10 January 2023

The best primary schools in Canberra

| Emily Morris
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Primary Schools in the ACT

Where are the best primary schools in Canberra? Photo: File.

This article was updated in December 2022

We all want children to have the best opportunities in life and a good education is essential. While the best education always starts at home, choosing a primary school that will enable your child to learn and thrive is important.

But what is the “best primary school”? Many parents start by deciding whether they want a private or public education for their child. Other factors include the school’s academic record, size and location. Anecdotal experiences reported by other parents can also help.

This updated post covers some of the information parents can consider when determining the ideal school for their child.

Private versus public

Deciding to send your child to a private or public school is largely personal preference. You might want a school with a specific set of values, ethos, focus or extracurricular options. If so, private or independent schooling may be best. However, you need to consider cost, with private schools charging higher annual fees ranging from more than $5,000 per year to more than $18,000 (fees vary year-on-year).

Priority Enrolment Areas

If you decide on public schooling, where you live plays a significant role in determining your options. This is because addresses are zoned for particular schools. They are mapped into Priority Enrolment Areas (PEAs). Each school gives enrolment priority to students living in its PEA. If you love a school and don’t live in that PEA there’s no guarantee your child will be accepted.

Academic record

A school’s academic record is likely an important factor in selecting the best primary school for your child. You can check Better Education, a free school directory and information website that compares schools in each state and territory for a school’s academic record and other attributes.

Here are the highest-ranking schools in the ACT for 2021, with an overall score of 98.3 or more.

Top primary schools in Canberra – 2021

School Score English Maths Enrolments Locality
Radford College 100 5 5 1990 Bruce
Canberra Grammar School 100 5 5 2040 Red Hill
Canberra Girls’ Grammar School 99 5 5 1090 Deakin
Emmaus Christian School 99 5 5 430 Dickson
Burgmann Anglican School 98 5 5 1490 Gungahlin
Brindabella Christian College 98 5 5 880 Lyneham
Garran Primary School 98 5 5 600 Garran
Aranda Primary School 97 5 5 550 Aranda
St Vincent’s Primary School 97 5 4 200 Aranda
Trinity Christian School 97 5 4 1130 Wanniassa

Source: Better Education (https://bettereducation.com.au/school/Primary/act/canberra_top_primary_schools.aspx)

Anecdotal feedback

Price, location and performance of a school are all important factors in your decision making. You can also consider anecdotal feedback from other parents.

Here is a summary of some primary schools recommended by other parents in response to a previous post:

  • “Monash primary school is good if you want public in the Tuggeranong area.
  • “Chapman primary is great for Weston Creek.”
  • “Aranda and Majura Primaries are two that have particularly good reputations.”
  • “In Belconnen, Marybynong Primary in Kaleen seems to be the stand-out at the moment. Arawang seems to be doing well in the Weston area.
  • “… if you head to the far, far north Burgmann in Gungahlin is fine (private however).”
  • “Maribynong was good for those who had a creative side back in the day.”
  • “Miles Franklin Primary in Evatt is great … and this is coming from me who was highly critical of the Govt primary system with my other 3 kids who are still attending Catholic schools.”
  • “Fraser Primary, Charnwood Primary (improving I hear), Latham Primary, Kaleen Primary”
  • “Latham is a well-kept secret (well, it was). Definitely worth a try if you can’t get a house close to Maribyrnong.”
  • “Arawang Primary … looks great. Smaller than some of the other primary schools, but still with a really nice parent community.”
  • “Torrens Primary is a very traditional-style school culture.”
  • “Mawson Primary has a bilingual Chinese language program, and has a Chinese language pre-school nearby too.”
  • “Farrer Primary is a nice smaller school with a friendly culture …”
  • “Hughes Primary is a great school, they have lots of English as a second language programs and a very friendly, multi-cultural community.”
  • “Garran Primary is another great school, bigger than Hughes. They have a new environment program, and run programs for gifted and talented and kids with learning difficulties.”
  • Curtin Primary is another school similar in size to Garran, and has programs for gifted & talented and kids with learning difficulties.”
  • “Lyons is an early childhood centre – pre-school to Year 2. Which means your child needs to move in Year 3 to a P-6 school.”
  • Yarralumla Primary School (inner South, next suburb North of Curtin) has a bi-lingual Italian program and is now one of the smallest schools in Canberra.”
  • “Garran, Curtin, Forrest and Chapman Primary Schools all have good names. My daughter went to Garran for about three years and I was sorry to leave it.”
  • “I believe Holder and Waramanga Primary are pretty good too in the Weston Creek area.”
  • “Chapman is also in this area. I have a few friends with kids in these schools who are very happy.”
  • “Steiner School is also in Weston if you want an alternative choice.”
  • “For affordable rent and a good government primary school I think you will have to look at Weston Creek or Belconnen.”
  • “Yarralumla and Garran primaries may well be excellent, but the rent would be enormous.”
  • “I think Waramanga or Kaleen would be good choices, and not too far from the rest of Canberra either.”

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threepiggies1:54 pm 19 Mar 18

Hi?everyone
I want to send my kids to a primary school in woden which is 3 minutes walking distance from my home…however, it is out our PEA…I am seriously thinking of rent a house within PEA and rent our house out…i applies for several properties but it is a high season and nobody wants to rent house to the applicants with kids…Could anybody give me some suggestions, Please…

Sarah Selleck8:36 pm 09 Jan 21

I know this is a very old post but does anyone know how Yarralumla primary is going these days?

I am in the same position too. Moving down in a few months and my daughter will be in pre school next year. Am wondering what pre school I should send her to and if I should look at sending her to a pre school that is connected with the primary school. Any heplful information would be great as I have no idea about areas in Canberra
I would love to hear how Begbie and skiddy went with their school searching too…….

Hi Begbie – I’m going to be in the same position as you next year (moving 3 daughters from Perth – eldest starts school in 2011). Just wondering what you ended up doing and how you’ve found the school/suburb?

Correction, yes I meant Duffy Primary not Holder (which has closed).

s-s-a said :

because the school is in a suburb that the bogans (and we) can’t afford to live in

The qualifier “can’t afford to live in” won’t apply to occupants of government housing.

Surprising to read this kind of elitist dross on a website which is usually overflowing with champagne socialism (not to mention vitriol directed at kids attending “elitist” private schools, and their parents).

The idea that your children will be better people for not having to attend the same school as the kids of “bogans” is certainly an intriguing one. Especially considering that suburbs like Yarralumla are now full of real estate agents and other nouveau-riche types, some of whom are very “bogan” indeed. Same with kids who live in “government housing” – presumably a misinformed reference to public housing – plenty of whom aren’t disruptive and are happy to be attending school.

Forrest certainly used to have govt housing, and Campbell still does …

The within PEA numbers are usually filled by April the previous year with the leftover spots handed out after April for non PEA kids. Don’t delay enrolment.

I was under the impression that preschool enrolments opened 1 May, with places filled in order of application.

I am not sure about school enrolment, because for children going to the school aligned with their preschool there is no longer a need to re-enrol.

because the school is in a suburb that the bogans (and we) can’t afford to live in

The qualifier “can’t afford to live in” won’t apply to occupants of government housing. It used to be the case that only five suburbs in Canberra did not have government housing (from distant memory they were Forrest, Campbell, Chapman, O’Malley and ummmm???). Since all the school closures, I doubt there is any government primary school that has a PEA without government housing, maybe Forrest but that’s about all.

Getting into an out-of-PEA primary school is no guarantee you’ll get into an out-of-PEA pre-school. Even more stupid is when the primary school and pre-school are co-located, and you can get into the primary school as PEA but can’t get into the co-located pre-school as out-of-PEA.

I reckon it’s all a conspiracy to make us all home-school, so education is no longer a government expense.

bilby said :

We live in Yarralumla but after looking at Forrest and Yarralumla PS we decided on Curtin PS. The principal is very switched on, and seems to be very involved in the curriculum. Our preference was Yarralumla but they are going Italian immersion this year so we decided to go elsewhere.

Yarralumla has had the Italian program for at least a year now and it is not compulsory for all students, just those who what to participate. The program transferred from Lyons after it went Early Childhood.

TAD said :

@ Sepi
The reason we chose an out of PEA school is that during preschool we were far less than impressed with our local school during the year. (re: bullying and cliques being out of control where are daughter was miserable at school).

The new school is so much better in every way, mainly because the school is in a suburb that the bogans (and we) can’t afford to live in.

Hi TAD, could you email me the school’s name? “begbie01@gmail.com”
My wife & I would be very interested to find out.
Thanks for your advice.

somewhere_between_bundah_and_goulburn2:34 pm 01 Jan 10

I forgot to add, avoid the Super Schools (Amaroo, Kingsford Smith, etc), they’re over-rated rubbish.

@ Sepi http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_education/choosing_a_school/priority_enrolment_areas

We managed to get our daughter in a school out of PEA, so it’s not impossible. The rules are basically, if you live within the PEA they must enrol your child, if out of the PEA then only if there is room. The within PEA numbers are usually filled by April the previous year with the leftover spots handed out after April for non PEA kids. Don’t delay enrolment.

The reason we chose an out of PEA school is that during preschool we were far less than impressed with our local school during the year. (re: bullying and cliques being out of control where are daughter was miserable at school).

The new school is so much better in every way, mainly because the school is in a suburb that the bogans (and we) can’t afford to live in.

Ps – where can I find the Priority areas for Pre-schools?

For affordable rent and a good government primary school I think you will have to look at Weston Creek or Belconnen.

Yarralumla and Garran primaries may well be excellent, but the rent would be enormous.

I think Waramanga or Kaleen would be good choices, and not too far from the rest of Canberra either.

^^ There is no longer a primary school in Holder. If you’re talking about Duffy then yes it is quite good. It’s almost as small as Yarralumla – at Duffy 227 students in ’08 included three preschool classes, listed enrolment for Yarra was 217. I know quite a few families at Yarralumla who are really happy with it.

Farrer Primary is a nice smaller school with a friendly culture, but the buildings are a bit run-down

That may have been the case in the past, but with the amount of building work going on at schools in recent months you really can’t tell until everything is done next year. I had reason to visit Farrer a few times through work this year and found the principal and staff and programs impressive.

We live in Yarralumla but after looking at Forrest and Yarralumla PS we decided on Curtin PS. The principal is very switched on, and seems to be very involved in the curriculum. Our preference was Yarralumla but they are going Italian immersion this year so we decided to go elsewhere.

Garran, Curtin, Forrest and Chapman Primary Schools all have good names. My daughter went to Garran for about three years and I was sorry to leave it.

I believe Holder and Waramanga Primary are pretty good too in the Weston Creek area. Chapman is also in this area. I have a few friends with kids in these schools who are very happy.

Steiner School is also in Weston if you want an alternative choice.

Oh, and if you need both pre-school and primary school, check the PEA for both. We are in a suburb where our PEA primary school is co-located with a pre-school, but we are not in the PEA for the pre-school – our PEA pre-school is two suburbs north of our PEA primary school. Which is a sh*t of a thing, because both the PEA primary and pre-schools let out at 3pm, there isn’t a bus from the PEA primary school to our suburb, so I would somehow have to be in two suburbs at once to drive the kids home. Needless to say, we’re not being a good little “go to your PEA school” family.

begbie01 said :

Hi all,
Thanks for the quick responses. I will clarify “canberra”
I was thinking in the Belconnen District or perhaps Weston Creek or Woden Valley Areas.
I know that covers many suburbs, sorry that I can’t be more specific at this point in time.
However I was also thinking that a Gov School would suffice.

cheers,

You will need to look carefully at the Priority Enrolment Area zones when deciding where to live. There are now suburbs in Canberra with no public school within walking distance, and no bus either – which is a problem for families that can’t drive the kids to school every day.

In the Woden area, these are the ones I looked at this year…
Arawang Primary (in Waramanga, a suburb bordering Woden and Weston areas) looks great. Smaller than some of the other primary schools, but still with a really nice parent community.
Torrens Primary is a very traditional-style school culture.
Mawson Primary has a bilingual Chinese language program, and has a Chinese language pre-school nearby too.
Farrer Primary is a nice smaller school with a friendly culture, but the buildings are a bit run-down.
Hughes Primary is a great school, they have lots of English as a second language programs and a very friendly, multi-cultural community.
Garran Primary is another great school, bigger than Hughes. They have a new environment program, and run programs for gifted & talented and kids with learning difficulties.
Curtin Primary is another school similar in size to Garran, and has programs for gifted & talented and kids with learning difficulties.
Lyons is an early childhood centre – pre-school to Year 2. Which means your child needs to move in Year 3 to a P-6 school.
Yarralumla Primary School (inner south, next suburb north of Curtin) has a bi-lingual Italian program and is now one of the smallest schools in Canberra.

HTH.

#18 – Latham is a well-kept secret (well, it was). Definitely worth a try if you can’t get a house close to Maribyrnong.

Hells_Bells748:32 pm 29 Dec 09

Maribynong was good for those who had a creative side back in the day. It didn’t suit me one bit! I loved Kaleen High, it was so lovely! (although having gone back for a 20 yr reunion tour recently, I was dismayed at how horrible it looked to me now, YUCKY, would never send my kids to it).

Miles Franklin Primary in Evatt is great (now they have new reader books, wish they would update the library books though eewwwww) and this is coming from me who was highly critical of the Govt primary system with my other 3 kids who are still attending Catholic schools.

Others I have heard good things about are:

Fraser primary
Charnwood primary (improving I hear)
Latham primary
Kaleen primary

Good luck and don’t worry too much, intuition is a great thing.

BeyondThought12:22 pm 29 Dec 09

By the standards that exist elsewhere in the country, there ACT schools aren’t too bad. A lot of the ones around Belconnen or Dickson are not choice and if you head to the far, far north Burgmann in Gungahlin is fine (private however).

Part of the reason your colleagues may have ended up driving their kids to school is our local Council closed down a good many schools back in 2007 or thereabouts. Many were small though, probably too small to sustain themselves.

Good luck, Canberra isn’t as bad as many beleive.

2604 said :

Hi Begbie. From your posts, it sounds like you’re planning to pick a school and then rent/purchase a house close to that school.

Canberra was planned so that there is a government primary school in nearly every suburb and a private (mostly catholic) one in every third or fourth suburb. Most, if not all, primary schools are of a good standard, so wherever your kids end up will most likely provide them with a good education. Can’t think of any that have a particularly bad reputation, and Aranda and Majura Primaries are two that have particularly good reputations.

Don’t know if this has been mentioned above, but which government school your kids can attend depends upon which “Priority Enrolment Area” you live in. Each school has a PEA and families living in that area have priority in enrolling their children at that school. Maps of each school’s PEA can be found here: http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_education/choosing_a_school/priority_enrolment_areas . So, if you see a school that you like the look of, you can see which area you’ll need to buy/rent in to get your kids in there; alternatively, if you find a house and want to check out the local school’s website, these maps will help you see which school that is.

Good luck and welcome to Canberra.

Thanks for all you help, nice reading between the lines! I am looking for schools with decent reps and then will look for rental at first in those area’s.
All the best.

somewhere_between_bundah_and_goulburn9:43 pm 28 Dec 09

housebound said :

In Belconnen, Marybyrnong Primary in Kaleen seems to be the stand-out at the moment.

Definitely, having been a student in its darker days (2001-2004), I had a great time. It is one of the few remaining small schools in the area. Just avoid it’s feeder, Kaleen High (the kids from Juvie go there) and send your kids to Telopea Park School afterwards (better than any of the crap on the northside).

Canberra was planned so that there is a government primary school in nearly every suburb

Once upon a time this was true. Not sure where you have been hiding over the past few years but this is definitely no longer the case.

In the area mentioned by the OP, government schools have been closed as follows:
– Holder High closed years ago and is now a community centre
– Holder Primary closed years ago and is now occupied by Therapy ACT
– Rivett Primary closed
– Weston primary closed, preschool still operating administered by Arawang
– Chifley primary closed, preschool still operating administered by Torrens
– Lyons is now an early childhood school so no classes beyond year 2 and I think is supposed to feed into Curtin – this is despite having what from all accounts was an incredibly successful Italian immersion program

The 2006 school closures left the surviving primary schools feeling insecure and inappropriately competetive at times. You will find schools are much more ‘assertive’ in promoting themselves because of the fear (however (un)founded) of the consequences of a sustained drop in numbers – it is a case of buyer beware.

Pick a school on the basis of where you can afford to live and what you value most. Even by primary, some schools specialise in languages, some are better at looking after the struggling kids (but leave the bright kids bored), some are better with the bright kids (but the strugglers can be left behind), some concentrate more on socialisation in the early years, some are brilliant at early childhood (P-2/3) – and it varies with the teachers. A school with a lot of long-term (more established) teachers tends to do better.

In Belconnen, Marybynong Primary in Kaleen seems to be the stand-out at the moment. Arawang seems to be doing well in the Weston area. There are schools I would avoid like the plague, but there’s no way I am naming them here!

troll-sniffer1:44 pm 28 Dec 09

Just send em off to the local school by means of shanks’ pony and don’t rely on the school to do the hard work for you, education is 80% what you learn and foster at home, the other 20% can be filled in by the teachers and the curriculum, but schools cannot ever take the place of a supportive learning environment at home.

Aren’t pupils supposed to go to their local school unless they have special needs? Or has time slipped me by and everything moved on from the ‘old days’?

Hi Begbie. From your posts, it sounds like you’re planning to pick a school and then rent/purchase a house close to that school.

Canberra was planned so that there is a government primary school in nearly every suburb and a private (mostly catholic) one in every third or fourth suburb. Most, if not all, primary schools are of a good standard, so wherever your kids end up will most likely provide them with a good education. Can’t think of any that have a particularly bad reputation, and Aranda and Majura Primaries are two that have particularly good reputations.

Don’t know if this has been mentioned above, but which government school your kids can attend depends upon which “Priority Enrolment Area” you live in. Each school has a PEA and families living in that area have priority in enrolling their children at that school. Maps of each school’s PEA can be found here: http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_education/choosing_a_school/priority_enrolment_areas . So, if you see a school that you like the look of, you can see which area you’ll need to buy/rent in to get your kids in there; alternatively, if you find a house and want to check out the local school’s website, these maps will help you see which school that is.

Good luck and welcome to Canberra.

There have been quite a few school closures in Weston Ck and Woden Valley in recent years. Eg I know families who moved to Chifley and Weston walking distance to school within the last five years who now have to drive children to preschool/school (in both cases more than one campus when they have one child in preschool and one at school).

The only public primary schools left in Weston Ck are Arawang (at Waramanga, with a 2nd preschool at Weston), Chapman and Duffy. Chapman is a big school I think over 400 students. Arawang is around 200 and Duffy slightly smaller.

There are public primary schools in Curtin, Lyons (but only up to year 2), Torrens, Mawson, Farrer, Garran and Hughes.

All the school web sites I have seen include PDF of the recent school board reports which will give you a fair bit of info. There is a full listing with links to school sites here.

Hi all,
Thanks for the quick responses. I will clarify “canberra”
I was thinking in the Belconnen District or perhaps Weston Creek or Woden Valley Areas.
I know that covers many suburbs, sorry that I can’t be more specific at this point in time.
However I was also thinking that a Gov School would suffice.

cheers,

ange_canberra10:50 pm 27 Dec 09

Monash primary school is good if you want public in the Tuggeranong area.
Chapman primary is great for Weston Creek.

all the canberra primary schools are hideous, dangerous places. in fact, the whole canberra area is unsafe, filled with bogans and druggies and people who can’t spell or use punct-uat/ion properly and all the drivers are bad and cycling is for losers, don’t come here ever and you should avoid coming here, even if it means quitting that job and staying wherever you are now.

[there, did i do a good job of scaring away interlopers into our fantastic city? ..oops!] 😉

A judgement made on personal preference/needs and geographical location.

Which area of Canberra?

You might want to do a little more research about Canberra before you move.

‘Canberra area’ is like saying ‘Sydney area’

grunge_hippy9:47 am 27 Dec 09

define canberra. where do you want to live?? public or private?

Hi Begbie,

Canberra is quite a sprawling city, would it be possible to have a more specific location i.e. Northside/Southside?

Are you planning on a religious education for your children or would you prefer a government-run school?

As my daughter starts public primary school next year, we’ve been checking out the public schools in our area. They all seem to be pretty good, but they all have a different focus and culture. For example, there are at least three public schools with bi-lingual education, some have Gifted & Talented programs, English as a Second Language units, special focus on the environment, Montessori programs, early childhood units that specialise in pre-school to year 2, super-schools that cover pre-school to Year 10, and special needs units (eg autism).

Also, not all suburbs have a public primary school within walking distance, and some suburbs don’t have a school bus to & from their priority area school either. If you’re a one car family, this might affect your choice.

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