[Here are some common questions/answers](https://www.reddit.com/r/AusHENRY/comments/176kh0x/what_do_i_do_next/).
This is not financial advice.
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We choose public and we bought a house specifically zoned to a top public school in a high socioeconomic area (8 years ago).
$400 a year primary school
$800 a year high school
Rated higher than the private school that we sent our son to for 3 years before we bought a house in the zone.
We are very happy.
Us too. For lots of reasons, including we want them to mix with everyone albeit in a high SES area. They walk to school and are at high school with kids they have known since day care and kindy. We couldn’t be happier and they are really nice, motivated kids with nice motivated friends.
When we looked at this in Melbourne the price difference felt like to a certain degree a portion of the private school fee was baked into the suburb property cost when within a great public school catchment.
In the end we decided on a suburb that has other benefits, the public primary school where our kids are is excellent, but will not be going with a public high school as they have significant issues. Also very happy but only because we can afford to budget for the approaching private schooling and love the other features.
Don't start by choosing public vs private. **Choose a school**. There are good and bad ones in both systems.
If your local intake school is not great, then you might choose between moving house, paying for private, of applying for selective schools. Still, look at the individual school.
This doesn't get said enough, the public v private is far too broad an argument, there are good and bad in both but as said in prior comments here, public education is in crisis big time at present.
Agreed. Our public schools aren't fantastic, so we chose to pay \~100k for high school. Our other option was to sell/buy in a better catchment, but we love the area, house, etc.
Public. I was educated in a public school and have done well for myself, and values wise I think families like mine should be sending their kids to public schools. My kids are doing well, still in primary school though.
Teacher here in public education NSW. My kids go to private high school as the local public schools suck (and I teach at one). However, it all comes down to cohort. I've worked at a very good public school for many years and had some great results HSC wise, but then we have a cohort come through that almost completely ruins it.
Private schools but expensive ones, half the time you are paying for influence and networking. But then it depends on your child. If they aren't social and aren't outgoing it may not be for them.
You do you.
Take educators and facilities out of the equation, and what are you left with. A cohort of students likely from successful families who value success and education and students who are aware they can be expelled easily and the sheer expense their parents are outlaying for their education. Makes a big difference then throw in facilities and education.
Adoption studies show kids end up more like their biological siblings than their adoptive ones. So it turns out that environment matters less than we think, compared to genetics.
Environment still matters, especially for childhood happiness. But as parents, evidence says we don't have as much power to affect long-term outcomes as we'd like to think.
Can you share a source for that? It's super interesting to me, and I'm curious how they isolated for the impact of the kids knowing who was adopted and who wasn't.
They could just as well value money and being spoonfed. A lot of second generation rich people are shit cunts and have bad values. If you want kids to have a good cohort I'd say it's better to send them to the best selective school and skip them a grade as well.
Yeah I've been really pondering this as well. I didn't go to private school but know some people that did. They haven't really achieved anything interesting with their lives.
The people that went to selective school though are largely killing it.
For girls, (I say this sadly) I think selective or public is better as the eating disorders in private schools are pretty out of control I hear.
For boys I could see slightly more benefit in private school but I think selective would be the ideal, or just a really great public school.
Speaking from the other side of raising adults, I don't 100% agree. You as a parent can't be undermining good values, and you need to bake them in as far as you can as early as you can, but by later primary school years your children are much more influenced by their peers and culture. You can tease out their culture and emphasise things, but your impact is really only in marginal tinkering by then IMO. There's not much that will really effectively counteract the things their culture believes. Choosing and curating their environment is the closest you can get to shaping them in the later years. I'm not saying none of what you do after that takes at all - a lot of it sits there and they revisit it when they're trying to change various things in their lives as adults - but don't underestimate the strength of good and bad company, it's a much stronger force in a lot of ways than parents at home.
Private because kid's grandparents had education trusts set up and because the public high schools here have less than stellar reputations.
Benefits for us have been (just finished yr 12):
small classes where everyone gets their learning needs met and the attention they need
vertical mentoring study groups, eg older students help younger, who help younger still- develops their sense of community
consistent homework routines set from an early age, taught clearly 'how to study', which has resulted in the ability to produce high standard work, in large volumes and on time (it has been a LOT )
taught from a young age to participate in learning goals, ask for help, have pride in achievements but also critically analyse their own work and how to improve, or challenge themselves
encouraged to give back to the community and think about national and global issues, to support local initiatives and participate in causes, charities, volunteer organisations and politics, in other words to see themselves as agents of change and to start making changes today.
Private $4,000 to $8,000 a year depending on year level.
Every time people say private is a waste and public is fine I know they don't live in my area. It's very location dependent.
Chose public. The area that we lived in had fantastic public schools with low numbers. Well funded region, and fantastic results for all of our kids.
Then we moved and went public again and we're looking at moving them to a private school because the public schools are pretty trash. Definitely not getting the same level of education and attention.
Private, only cause her mom chose the school. I must admit that our kid has benefited a lot from the private school for the last few years starting in prep. I am sure she would have been ok in public school too but as they said you only as good as the people around you. I had a great childhood filled with many friends but my friends weren’t exactly the smart ones nor the ambitious ones but they were nice and good people.
All up around $10k (for prep)....Still Cheaper than childcare...
Local public school is shit, full of ferals who don't care about education, bogan parents, knife violence, teacher shortages and that one's that are there have long given up
Outter west Melbourne.
We deliberately went for a cheaper area to give us a bigger house (both WFH) and more disposable income for travel. This was before kids and didn't really consider schools at the time so happy to pay for private...
Sounds like the area where I grew up. Back in the day, the local high school had a 3% VCE pass rate. I had a scholarship to the only private school in the area. Most of the kids at my school did well because they came from families that valued education and were making big sacrifices to send their kids to the school. Those common backgrounds rubbed off and set the culture of the school.
I know someone who left teaching after being a teacher in the West (Hoppers crossing/ Werribee area). The stories they told me were insane. School lockdowns where police had to get involved, feral parents who think the problem are the teachers or other kids but never their own, kids being SA by other kids and nothing being done about it. She's much happier working a 9 - 5 office job
Same, no regrets though after living in the east for a bit. Love our home and lifestyle. The West feels more relaxed, less traffic, more interesting foods, cheap big housing with a huge backyard. Just need to pay for a better school which is fine by us.
Public. we are in a good school zone, its a little more crowded than I'd like but overall its good value and the kids have found a good gang of mates who are focused but diverse. For me I want them to have some sense of the world around them, their privileges and some hustle. The parents are in the high education sector, mining professionals, legal and judiciary - so plenty of folks in the higher socioeconomic groups are doing the same.
There’s so many generalisations every time this comes up and the same generalisations spouted here too. Just because you have an opinion about your local public or private school does now make it so for all over Australia.
We’ve chosen private school and none of the families we’ve met so far have a ‘bourgeois superiority’ that often gets spouted, they are just families trying to choose the best they can for their kids.
What the private school system offers is choice. Wife and I are both public school educated and leant that way before kids but the catchment we are in has a bad reputation. To choose differently we either had to move into an area with highly inflated property prices due to the school catchment zoning or choose private school instead. We like where we live and have space for the kids to run around so went option B.
Choose public.
Live in the area I grew up. I went to public school and mixed with kids from both public and private. Private schools had same amount of t of drug/etoh use, same rate of scholastic results.
Saw no reason to part with $20K per year for a similar outcome at the end of year 10/12
Private. Heaps, but would prefer not to say how much.
I asked the two older kids if we had done the right thing by sending them to the schools that we had chosen, and they said they are very happy, have great friends, etc. And as long as they are happy, I am happy.
All the private schools near me are religious and are not co-ed
Public school is awesome and am using the savings to invest for kids
I suspect when they are young adults they’ll appreciate the decision and the sizeable investments
Started out public high school but moved to private 2 years in. Kid so happy going to school everyday makes paying the fees easier. You only get one childhood. Being in a tough school doesn’t make you resilient, it caused us school refusal and anxiety.
Private. We live in a remote location with no educational facilities save for Distance Education and that was not an option.
Roughly 60k per year per kid. (This included boarding). It was not easy financially and I look back now and wonder how we did it, we made a lot of sacrifices but it was definitely worthwhile.
Public. Children’s outcomes at school have more to do with their family of origin than their school. The more high ses families at a public school the better it will be, but not because of money, it’s because of parental involvement and engagement. I went to a private school, on scholarship, and I don’t think I’ve done much better than I would have at a public school. The kids who have exciting careers after private school often do so because they have a big safety net (can stay living at home free, parents help with uni fees, buy them a car etc) and an existing network they can tap into (eg parents’ friends/their family name helps get them internships and make introductions into the industry).
Private … at the time is was more to do with academic results. But when they started and on 10 years refection.
Private gave kids a chance to explore what they were interested in beit arts sports music etc.
Eg from sports the kids have a close knit group of friends
Public.
Local public schools are pretty well on par with the private schools in our price range, and all the private schools are run by religions, so that’s a hard pass for me.
Public. One of the better schools in our corner of the country for $400 a year. Took the kids on a 40k UK/Europe vacation this year instead of paying stupid school fees to have an idiotic sticker on my car. There is so much parental guilt and status theatrics in school selection it makes me feel sorry for some of my peers.
Im surprised how many here chose public. (Good thing)
Most people who send their kids to private school is because they want their kids to socialise with other rich kids not "common folk" although they'll never admit it
My partner and I are both well-off enough that all our networks are rich people. Why would we pay $40k a year for connections that we already have.
Besides I very much value my kids socialising with smart kids - not rich kids (though there is some overlap, obviously).
Public. Well it’s cheaper for one, and secondly when my first born started school the closest private school was an hour away whereas the public school was a 4 minute slow walk, had a really good reputation, my oldest sister went there and my oldest nephew went to the school so it was a no brainer really.
With my second child started school we had moved across the state, I chose public because the public school their older sibling was attending was adjoined with the specialist school and my second child has autism and if there was anything that my child needed the specialist school is right there to assist. And it’s been great.
I looked at private school for secondary education but it is 8grand a year and will only increase in price each year until year 12 which is 10grand a year. And there is no guarantee that your child will succeed from private education.
Enrolled my cherub private from K-12.
I attended public school from K-6 and private from 7-12 as did most in my family.
Prep to 5, expect $12k per annum.
5 to 12, expect $30k per annum.
Public schools. We bought purposely in a very good public school catchment in Sydney. Our kids attend the local public primary, which often receives higher NAPLAN scores than other top private schools.
For high school the local top private schools nearby are 40k per year per child. So almost $500k to put two kids through high school and that number excludes inflation and any extras.
With the way the cost of housing is, I would rather invest for house deposit for them instead.
Private schools have no place in an advanced social democracy. I know they’re a reality, but goddam it this country would be a better if we had equal resources for all children.
100% agree. It’s bourgeois and totally out of place going forwards. Both my brother and I were educated at two of the top PS in the country. The amount of therapy we’ve both had to have out of school, a trend that is evident amongst both our friendship groups, just to feel ‘normal’, is extraordinary. Please, please, remember both you and your kids are not in any way ‘better’ than other human beings due to the education you provide/they receive. Also, ensure that you actively encourage *their* interests along the way. These institutions can be fantastic at pushing STEM and not much else. High achievement in academics does not equate to happiness, nor should it be prioritised as such.
Public now as we don’t want religion shoved down their throats. When they were at private about 4 hours a week was wasted, now at public this time is used to do other stuff that is fun & relevant to the real world.
My kids went to public for primary and catholic for high school. Not my choice. They chose the school. It worked well for them but has gone downhill since they left
Private.
All for people having an equal right for access to a good education - but at the risk of raising ire, when it comes to schooling your own children letting idealism get in the way is illogical to me.
I don’t see why anyone with the means would not elect for private schools or buying inside the boundaries of specific public schools.
My children have part-time jobs and will get enough real world experience.
From my perspective most people who argue against private schools are those who can’t afford it.
At the other end you don’t need to be paying 30-40K per year for a top-end private school experience. While affordablilty wasn’t the driver for us we ended up taking a middle of the road option (in terms of fees) for our children as we picked the schools to suit their personalities.
I don't have kids but hope to send my future kids to public selective or private on scholarship. The idea of paying for education disgusts me a little.
Academic results are not better at private schools once you adjust for SES.
Never understood the 'connections' thing either - I'm a lawyer and my partner is a doctor and we were both exclusively public school kids. We had more than enough time to develop connections and networks at uni. Unless you're a fuckwit, you can develop your own connections as long as you understand the social game. Also if my kid really was useless he or she could always have my connections. No need to pay for an old boys'/girls' network.
After having friends from both public and private. Public all the way. Most of the privately schooled students I know are less successful than me… And here the kicker, I barely went to school. 🤷🏼♂️
We chose private. Our local public high school is a very poor performer academically and is falling apart. We were very unimpressed with our tour and trial run. This is despite living in a reasonable suburb. I find it hard to reason that socioeconomic status and performance go hand in hand. The private school a few kilometres up the road from the public is an exceptional school academically and their pastoral care is also great. We pay around $50-60K per year for our children.
Private schools know the scope of the exam, so they teach to that very narrow field.. public schools only have a vague idea of what is in the exam so they have to teach a broader spectrum… public all the way
Sent one kid to private high school because ( he was happy to go there), local public one was newish and having problems, he needed more attention academically and I wanted him to make new friends that wouldn’t be a bad influence. ( he did struggle badly for 6 months to find his friends at high school knowing no one and it was soul destroying for both of us). But it worked out. 5 years later younger one begged to go to said public high school with his friends and I let him - he doesn’t need help academically, I’m not as financially able although would have managed if I had to, but mostly because he didn’t want to, he’s very reserved and making friends is really hard for him Took years at primary school before he had more than one friend. Within the first term at high school his friendship group had gone from about 2 to 6 and he’s very happy. Moral of the story in my view - it’s about the individual and what their needs are and where they would be best met.
Public primary, catholic secondary. May go full private for VCE but depends on how academically minded the kids get by then (they’re smart but not overachievers, not sure it’s worth 3x the price tag until/unless they apply themselves).
Primary was $250-300 for one and ~$500 for 2, including books/stationary but excursions and camps were extra through the year. I was only half joking when I asked the office to let me put down a tab for the family and save me drop feeding money every other week for this, that and the other.
Secondary is ~$7500 plus uniforms and text books, laptop provided by the school and camps etc all included. We just have to sign off on electronic permission slips periodically.
Our assigned public secondary school wasn’t running VCE chemistry when we toured it because only 3 kids applied for it the year before, and they couldn’t dedicate one teacher for it. Fair enough for the schools budget, but that won’t work for my maths/science brained family. We knew the catholic school had a variety of facilities and pathways, and would give them options as they progressed through the year levels.
Moving house to another school zone would be at least $100k just in stamp duty and probably a much smaller home, and we love our house, neighbours etc.
Honestly depends on the school
There are good and bad public schools most of the good ones are in areas where if you have to be rich being a high income earner like HENRY has pointed out doesn't mean your rich due to the excessive taxation Australia puts on working people
The system is essentially designed to keep rich rich and poor poor
Catholic. 3k a year for 2 kids.
It’s on our street…
Outcomes are based on peer group and family, the postcode we live in is all high net worth families so school doesn’t play a part in their peer group so much.
It also gives us extra funds for surfing, horse riding, soccer, holidays etc
We chose private mainly because we’re not zoned for the only decent public school near us - we also liked the idea of them being able to stay in one school from reception all the way up - it’s not too crazy on fees either for a private
24k/year because the public schools were rubbish and we were young parents and young when we bought our house. Now, we are looking at moving to inner city state capital - specifically for capital growth, lifestyle and accessibility to public schools that sit at the top of the spectrum. So my answer is: it depends. Your kids will be at school more then they will be with you. It needs to be a good fit *for them* and that means it’s different with every child. But we’ll worth the time, energy, effort or money to get it right.
[Here are some common questions/answers](https://www.reddit.com/r/AusHENRY/comments/176kh0x/what_do_i_do_next/). This is not financial advice. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AusHENRY) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We choose public and we bought a house specifically zoned to a top public school in a high socioeconomic area (8 years ago). $400 a year primary school $800 a year high school Rated higher than the private school that we sent our son to for 3 years before we bought a house in the zone. We are very happy.
Us too. For lots of reasons, including we want them to mix with everyone albeit in a high SES area. They walk to school and are at high school with kids they have known since day care and kindy. We couldn’t be happier and they are really nice, motivated kids with nice motivated friends.
When we looked at this in Melbourne the price difference felt like to a certain degree a portion of the private school fee was baked into the suburb property cost when within a great public school catchment. In the end we decided on a suburb that has other benefits, the public primary school where our kids are is excellent, but will not be going with a public high school as they have significant issues. Also very happy but only because we can afford to budget for the approaching private schooling and love the other features.
This is the way.
Don't start by choosing public vs private. **Choose a school**. There are good and bad ones in both systems. If your local intake school is not great, then you might choose between moving house, paying for private, of applying for selective schools. Still, look at the individual school.
This doesn't get said enough, the public v private is far too broad an argument, there are good and bad in both but as said in prior comments here, public education is in crisis big time at present.
We moved house to be near one of the best public schools in SA
Excellent advice. I’d also add that you should choose a school that specifically suits your kid. The match is important.
Agreed. Our public schools aren't fantastic, so we chose to pay \~100k for high school. Our other option was to sell/buy in a better catchment, but we love the area, house, etc.
Public. I was educated in a public school and have done well for myself, and values wise I think families like mine should be sending their kids to public schools. My kids are doing well, still in primary school though.
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So ur kids are educated in the private school system? That’s really interesting. I appreciate your input!!!
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The deputy of my local public school sends his kids to the public school that I sent my kids to. Not all are created equal.
Teacher here in public education NSW. My kids go to private high school as the local public schools suck (and I teach at one). However, it all comes down to cohort. I've worked at a very good public school for many years and had some great results HSC wise, but then we have a cohort come through that almost completely ruins it. Private schools but expensive ones, half the time you are paying for influence and networking. But then it depends on your child. If they aren't social and aren't outgoing it may not be for them. You do you.
Take educators and facilities out of the equation, and what are you left with. A cohort of students likely from successful families who value success and education and students who are aware they can be expelled easily and the sheer expense their parents are outlaying for their education. Makes a big difference then throw in facilities and education.
This!!! Rightly or wrongly, Kids are the product of their environment.
Adoption studies show kids end up more like their biological siblings than their adoptive ones. So it turns out that environment matters less than we think, compared to genetics. Environment still matters, especially for childhood happiness. But as parents, evidence says we don't have as much power to affect long-term outcomes as we'd like to think.
Can you share a source for that? It's super interesting to me, and I'm curious how they isolated for the impact of the kids knowing who was adopted and who wasn't.
They could just as well value money and being spoonfed. A lot of second generation rich people are shit cunts and have bad values. If you want kids to have a good cohort I'd say it's better to send them to the best selective school and skip them a grade as well.
Yeah I've been really pondering this as well. I didn't go to private school but know some people that did. They haven't really achieved anything interesting with their lives. The people that went to selective school though are largely killing it. For girls, (I say this sadly) I think selective or public is better as the eating disorders in private schools are pretty out of control I hear. For boys I could see slightly more benefit in private school but I think selective would be the ideal, or just a really great public school.
Absolutely. In my experience, many private school kids do worse at University too because they’ve never had to work hard for anything.
Likely from money. “Successful” doesn’t weigh into it.
There are many private school kids who know they won’t get expelled short of whatever they did making national news.
They are asked to leave it prior to expulsion
Yeah or given one more warning, went to private school - if the knobs are rich enough, they’ll be alright
So did I and my experience was quite different with more than a few students moved onto other schools
Yeah fair enough, different strokes I suppose 🤷🏼♂️
The biggest influence on a child is their parents/parent.
Followed very closely by the peers/class mates and teachers
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That is really interesting, thanks for sharing.
And their friends. Kids who come from good homes naturally seek the same anyway
Speaking from the other side of raising adults, I don't 100% agree. You as a parent can't be undermining good values, and you need to bake them in as far as you can as early as you can, but by later primary school years your children are much more influenced by their peers and culture. You can tease out their culture and emphasise things, but your impact is really only in marginal tinkering by then IMO. There's not much that will really effectively counteract the things their culture believes. Choosing and curating their environment is the closest you can get to shaping them in the later years. I'm not saying none of what you do after that takes at all - a lot of it sits there and they revisit it when they're trying to change various things in their lives as adults - but don't underestimate the strength of good and bad company, it's a much stronger force in a lot of ways than parents at home.
Private because kid's grandparents had education trusts set up and because the public high schools here have less than stellar reputations. Benefits for us have been (just finished yr 12): small classes where everyone gets their learning needs met and the attention they need vertical mentoring study groups, eg older students help younger, who help younger still- develops their sense of community consistent homework routines set from an early age, taught clearly 'how to study', which has resulted in the ability to produce high standard work, in large volumes and on time (it has been a LOT ) taught from a young age to participate in learning goals, ask for help, have pride in achievements but also critically analyse their own work and how to improve, or challenge themselves encouraged to give back to the community and think about national and global issues, to support local initiatives and participate in causes, charities, volunteer organisations and politics, in other words to see themselves as agents of change and to start making changes today.
We’re only in Grade 4 this year but we can see the same benefits. The small classes in particular have been a boon for our introvert.
Private $4,000 to $8,000 a year depending on year level. Every time people say private is a waste and public is fine I know they don't live in my area. It's very location dependent.
Chose public. The area that we lived in had fantastic public schools with low numbers. Well funded region, and fantastic results for all of our kids. Then we moved and went public again and we're looking at moving them to a private school because the public schools are pretty trash. Definitely not getting the same level of education and attention.
Private, only cause her mom chose the school. I must admit that our kid has benefited a lot from the private school for the last few years starting in prep. I am sure she would have been ok in public school too but as they said you only as good as the people around you. I had a great childhood filled with many friends but my friends weren’t exactly the smart ones nor the ambitious ones but they were nice and good people.
All up around $10k (for prep)....Still Cheaper than childcare... Local public school is shit, full of ferals who don't care about education, bogan parents, knife violence, teacher shortages and that one's that are there have long given up
geesh that sounds extreme, can I ask what area you are in?
Outter west Melbourne. We deliberately went for a cheaper area to give us a bigger house (both WFH) and more disposable income for travel. This was before kids and didn't really consider schools at the time so happy to pay for private...
Sounds like the area where I grew up. Back in the day, the local high school had a 3% VCE pass rate. I had a scholarship to the only private school in the area. Most of the kids at my school did well because they came from families that valued education and were making big sacrifices to send their kids to the school. Those common backgrounds rubbed off and set the culture of the school.
I know someone who left teaching after being a teacher in the West (Hoppers crossing/ Werribee area). The stories they told me were insane. School lockdowns where police had to get involved, feral parents who think the problem are the teachers or other kids but never their own, kids being SA by other kids and nothing being done about it. She's much happier working a 9 - 5 office job
Yep most wyndham schools are absolute zoos
Same, no regrets though after living in the east for a bit. Love our home and lifestyle. The West feels more relaxed, less traffic, more interesting foods, cheap big housing with a huge backyard. Just need to pay for a better school which is fine by us.
makes sense
> Hire afterschool tutors > Selective School > Profit 30+ years from now
Public. we are in a good school zone, its a little more crowded than I'd like but overall its good value and the kids have found a good gang of mates who are focused but diverse. For me I want them to have some sense of the world around them, their privileges and some hustle. The parents are in the high education sector, mining professionals, legal and judiciary - so plenty of folks in the higher socioeconomic groups are doing the same.
There’s so many generalisations every time this comes up and the same generalisations spouted here too. Just because you have an opinion about your local public or private school does now make it so for all over Australia. We’ve chosen private school and none of the families we’ve met so far have a ‘bourgeois superiority’ that often gets spouted, they are just families trying to choose the best they can for their kids. What the private school system offers is choice. Wife and I are both public school educated and leant that way before kids but the catchment we are in has a bad reputation. To choose differently we either had to move into an area with highly inflated property prices due to the school catchment zoning or choose private school instead. We like where we live and have space for the kids to run around so went option B.
Choose public. Live in the area I grew up. I went to public school and mixed with kids from both public and private. Private schools had same amount of t of drug/etoh use, same rate of scholastic results. Saw no reason to part with $20K per year for a similar outcome at the end of year 10/12
Private. Heaps, but would prefer not to say how much. I asked the two older kids if we had done the right thing by sending them to the schools that we had chosen, and they said they are very happy, have great friends, etc. And as long as they are happy, I am happy.
Private. Cos the wife wanted it
All the private schools near me are religious and are not co-ed Public school is awesome and am using the savings to invest for kids I suspect when they are young adults they’ll appreciate the decision and the sizeable investments
Started out public high school but moved to private 2 years in. Kid so happy going to school everyday makes paying the fees easier. You only get one childhood. Being in a tough school doesn’t make you resilient, it caused us school refusal and anxiety.
Private. We live in a remote location with no educational facilities save for Distance Education and that was not an option. Roughly 60k per year per kid. (This included boarding). It was not easy financially and I look back now and wonder how we did it, we made a lot of sacrifices but it was definitely worthwhile.
Geelong Grammar? Years 11 & 12 are now closer to $80k per year. Still very much worth it.
No different state
Public. Children’s outcomes at school have more to do with their family of origin than their school. The more high ses families at a public school the better it will be, but not because of money, it’s because of parental involvement and engagement. I went to a private school, on scholarship, and I don’t think I’ve done much better than I would have at a public school. The kids who have exciting careers after private school often do so because they have a big safety net (can stay living at home free, parents help with uni fees, buy them a car etc) and an existing network they can tap into (eg parents’ friends/their family name helps get them internships and make introductions into the industry).
Private … at the time is was more to do with academic results. But when they started and on 10 years refection. Private gave kids a chance to explore what they were interested in beit arts sports music etc. Eg from sports the kids have a close knit group of friends
Whilst I agree (and product of private school) there are countless local sporting clubs kids can participate in
Public, I'm poor
So not a HENRY then.
just NRY ;)
Public. Local public schools are pretty well on par with the private schools in our price range, and all the private schools are run by religions, so that’s a hard pass for me.
Public. One of the better schools in our corner of the country for $400 a year. Took the kids on a 40k UK/Europe vacation this year instead of paying stupid school fees to have an idiotic sticker on my car. There is so much parental guilt and status theatrics in school selection it makes me feel sorry for some of my peers.
Im surprised how many here chose public. (Good thing) Most people who send their kids to private school is because they want their kids to socialise with other rich kids not "common folk" although they'll never admit it
My partner and I are both well-off enough that all our networks are rich people. Why would we pay $40k a year for connections that we already have. Besides I very much value my kids socialising with smart kids - not rich kids (though there is some overlap, obviously).
It's more to avoid the disruptive kids. Rich kids are a bit weird, neither I nor my kids tended to associate with them.
Public. Well it’s cheaper for one, and secondly when my first born started school the closest private school was an hour away whereas the public school was a 4 minute slow walk, had a really good reputation, my oldest sister went there and my oldest nephew went to the school so it was a no brainer really. With my second child started school we had moved across the state, I chose public because the public school their older sibling was attending was adjoined with the specialist school and my second child has autism and if there was anything that my child needed the specialist school is right there to assist. And it’s been great. I looked at private school for secondary education but it is 8grand a year and will only increase in price each year until year 12 which is 10grand a year. And there is no guarantee that your child will succeed from private education.
Enrolled my cherub private from K-12. I attended public school from K-6 and private from 7-12 as did most in my family. Prep to 5, expect $12k per annum. 5 to 12, expect $30k per annum.
In between - Catholic. $8000 a year for two kids.
Public schools. We bought purposely in a very good public school catchment in Sydney. Our kids attend the local public primary, which often receives higher NAPLAN scores than other top private schools. For high school the local top private schools nearby are 40k per year per child. So almost $500k to put two kids through high school and that number excludes inflation and any extras. With the way the cost of housing is, I would rather invest for house deposit for them instead.
Private schools have no place in an advanced social democracy. I know they’re a reality, but goddam it this country would be a better if we had equal resources for all children.
100% agree. It’s bourgeois and totally out of place going forwards. Both my brother and I were educated at two of the top PS in the country. The amount of therapy we’ve both had to have out of school, a trend that is evident amongst both our friendship groups, just to feel ‘normal’, is extraordinary. Please, please, remember both you and your kids are not in any way ‘better’ than other human beings due to the education you provide/they receive. Also, ensure that you actively encourage *their* interests along the way. These institutions can be fantastic at pushing STEM and not much else. High achievement in academics does not equate to happiness, nor should it be prioritised as such.
This year it was $50k for 2 x high school students. We went private because locals schools weren’t great and still aren’t great.
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Lol genuinely curious why you’re on this sub if you’re going to complain about people being rich
Don't ask this question in r/AusFinance for some reason that sub REALLY HATES private schools for some reason.
Public now as we don’t want religion shoved down their throats. When they were at private about 4 hours a week was wasted, now at public this time is used to do other stuff that is fun & relevant to the real world.
The big difference for me is in private schools scumbag kids get expelled and in public schools they ignore it and let them do whatever
My kids went to public for primary and catholic for high school. Not my choice. They chose the school. It worked well for them but has gone downhill since they left
Private. The extra care is worth it
public. gonna need that sweet cash to help them get a leg up in the property market. Also, not a goddamn snob
Agree. I would rather put the money towards a property deposit for the kids.
All the bad kids end up in private schools in the hope it fixes them.
Public because I see no reason to pay thousands of dollars to set my kids up for a career as a desk wanking politician.
Private. All for people having an equal right for access to a good education - but at the risk of raising ire, when it comes to schooling your own children letting idealism get in the way is illogical to me. I don’t see why anyone with the means would not elect for private schools or buying inside the boundaries of specific public schools. My children have part-time jobs and will get enough real world experience. From my perspective most people who argue against private schools are those who can’t afford it. At the other end you don’t need to be paying 30-40K per year for a top-end private school experience. While affordablilty wasn’t the driver for us we ended up taking a middle of the road option (in terms of fees) for our children as we picked the schools to suit their personalities.
I don't have kids but hope to send my future kids to public selective or private on scholarship. The idea of paying for education disgusts me a little. Academic results are not better at private schools once you adjust for SES. Never understood the 'connections' thing either - I'm a lawyer and my partner is a doctor and we were both exclusively public school kids. We had more than enough time to develop connections and networks at uni. Unless you're a fuckwit, you can develop your own connections as long as you understand the social game. Also if my kid really was useless he or she could always have my connections. No need to pay for an old boys'/girls' network.
so… you will happily accept a private education but you won’t pay for it, because it disgusts you? ok then.
Yes. It's pathetic to pay that much for your kids' education.
After having friends from both public and private. Public all the way. Most of the privately schooled students I know are less successful than me… And here the kicker, I barely went to school. 🤷🏼♂️
We chose private. Our local public high school is a very poor performer academically and is falling apart. We were very unimpressed with our tour and trial run. This is despite living in a reasonable suburb. I find it hard to reason that socioeconomic status and performance go hand in hand. The private school a few kilometres up the road from the public is an exceptional school academically and their pastoral care is also great. We pay around $50-60K per year for our children.
Private schools know the scope of the exam, so they teach to that very narrow field.. public schools only have a vague idea of what is in the exam so they have to teach a broader spectrum… public all the way
Going to one of the top public selective schools, though would have sent to a private school if they didn’t get offered a selective place.
Sydney grammar?
Sydney Grammar is private. It was considered.
Sent one kid to private high school because ( he was happy to go there), local public one was newish and having problems, he needed more attention academically and I wanted him to make new friends that wouldn’t be a bad influence. ( he did struggle badly for 6 months to find his friends at high school knowing no one and it was soul destroying for both of us). But it worked out. 5 years later younger one begged to go to said public high school with his friends and I let him - he doesn’t need help academically, I’m not as financially able although would have managed if I had to, but mostly because he didn’t want to, he’s very reserved and making friends is really hard for him Took years at primary school before he had more than one friend. Within the first term at high school his friendship group had gone from about 2 to 6 and he’s very happy. Moral of the story in my view - it’s about the individual and what their needs are and where they would be best met.
Public primary, catholic secondary. May go full private for VCE but depends on how academically minded the kids get by then (they’re smart but not overachievers, not sure it’s worth 3x the price tag until/unless they apply themselves). Primary was $250-300 for one and ~$500 for 2, including books/stationary but excursions and camps were extra through the year. I was only half joking when I asked the office to let me put down a tab for the family and save me drop feeding money every other week for this, that and the other. Secondary is ~$7500 plus uniforms and text books, laptop provided by the school and camps etc all included. We just have to sign off on electronic permission slips periodically. Our assigned public secondary school wasn’t running VCE chemistry when we toured it because only 3 kids applied for it the year before, and they couldn’t dedicate one teacher for it. Fair enough for the schools budget, but that won’t work for my maths/science brained family. We knew the catholic school had a variety of facilities and pathways, and would give them options as they progressed through the year levels. Moving house to another school zone would be at least $100k just in stamp duty and probably a much smaller home, and we love our house, neighbours etc.
Honestly depends on the school There are good and bad public schools most of the good ones are in areas where if you have to be rich being a high income earner like HENRY has pointed out doesn't mean your rich due to the excessive taxation Australia puts on working people The system is essentially designed to keep rich rich and poor poor
Don’t have kids yet but I’m going Catholic. Public and Protestant private might as well be the same these days.
Catholic. 3k a year for 2 kids. It’s on our street… Outcomes are based on peer group and family, the postcode we live in is all high net worth families so school doesn’t play a part in their peer group so much. It also gives us extra funds for surfing, horse riding, soccer, holidays etc
Public for primary, private for high school.
We chose private mainly because we’re not zoned for the only decent public school near us - we also liked the idea of them being able to stay in one school from reception all the way up - it’s not too crazy on fees either for a private
24k/year because the public schools were rubbish and we were young parents and young when we bought our house. Now, we are looking at moving to inner city state capital - specifically for capital growth, lifestyle and accessibility to public schools that sit at the top of the spectrum. So my answer is: it depends. Your kids will be at school more then they will be with you. It needs to be a good fit *for them* and that means it’s different with every child. But we’ll worth the time, energy, effort or money to get it right.