Recommend good public primary schools in the upper north shore area

[northshore]

I have a daugter who will go to school years later. Now I'm planning to move to the upper north shore area. I know there are 4 good private schools for girls. Based on comments provided by agents, PLC is the best, then Abbotsleigh, then Revenswood, then Roseville. If possible, I would like my daughter to enroll in a good public primary school from Year 1 to Year 6. Then at Year 7, she just enrolls one of the 4 private schools for girls or a public selective school. So do any forum members know which are the good public primary schools in the upper north shore? Once I have known those, I will try to choose a house close that school to minimize commuting. I thank you for sharing in advance.

From http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolfind/locator/?section=showRegion&region=531 I can get to know the basic info of all public primary schools in this area. After I studied those materials, I have a judgement. If a public primary school has more students, that probably means it is better. For example, Wahroonga Public school has around 700 students while Gordon East Public School has around 200 students. Then I assume Wahroonga Public School is better than Gordon East School. Probably my logic is totally biased so feel free to correct me if you know well in this area.

 

[see_change]

I have a daugter who will go to school years later. Now I'm planning to move to the upper north shore area. I know there are 4 good private schools for girls. Based on comments provided by agents, PLC is the best, then Abbotsleigh, then Revenswood, then Roseville. If possible, I would like my daughter to enroll in a good public primary school from Year 1 to Year 6. Then at Year 7, she just enrolls one of the 4 private schools for girls or a public selective school. So do any forum members know which are the good public primary schools in the upper north shore? Once I have known those, I will try to choose a house close that school to minimize commuting. I thank you for sharing in advance.

From http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolfind/locator/?section=showRegion&region=531 I can get to know the basic info of all public primary schools in this area. After I studied those materials, I have a judgement. If a public primary school has more students, that probably means it is better. For example, Wahroonga Public school has around 700 students while Gordon East Public School has around 200 students. Then I assume Wahroonga Public School is better than Gordon East School. Probably my logic is totally biased so feel free to correct me if you know well in this area.

The Private schools are different , PLC is big and some kids don't cope well with that environment . They do very well with the brilliant students , but a quiet , average child might slip through the gaps. My Daughter went through PLC and was happy there . First year uni this year . She started there at Kindi and several of her close frinds come from her original kindy class.

Roseville and ravenswood are smaller schools and are better for some kids. Which ones .... hard to tell. We know families who have had 2-3 girsl at PLC and one hasn't done well there and has moved to Roseville or Ravenswood and done well while the others have happily stayed at PLC. I look at Abbotsleigh and PLC as much the same.

The agents in the northshore tend to promote the east side walk to the station lifestyle and because PLC , Abbotsford / Knox and Barker are the biggest schools up there , will tend to say these are the best , simply because they hear more " good stories" about these schools. Some years at a school can be bad. Knox year 7 at the moment is a " nice " year . year 8 has lots of problems . One friend hates knox because their son had problems in that year and he is now happy at Barker. We have had no problems with Knox. one in year 11 and one in 7 .

Bottom line is that for the majority of kids they're all good schools.

St Ives North used to have a very good reputation as a primary school and some friends moved from the Central coast to put their kids through there . They subsequently all won scholarships to private schools so they didn't have to worry about school fees....

You'll probably find that Wahroonga school is bigger because Wahroonga is a bigger suburb. Bigger isn't necessarily better. Bigger gives more places for you kids to slip through the cracks if they have problems . I've heard good and bad things about Wahroonga. I'd probably look at Warrawee public fairly closely and Lindfield used to be good. Given the nature of the north shore , it's hard for a school to stay bad , because the parents get involved if there are problems

I'd seriously think about putting the kids into a private school in year five as this tends to be a big intake year and it gives the kids ( and parents ....VIP on north shore ) time to form friendships prior to hitting the bigs schools . Lots of friendships are formed prior to hitting the senior schools.

Cliff

 

[Barracuda]

... I look at Abbotsleigh and PLC as much the same.

...St Ives North used to have a very good reputation as a primary school and some friends moved from the Central coast to put their kids through there . They subsequently all won scholarships to private schools so they didn't have to worry about school fees....

Cliff

We've booked our little one into Abbotsleigh, starting in 2012 - that's getting in early. When asking the same question about the public schools in the area, we also heard that St Ives North is a good public school; however, I also understand that you will probably have to live in St Ives to be in the catchment for the school to get in.

We are in the catchment for the 'Bush School' - Wahroonga public school. In the end, after weighing things up that were important to us (which may well differ to things that others find important), we decided to have our little one in Abbotsleigh all the way through.

Cheers,

 

[see_change]

One way to check up on the public schools would be to ask the private schools their opinions. Check with registar or maybe ask the headmasters receptionist on who would be the best person to talk to. It would be easier if your children were resistered , or at least on the waiting list.

btw register for the Private schools as early as possible . With our youngest one we took him round to register at knox when he was about 7 days old . All the staff went gaga and suddenly he was confirmed , and are old son who was only wait listed at that stage was also confirmed.

With North St Ives you need to be in their catchment area. Our friends back fence backed onto the school.

Cliff