Feedback on Woden primary schools?

bryansworld said :

crackerpants said :

Ok, I’ll bite – no rumours or cheating here. Certain schools like Curtain and Garran offer programs whereby eligible students gain priority entry, somewhere between in-area and out-of-area students. The vast majority of the time the local primary school can cater to their students, but sometimes they can’t. For us, the sense of community was lost when most of my daughter’s friends went straight from the local preschool to a catholic school, and with both of us working in Woden and our youngest children at daycare in Woden, we feel we participate in two communities.

It depends very much on individual priorities. For me, too much time in Canberra’s short but intense peak hours would drive me and the kids bonkers. I realise everything is relative and half of Sydney has to suffer through hours of family marathon car journeys in slow traffic. I guess I am keen on maximising that Canberra lifestyle dividend! 🙂

I absolutely agree, and for us, the change in schools has made zero difference to travel time or distance. It is 6k/average 8 minutes to get from home to our “hub” of Woden, which contains school/ work for both us parents/daycare for the younger ones. Hubby does the drop-off loop, I do pick up, it couldn’t be much more straightforward with 3 kids under 7 – once they’re all at school we’ll be sorted. The only real difference is that two days a week, instead of walking the 30 minute round trip for school pick up, we’re driving it 🙂

bryansworld said :

[Sorry, this got caught up in the quote machine!]

Yes and no. I’ve got kids and of course will try to do the best thing by them. But I see a lot of parents making big changes to schooling arrangements on the basis of anecdotes, circulated stories and the whispering in the herd. The vast majority of ACT public schools are doing pretty damn well against the national benchmarks!

For us the decision was made after the kindergarten experience proved the stories were true.

The principal along with various teachers and supporting staff at Hughes have worked hard to support a very difficult student situation, with a decent outcome. Also, they focus on an english as second language program and many of their students are from non English speaking background.

crackerpants said :

Ok, I’ll bite – no rumours or cheating here. Certain schools like Curtain and Garran offer programs whereby eligible students gain priority entry, somewhere between in-area and out-of-area students. The vast majority of the time the local primary school can cater to their students, but sometimes they can’t. For us, the sense of community was lost when most of my daughter’s friends went straight from the local preschool to a catholic school, and with both of us working in Woden and our youngest children at daycare in Woden, we feel we participate in two communities.

It depends very much on individual priorities. For me, too much time in Canberra’s short but intense peak hours would drive me and the kids bonkers. I realise everything is relative and half of Sydney has to suffer through hours of family marathon car journeys in slow traffic. I guess I am keen on maximising that Canberra lifestyle dividend! 🙂

Ok, I’ll bite – no rumours or cheating here. Certain schools like Curtain and Garran offer programs whereby eligible students gain priority entry, somewhere between in-area and out-of-area students. The vast majority of the time the local primary school can cater to their students, but sometimes they can’t. For us, the sense of community was lost when most of my daughter’s friends went straight from the local preschool to a catholic school, and with both of us working in Woden and our youngest children at daycare in Woden, we feel we participate in two communities.

CuriousCat said :

Bryansworld, my kids do go to the local school. Unfortunately, it only goes up to year 2. For the latter part of their primary schooling, we have a choice between Curtin and Hughes. Just gotta decide which one.

Fair enough. I’m more concerned that people will cart their kids across town on the basis of some rumour that a particular government primary school has a better group of teachers etc. I’d have though the application of prioriy catchment areas, together with a number of inner-city schools reaching capacity would make this harder. Unless of course, parents cheat by not using their own addresses. There’s plenty of this around. And people wonder why we are losing our sense of community.

Bryansworld, my kids do go to the local school. Unfortunately, it only goes up to year 2. For the latter part of their primary schooling, we have a choice between Curtin and Hughes. Just gotta decide which one.

[Sorry, this got caught up in the quote machine!]

Yes and no. I’ve got kids and of course will try to do the best thing by them. But I see a lot of parents making big changes to schooling arrangements on the basis of anecdotes, circulated stories and the whispering in the herd. The vast majority of ACT public schools are doing pretty damn well against the national benchmarks!

GardeningGirl said :

Affirmative Action Man said :

. . If the school has a good dynamic principal that usually translates into a good school. If you get a dull timeserver the school will be lame.

True.

bryansworld said :

Whatever happened to sending your kids to the local school? Lots of upsides. Shorter travel time. Helps you to get your know your neighbourhood. Sense of community. Shared childcare and lifts. etc. I fear the impact on the next generation of overzealous parenting!

No upside to sending your kids to the local school and watching them suffer while your neighbours send their kids to other public and private schools so as to avoid that school.

When so many people are voting with their feet, to go away from somewhere or to somewhere or both, it’s saying something![/quote

Yes and no. I’ve got kids and of course will try to do the best thing by them. But I see a lot of parents making big changes to schooling arrangements on the basis of anecdotes, circulated stories and the whispering in the herd. The vast majority of ACT public schools are doing pretty damn well against the national benchmarks.

Affirmative Action Man said :

. . If the school has a good dynamic principal that usually translates into a good school. If you get a dull timeserver the school will be lame.

True.

bryansworld said :

Whatever happened to sending your kids to the local school? Lots of upsides. Shorter travel time. Helps you to get your know your neighbourhood. Sense of community. Shared childcare and lifts. etc. I fear the impact on the next generation of overzealous parenting!

No upside to sending your kids to the local school and watching them suffer while your neighbours send their kids to other public and private schools so as to avoid that school.

When so many people are voting with their feet, to go away from somewhere or to somewhere or both, it’s saying something!