Canberra Schools and homes close to UC?

I was checking too..

I found useful information in these two web sites.

http://the-riotact.com/canberra-schools-and-homes-close-to-uc/45963
http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_education/enrolling_in_an_act_public_school/priority_enrolment_areas

Lyneham High and Telopea park school seems good for highschool
Turner Garran seems good for primary

Appreciate if some one can give opinion on these schools.

You can’t go past Aranda …. its a great little suburb. Close to the city (and UC) with bushland for the kids to run and play. Aranda Primary School is top notch and feeds into Canberra High School. Radford College is an alternative if you want to check out private schooling.

Canberra High is an excellent High school as is down the road from UC.

Cocoa- the scary part here is I suspect it is not tongue in cheek! s#*t

First thing to consider when choosing where to live near UC is the ACT government’s lovely “Priority Enrolment Area” statement which dictates where you can and can’t send your kids to school by your street address Second thing to consider is “does your child have any special needs – eg gifted and talented, or special learning needs”. Kaleen primary (and to some extent Aranda) has best reputation and caters for gifted and talented children. School is chocked full and entry by IQ or street address. Big classes but caters very well for G&T. If you think you child would need more attention, Macquarie primary is nice little school in nice suburb. Catholic schools all a big dodgy (even on the my school website) except Darramalan which is high school. If your child has extra special learning needs Turner primary is the go but Turner real estate is out of range for most. Don’t go Gungahlin – its a traffic nightmare and no trees. The new suburb next to UC of Lawson will be open soon! If you are looking for christian education Brindabella Cristian College has good reputation. So you’d probably want to consider your educations preferences then chose your school before you choose your street address! Gets even worse at high school. If you are looking to go private high school put your name down the day of birth and you might get a spot.

aidan said :

Well priced suburbs? No offence Watson, but the inner north is a lot more expensive and really doesn’t make much sense for someone working at the Uni of Canberra. Properties in Evatt/Giralang/Kaleen will be $100k less than comparable places in Watson. For O’Connor/Lyneham/Ainslie the price differential would be even higher.

No, not cheap indeed. I have to be inventive to afford staying here, but I like the location and the vibe enough to want to do so. But admittedly one of the reasons why I live here is that it’s easy cycling distance to my work and now my daughter goes to school here, I would not want to move away.

Sorry, long explanation to say, you might indeed be right that for new Canberrans, Belco is a better choice. Though I lived in Weetangera when I first moved here from Europe and hated it, but that’s just me and I didn’t drive back then.

When I lived in West Belconnen, I sent my kids to Kaleen Primary (not Maribyrnong Primary also in Kaleen) where they went for 3 years. This was my older daughter’s 3 primary school, she’d been bullied a fair bit at her first two schools.

Kaleen was brilliant and the best thing ever for my kids, my older daughter especially. They offer academic extension and a cohort representing a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, family dynamics and socio economic backgrounds.

The principal Grace Dunlop has led the school for many years, she was so supportive in ensuring that my children were included and ‘taught how to socialise’.

I couldn’t recommend the school highly enough, please do yourself and your children a favour and make a time to visit the school.

bohochic said :

I gathered that the north side (up??) from the city center is an ok locale. Oh and well priced means not falling into a dead faint over the price of a sardine tin on a saucer.

You’ll pay more for an equivalent property in “Inner North”. If you want to do that be my guest. It doesn’t make sense to do so, IMO, if you’re working at UC and have no emotional ties to the area.

You can’t go too far wrong looking in Florey/Melba/McKellar/Evatt/Kaleen. Bruce and Aranda are close, but about as pricey as the outskirts of the inner north.

Kaleen has two Government and one Catholic Primary school (heaps of choice). Same for Evatt. Kaleen has the advantage of a decent size shopping centre which is handy. Giralang is very nice and I think the school is great, my kids go there.

This is fantastic guys, thankyou so much and please keep the information coming as it is very much appreciated. I have been looking at the allhomes site for a while now and whilst there is info about trends ect of suburbs, it is difficult without being there. I say about 10 k from the uni just for peddle power sake but it certainly could be more. I gathered that the north side (up??) from the city center is an ok locale. Oh and well priced means not falling into a dead faint over the price of a sardine tin on a saucer.

Gerry-Built said :

It is somewhat touchy at the moment – with more kids now in the private system, than the public system…

In High Schools. Just. Not so overall. From the ACT school census:

In 2011 public schools accounted for 59.0 percent of the total student population

UC is pretty centrally located, though the closest primary schools to UC would be Maribyrnong Primary School in Kaleen.

Depending on where you decided to live, there is Aranda Primary, Macquarie Primary, Florey Primary, Kaleeen Primary, Giralang Primary, Evatt Primary, Miles Franklin Primary. i.e. quite a lot really.

Well priced suburbs? No offence Watson, but the inner north is a lot more expensive and really doesn’t make much sense for someone working at the Uni of Canberra. Properties in Evatt/Giralang/Kaleen will be $100k less than comparable places in Watson. For O’Connor/Lyneham/Ainslie the price differential would be even higher.

There is an excellent real estate site (allhomes.com.au) which allows you research past property sales. It gives an excellent feel for prices. In general the closer to civic (city centre/parliament house) the more expensive the real estate. Some Canberra suburbs have more project and/or government housing than others. These suburbs have traditionally been cheaper to buy into, and the housing stock is generally smaller. Most suburbs within 10kms of UC will be very pleasant. You’ll save money if you choose to look on the north and western side of UC as these areas are further away from the city centre.