O.K I admit it :unsure: we have been a little fixated by the allure of 'Brighton High School' and have been pretty blinkered as to the existence of other good state high schools.We are not in the zone for Brighton at the mo. Area is not important we are willing to move within Adelaide to secure a good secondary education for our troops.

Are you impressed with your kids high school? If so please tell :D ;)

Thanks.

Jan

On the east side of the city is

Norwood Morialta High Shcool - www.nmhs.sa.edu.au

Primary in this area which is a good school is Magill primary.

Hi Jan,

My daughter attends Blackwood High school. She has been there since the start of this school year, end of January 2006.

The school forms part of the Mitcham Hills College, which is the largest cluster of schools in the world accredited as part of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IBMYP). The schools are Blackwood High, Bellevue Heights Primary, Eden Hills Primary, Blackwood Primary, Hawthorndene Primary,
Coromandel Valley Primary and Belair Schools. We have just recently been informed that the school will be offering the IB Diploma (years 11 & 12) from next year onward as an option for the senior years, aimed at the more academically strong kids who are likely to go on to university study. There are three options at senior level: SACE, IB Diploma or Vocational studies. Students can also study extra subjects on other campuses, like the Adelaide School of Languages or some TAFE colleges.

Thus far we have been hugely impressed with the interdisciplinary curriculum approach and the study and life skills that the programme obviously encourages. I have seen a massive difference in Enya's approach to learning and study and she seems genuinely inspired by the many research and self-study projects that they get for homework. The study programme is quite rigorous and this forces the kids to keep on top of their work, take responsibility for their studies and to plan. I don't think it will suit all kids, we're lucky that it suits ours very well. We think that it is a very balanced and wide study programme. For more information, see:
International Baccalaureate Organization

She seems to be thriving there and she has never done so well at school before. There is also a very strong pastoral element to the school. The years have small care groups which meet every morning for a short time and twice weekly for a longer session with their care group teacher. They have personal study mentors (I think this is from year 10 onward, but not sure), who they meet with and who keep them on track. Also, there are school counsellors and a chaplain.

The school offers about 20 different extracurricular sports activities and are also very strong in performing arts. There is a modern Performing Arts Centre on the campus, as well as a very good indoor sports centre (the Blackwood Recreation Centre). The school has won the Howard Mutton shield for participation and success in sports consistently since 1988. They have a special interest Netball programme offering Netball as a subject.

Behaviour does not seem to be a big problem at the school, and any fighting or bullying is dealt with severly with immediate supension (this isn't just talk, it happens and I've witnesses it in action). The school has also recently started a crack-down on uniform transgressions, although this seems to be less successful when I see what some of the students look like in the mornings when I drop my kids. :68:

Enya has made some really lovely friends there. She goes to school happily every day and comes home with a smile - a very good sign to me. According to her there are some issues though with "cliques" and some quite strong social rivalry among the different groups. She says it's like being in the movie Mean Girls - not having seen the movie, I can't comment. Read into this what you want, coming as it is from a 15 year-old teenage girl. :rolleyes: I know there are parents who have moved their little darlings from the school because of problems with fitting in ...

The school website is:
Blackwood High School Website

and here you can find on the school name to read the context statement:
Blackwood High School Context statement

I'm afraid I have to go against the Blackwood High recommendation, we sent our son there and he was teased mercilessly - because he came from Europe they called him froggy despite his english accent, and he made no friends. He found the boys very matey, the way of greeting each other was to give each other a kick! Well he couldn't get used to the rough way of life there and eventually was found wandering around Blackwood totally depressed. He eventually moved back to Vienna. I wish I had found him a better school with a more structured environment, but it is water under the bridge now. He never had problems before at school, always very popular so it was a bit of a surprise.

I have heard Glenunga is a great school, but we were not in the catchment area.

Hi Jan, I go with Annette, BLACKWOOD HIGH SCHOOL is excellent, Stevie has settled in brilliantly.
jacqui

Before settling, we looked at Blackwood High, Aberfoyle Park High and Hallett Cove R-12.

I agree that Blackwood is supposedly a better school and we were going to go there until we walked around on one of those tours. We just felt the atmosphere wasn't as good as Aberfoyle Park. I'm not putting Blackwood High down or anything, I'm just saying that we didn't like it.

We chose Aberfoyle Park as its a relatively new school. It was built in 1984 so the buildings still looks as new. The buildings are also relatively far apart which makes the 'play' area spacious (sp?) and bright. The school uses the Onkaparinga Council Library and has its own little section in there. The school is a big school with about 1000 pupils which makes the school grounds rather large too. The school runs from year 8 to 12. Most importantly, the uniforms for years 8-10 are Maroon wheras the unform for years 11 and 12 are navy blue :lol:

Aberfoyle Park High School Webpage CLICK HERE

Liam :)

Hi jan

i've got myself into a complete spin this week trying to decide what to do about high schools. my daughter is 12 and will go to high school in january. all the friends she had made since being here are going to a private school in january. i tried to get her in but couldnt because you had to apply the year before.

anyway decided that we would go to the open day of the school in our area (henley high) it was a very old building, and they are supposed to be replacing it with new buildings next year, but it wasnt even the buildings that were disappointing there didnt seem any structure there at all. I can only say i was really disappointed. then got myself completely stressed out thinking i am going to have to move areas to get her into another school, but need to do it now so that she gets to know people in primary before she moves up to high school. This is really unfortunate as we love it where we are living and my six year old has settled in so well at the primary school and she would have to move as well. Blackwood and hallett cove are two that we are now looking at.

it would be good to hear about a few more high schools

nicola

That's really well put Liam.

We are just going through the process with Laura and it really is very subjective as to how you find a school. We viewed Mitcham Girls School because it has a very good reputation and Laura liked the sound of it from the girls who had visited the school to talk to them. But as far as we were concerned, although it appeared a good school, there was nothing about it that would warrant Laura leaving home at 7am to get there.

We too liked the feel of Aberfoyle but as none of Laura's friends are going there we have decided to send her to Reynella East.

I also have to say that IMO i believe that if a child is going to do well at school they will, no matter where you send them. And if they aren't going to do well you could send them to the best school in the country and they still won't do well.

So its decided then????

Couldn't agree more with the statement about children doing well at school.

Lorraine

hi,

I think alot of it depends on your child, our son attends Blackwood High, his first 2 school reports were very good , his last 2 have been awful , we are constantly arguing over homework , he seems to have a serve lack of it.

A few of his quotes this year are ,all we get are supply teachers , all the teachers talk about is wolf creek .our care group teacher didn't give us the letter etc etc .

Plus side, he is going skiing in august (if his school reports improve) .He is also going on the engineering challenge.

There are real oppurtunites at the school , it reminds me of my old school if want to get on you can , if you don't then no worries.

You can take the horse to water but you cannot make it drink.

Cheers Travis

Couldn't agree more there Sally.

I think that is the way most teachers adopt. Well, at least all the teachers I have are like that.
There are plenty more oppertunities at schools here than there are in England, or so it seems. Every morning when the bulletin is read out, there is this club, that club etc. none of which were heard of in my previous secondary school.

Norwood Morialta High School is very good.
Have dealt with any issues immediately and effectively.
It really does depend on the child though, they have to be happy and have friends.

Hi , my daughter goes to Adelaide High , West terrace (in the city )
Anyone that has been on the site for awhile will probably already know the saga of moving schools and the problem I had getting her in there (they are greatly oversubscribed )But I feel that t was all worth while , she is happy there , her grades are back up to what she would usually get and the teachers are all pleased with her ,...cant ask for much more .....All I need to do now is find a way of getting my other kids in :doh:

Julie x

Thanks for all the replies...think I'm even more confused now :loopy: :lol: We are still trying to get in the Brighton Zone, but the size of house we need/would like as good as prices us out of the area :crying: Blackwood was always in the back of my mind too...mixed reports there, I will have to go in for the openday, has it happened yet?

Has anyone got a school further up North that they are impressed with? Rob works in the industrial area up there so it would mean less of a commute if we were to upsticks North.

I think the comments saying that it depends on the individual child are quite true. I feel that Emily my oldest will be fine academically wherever she goes but needs disipline to keep her on the straight and narrow...this is ESPECIALLY true for David and Joanna who are a little headstrong to say the least! as for William he is showing a strong spirit too :unsure: :sigh:

Deffo not looking forward to moving again, not a good week really :(

Jan

What a nightmare being on the move again Jan! Where do you think you'll end up?

p.s. This is the high school we are looking at for Megan

Mercedes College

I am interested in Marryatville High School and Glenunga-does anyone have info on these?
thanks in advance

Fiona

Hi Fiona

Both Marryatville and Norwood Morialta are good high schools, we had to decided between the two and picked Norwood as they learn German there which my daughter has an interest in. But would have been happy with either. I have heard that Glenunga has a really good reputation as a state school as well.

Glenunga does the IB too. Mitcham Girls High, Glenunga and Blackwood have a "cooperative" thing where the teachers meet on a regular basis to brainstorm and learn from one another. It has a very good reputation and used to be a Technical high school. I've only been there once when Enya played volleyball there. They have a very eco-friendly gym building there, but other than that I'm afraid I can't tell you much. It's in a generally upmarket, expensive "zoning" area, as is Maryattville.

Glenunga International High School


I have met a girl who attends Mercedes College. She was very well spoken and brilliantly well mannered. It is a very prestigious school. It would be a toss-up for me between there and Seamour College if we had the option...

Norwood is also a IB school. Is Mercedes a private school? My daughter played netball there last week, I kind of got the impression that it is. Pembroke which is a private school also has IB status

Jan just thought I'd let you know that the Blackwood open days have been and gone but any school should allow you to arrange a visit any time.

Also is there any reason why you don't want to send them to your zoned school?

How far North do you want to go?

Banksia High in the North East has the IB programme. I was very keen to try Danielle there but all her friends are going to Modbury High so we have tried to get her in there, we are just out of the Zone.

Jo

Dawn, You've just reminded me of something - I spoke to someone recently who went to Rostrevor College and he said when he has kids he would send them to Pembroke school. When I asked what his reasons were, he said he thought it provided a very balanced education and was an excellent school. Also, he would have preferred to go to a co-ed school instead of a single-sex one. This is a chap who grew up in Adelaide and whose opinion I respect very much - he is a very sensible, intelligent person who knows what he wants from life.

Mercedes is a private school, yes (Catholic). I also know two girls who attend Seamour College who are just about the most balanced young people I have ever met. I know you can't judge a school by one or two pupils, but what I hear from them about the school sounds solid and promising to me... it is a private school as well (and a girls' school, used to be a Presbytarian college, now Uniting Church).

Blackwood has principal's tours roughly twice per month - depending on the principal's schedule. The next one is on 6 June, at 9:15 am.

Good luck ... :D