i am still in the state of confusion whether to bring our child along or not as we fly to australia.
Toddler & Preschooler - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
its basically free to send your child to public school here in aus, except for uniforms and voluntary year fees both of which are quite cheap. though, i dont understand why you would leave your child if you are coming to australia.
2 :
Yes, it is free to send your child to a publicly-provided school (aka, not private school) besides voluntary contributions and the like. This may depend on the school however. High School has rather lower fees as well, and if your child and yourself have been living here for a while, once your child heads to University your child may be eligible for HECS-help whereby the government loans you money to pay for your University fees and your child won't have to pay back until your child's yearly income exceeds ~$30,000. So in terms of education, Australia is extremely generous (at least compared to the States).
3 :
What area will you be living in when you come here and out of curiosity, where are you coming from? Anyway, Depending on when his birthday is, he will be either in 'Prep' (like preschool) or Grade 1. If he turns 6 before june 30 he'll be in grade 1, if he turns 6 after june 30 then he'll be in Prep (prepatory grade). The new school year starts at the end of January next year and school wraps up this year around Dec 11th and the kids get 6 weeks summer holidays. If you intend to go to a public school, which the majority of australia kids do, it is very inexpensive. Public schools here in australia are great! A normal booklist which includes all their books, pencils, folders, glue, school fees etc...for the whole year is about $150 give or take and then you need to purchase uniforms as well which would probably be another $150-$200 depending on the uniform at your school as they all differ slightly. Obviously he'll need shoes and a lunchbox as well, as here in australia you provide lunch everyday. There is no cafeteria although they can buy food at the canteen/tuckshop but its not usual practice here to do that everyday. I believe you would have to spend no more than $500 at an absolute maximum which is cheap! A private school you could be up for something between $3000 - $5000 a year depending on the school you choose. My son starts prep next year and his booklist is $114, 3 sets of shorts and t-shirt uniforms will cost me $141, plus some shoes, a school bag and lunchbox. It will cost me no more than $300-$320. hope that helps answer your question! I think you should bring your child, australia is a great country and he'll love it here!
4 :
The above posters are assuming that your child is a PR. If they are a citizen or a PR then yes, the cost is minimal BUT if you are not a PR then the cost to send your child to school is around 4-5K per year (international non-PR fee) plus uniform, books etc. We have a post doc in our lab that has a 2 and 5 year old and that is the cost for the 5yr old for kindy (state school).
