which suburb in Melb is a better buy?

One thing you need to keep in mind is that private schools can weed out the poor performers improving their year 12 results. Public schools can't. How this would impact on the success of your individual child you would need to assess.
 
One thing you need to keep in mind is that private schools can weed out the poor performers improving their year 12 results. Public schools can't. How this would impact on the success of your individual child you would need to assess.

GoAnna, how would they be able to dothis? they surely cannot discrimate on the individual students ability?? and expel them when they get to year 12 or whatever because they dont make the grade
 
Good student results is better for the reputation of the private school and future income (fees).
They don't want deadwood dragging down the average. They are a business.
They would have ways of weeding them out.
 
GoAnna, how would they be able to dothis? they surely cannot discrimate on the individual students ability?? and expel them when they get to year 12 or whatever because they dont make the grade

Hi Soren,

Private Schools are very protective of their VCE results. If a child looks as though they will fail VCE then the School will refuse to allow the student to progress to Yr 12. What I have observed happens in many cases is that the student doesn't want to repeat Yr 11 and simply leaves.....

Regards Jason.
 
jingo, state schools are also notorious for weeding out students.
balwyn high for example does not have any programs for students who have literacy or numeracy needs. it caters for a specific ability.
and it is not so easy for a private school to weed out a child - the parents could successfully argue (and they have in the past) that the school accepted payment for an x amount of years and therefore the school has an ethical duty to retain the students. an example that i can give you is where an elite private school wanted a student with aspergers to 'move on' after year 10. the parents successfully argued that the school accepted payment since year 7 knowing all along of the child's learning disability. suffice to say, parents won.

on vce results, you really need to look at the demographics. schools with a higher asian to anglo/european ratio will outperform - these students come from family with very strong academic standards and tend to be tutored.
the school itself has nothing to do with their results. you can thank their weekend coaching colleges for that! there is a weekend school at mt waverly secondary college that has over 1000 students being coached and tutored!


also a 'good' school caters for all types of students, all different learning abilities and personality types. the ethos of the school is far more important than the results it achieved.
 
No Go

Unless you can buy a house on a 500+ sm in Blackburn your money will buy you very little, there are also only a couple of streets which are nice and leafy, the rest are old brick, unrenovated and renters. Then you have the pocket behind the main st shops which is more like a bush paradise but a house has not been listed in that area for ages and rarly is. Besides Blackburn experianced some growth of 67% in certain properties over last 12 months......would you buy at such a high?
 
Here's my list:

No 1: McRob and Melb High
No 2: Balwyn, GW, McKinnon

No. 2 school catchment area attract massive premium, so they're all beyond your budget for a house. However, I don't see a problem getting a townhouse or unit (2/3 on the block) that sits within your budget for Glen Waverley, and occasionally McKinnon. Capital growth is very consistent.

For 3rd tier good schools, these are on my list:

Blackburn
Box Hill
Mt Waverley
Vermont
Brentwood
Nortcote
Strathmore
(Highvale)
(Frankston High)

Personally I would go for Blackburn, as it's more leafy than Box Hill Central. However, I seriously doubt that you can get a house with land (650m2+) for your budget for a reasonable condition house. If you want walking distance to train station as well then it's definitely out of question. Same thing can be said for Mt Waverley and Box Hill as well. Oak Park (Strathmore), Vermont and Glen Waverley/Wheelers Hill (Brentwood, Highvale) could be a more realistic choice. I assume Frankston is out of question for you, but if you like beach lifestyle, then Frankston South is a pretty good choice.

I know you're not looking at private schools as such, but with the price savings in property here, you might actually be able to afford it. Frankston South is only 2 minutes away from Toorak College in Mt. Eliza and 15-20 minutes from Haileybury, in Keysborough, 5 min from The Peninsula School, 5 min from Woodleigh (Senior campus) and Minimbah (junior campus of Woodleigh - located directly in Frankston South)

Croydon Hills is another area, again a little further out, but you have Luther College there and if you were to buy in the zone, this school's vce results are better than some of the private schools. It's a Christian school, but would only cost around the $3,500 p/year. Just a little food for thought.


Toni
 
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do i need to be a Christian to be in the Christian school?

any idea if Nunawading is a good place to consider? Nunawading is one more train station away from Blackburn, but the price there is a lot cheaper than blackburn/ box hill. and a friend is telling me that I can stay in Nunawading and let the kids go to East Doncaster Secondary College. Reason is that Doncaster itself is a 'mature' estate, so East Doncaster Sec College is able to admit children from other neighbourhood, and Nunawading is not too far from Doncaster so they can enrol there. not sure if this is true? i won't consider Doncaster itself as the price there is high, and also not close to train station.

also i noted that there are quite a lot of 'weatherboard' houses. my perception is that they are not as solid as brick houses (since they are just timber), and maybe it may be colder during the winter, and have to worry about termite problem? however, it seems that the price are much cheaper than brick houses, so I would like to check if there are any things that i should consider in buying a weatherboard house?
 
i won't consider Doncaster itself as the price there is high, and also not close to train station.

Have you been to Doncaster lately?

For the same price, Doncaster generally has newer and more solid construction housing than Box Hill & Blackburn. Cheaper houses in Box Hill & Blackburn would require significant renovation and/or would not be within walking distance to train stations.

As for public transport, Doncaster residents rely on freeway buses. Search the net for Park & Ride and their time tables.

As for schools, Doncaster East SC has better VCE result than Doncaster SC. If good public school is an important criteria to you, stick to the Box Hill SC, Blackburn SC and Koonung SC triangle.

Note school zones is, in general, based on closest door-to-door linear distance (not suburb boundary). Therefore, residents in one suburb can send children to schools in another suburbs.

Here are examples of some current sales in Doncaster:

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2007239655
http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2007210189
http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2007001576
http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2006985003
 
Hi Kenster,

thanks for the info.

i have not visited Doncaster at all...looks like i should consider this area. per the link provided, the houses are definitely more attractive and cheaper!!

i have never considered doncaster previously as i was told that it is better to rely on train system since the traffic conditions on the road are bad during peak hours. per the bus timetable, it takes about 40 minutes from the doncaster park & ride to the city, which is not too bad. do u know if the schedule is reliable or it is always delayed?
 
most of the freeway bus services from doncaster park n ride to the city (melbourne central/myers) are about 22-30 min according to their timetables, even in peak hour.
This is just as quick as the train from neighbouring box hill.
 
most of the freeway bus services from doncaster park n ride to the city (melbourne central/myers) are about 22-30 min according to their timetables, even in peak hour.
This is just as quick as the train from neighbouring box hill.

They have a dedicated bus lane on the freeway and on hoddle st.

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
any idea if Nunawading is a good place to consider?

Nunawading is/was seen as being a "bit rough" compared to the surrounds - but is gentrifying dramatically. Yet despite all that, I am not as keen to leave my car at Nunawading Station compared to Blackburn or Mitcham.... call it an old built in bias.... Also, Blackburn and Mitcham are premium stations, Nunawading is not (no staff).

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
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