school, but management are terrified of parents/Head Office.

cranky, I bet you that not one ‘complaint’ has been lodged with ACTDET over the management practices of the school you mention.

Your mates’ partner has the right to file charges – but experience tells me that the school wouldn’t want that. It’s common practice to hide it all under the carpet.

Aurelius, the problem with most Govt schools is the fact that they are run by the schools themselves. This causes no end of problems and there is really no one to ‘stop’ them. ACTDET usually turn a blind eye.

Aurelius said :

Parents who whine about “our local government school isn’t up to scratch” really sh*t me. If there’s something wrong with the school, fix it. Don’t carry on and try and send your kid to another school several suburbs away where they’ll not know anyone. Blaming everyone else for the problem, teachers, students, whatever, is just indulgence. If you want it to be better, get off your butt and do something about it.
On second thoughts, don’t. My son’ll be going to Gold Creek High School soon enough, and if hands-off parents like Muggle wont be contributing to the place, I’d prefer they go soil another institution.

I am sorry you feel the need to be so aggressive in your reply.

As a concerned parent I put the post out there to try and come to a balanced decision about where to send my child for school.

I am not a hands off parent and am actively involved in my child’s school…. so you can rethink that one.

My child is a caring, respectful, funny, very intelligent person……… ONE of my biggest concerns is that ALL of my child’s circle of friends have gone to other schools or are planning to go to other schools next year, not one of them have gone to Gold Creek…. So, the comment about my child not knowing anyone at another school is redundant really, like most of your post. I am concerned that he will know no-one…. so part of the dilemma was do I try and send him where his friends will be?

I am not blaming anybody for anything, I would think that any parent who had concern for their child’s welfare and education who had heard poor reports about a school would investigate the claims to seek a balanced opinion – if you had heard negative things about somewhere and you still chose to send your child there blind without trying to gather a perspective on the situation then I would question your parenting intentions.

Thank you for your advice to ‘get off my butt and do something” I hadn’t thought of that stupid I know!)……. I have twelve months to do so….. funny I thought I had started by investigating all of my options and asking for balanced opinions……..

Your reply is uneducated, irrational and boring really. Your reply had nothing to do with the original post – why did you bother?

As for the rest of the people who took the time to reply intelligently – thank you for your balanced opinions both good and bad…. you have made me feel a little better about the situation.

I’d like to agree with most of these posts, especially Granny’s. The two biggest influences on a kids achievement at school are the home environment and the individual teacher. The actual school doesn’t account for much at all, so you are best to send your kid to the closest school where at least it’s easy to get to and from, and friends live nearby.

Tale of two schools.

Relli teaches at GCHS, mates partner at a Catholic High.

The partner has been reduced to a nervous wreck by the management. Being required to apologise to mongrel bloody slime students for causing her actual bodily harm – This is no way to run a school, but management are terrified of parents/Head Office.

Relli is quite happy. Sh!t happens, but the Headmaster backs up the staff, and the worst of the behaviour is curtailed.

Parents who whine about “our local government school isn’t up to scratch” really sh*t me. If there’s something wrong with the school, fix it. Don’t carry on and try and send your kid to another school several suburbs away where they’ll not know anyone. Blaming everyone else for the problem, teachers, students, whatever, is just indulgence. If you want it to be better, get off your butt and do something about it.
On second thoughts, don’t. My son’ll be going to Gold Creek High School soon enough, and if hands-off parents like Muggle wont be contributing to the place, I’d prefer they go soil another institution.

I understand your concerns for the welfare and education of your child, Muggle. However, I think to some extent that if you go looking for the bad in anything you will find it.

Stories which focus on the negative can be really detrimental to the hard-working and well-meaning staff of a school, not to mention the majority of really good kids that attend. Reputation is important to a school community, as it is to an individual.

It might be a little late at this stage to enrol in another school at any rate, and I would suggest that you can have quite an impact on the direction and culture of the school by joining the P&C and/or becoming a representative on the school board.

If you have a close, positive working relationship with the school management they will do their best to help resolve any concerns; and you have the potential to make a real, lasting difference to outcomes that affect the whole school.

I wish you the very best of luck in whichever path you take. It is certainly a big decision.

If it’s any consolation, Amaroo seems to breed an atmosphere with a poor attitude from students – I would avoid it at all costs.

I am an ex teacher and in my current role I get to see a lot of high schools. I have been to Gold Creek a number of times and it has a better atmosphere than most schools. The staff are very respectful of students (which is more than can be said for most schools), and they seem to be good at what they do.

I don’t know how the discussion turned to drug use, since it wasn’t in your original question, but so much of that is underground that there is just no way of determining whether one school is better than another or not.

I wouldn’t worry about sending my kids there any more than any other school in Canberra; the place seems pretty good to me.

Muggle, if your son grows up to be the type of person to dabble in drugs or hooliganism at a young age, it won’t matter what school you send him to, he’ll get his hands wet with it anyway

That’s very true. I went to both public High School and College (let’s just say their in the northern suburbs and don’t rate very well). I’ve known and heard about more drug taking and bad behaviour from some of Canberra’s…..let’s say…..more expensive schools than at the two I went to. Kids have to learn good values and they have to learn them at home. Teachers can’t used to raise children.

Monster of the Deep1:47 pm 10 Jan 09

Muggle, if your son grows up to be the type of person to dabble in drugs or hooliganism at a young age, it won’t matter what school you send him to, he’ll get his hands wet with it anyway. That said, quality of teaching/caring is another matter. Best of luck!

We sent DD to Gold Creek last year for yr 6. We also had some reservations, but chose to give it a go for the year, with the mind to change her to another public school if necessary. We had an amazing teacher for year 6, and DD has done extremely well. Her end of year report was brilliant. She has always done reasonably well at school, but seems to have found her niche there. Her friends seem like a nice bunch of kids. I’ve met a few of them. It was harder for me to change schools than it was for her, but I built up a relationship with her teacher, and that helped. BTW, the “new” principal (this will be her 3rd year at Gold Creek) has very high standards and ideals for the school, and is gradually implementing them. Overall, I’m really happy there, so is DD, and we’ll continue there with DD2 when she’s old enough

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.