Perth Modern School

[Scorpio]

Does anyone have children at Perth Modern School - I understand that it is a school for gifted high school students and that you must apply to sit a test to get in. My son is already in a gifted program and I think this sounds like the type of school that could be good for him. What is the school like and what do you have to do to get in? Would appreciate any information.

[plmqaz]

Heyy,
Although I don't attend Perth Modern, I do have quite a few friends there. Those friends have told me many things about Perth Modern, both positive and negative.

Firstly, Perth Modern is a very prestigious school to attend with only 175 out of almost 1000 entrants on average being accepted every year.
It has a very good reputation in both academic and behavioral aspects, a lot due to a lot of pressure.

I will tell you about two of my friends - Jan and Belinda who both attend Perth Modern.
Jan attended my primary school and was always very competitive by nature. She always strived to achieve her very best and was quite smart. She received a score of 79% in her Perth Modern exam, therefore she was accepted into the school. She has enjoyed every minute of her schooling at Perth Modern even though she is not one of the smarter students at Perth Modern.

The second of the two, Belinda also attended my primary school. She was a quiet achiever and always obtained fantastic marks on her tests. She was definitely gifted. You could probably say that she was smarter on average than Jan. She scored a very high mark on her Perth Modern test, somewhere in the late 80's to early 90's and she gained acceptance into Perth Modern. However, she is miserable at Perth Modern and is finding it hard to deal with the excessive pressure & homework that comes with attending Perth Modern. She is planning on leaving Perth Mod as soon as possible.

My point in these examples is that not all children are cut out for a school like Perth Modern - regardless of their academic level.
If your child cannot deal with pressure easily, do not send her there.
It is also very hard to make good grades at Perth Modern.
However, like i said - Perth Modern is a very good school, bringing out the best in their students. (Unless of course the students crack under the pressure before their "best" is brought out)

Another alternative would be Applecross Senior High, that is a great school with less pressure.
I don't know much about Rossmoyne, but it has an excellent name.
Como Secondary College and Kent St both have fairly negative names, but I know people that love the schools.

I hope this helps, Good Luck.