lozzachino Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hi all, anyone have any experience with Hillary's Primary School? About to decide whether to stick it out in butler as my son is enrolled to start kindy next month at John Butler Primary College, but our lease ends this month and we hate our neighbours and don't love the area. Have found a potential house in Hillary's but have not done any research on the schools until now as we never thought we could afford the area. the naplan results look pretty good for the last couple of years, compared to most schools we looked at, but i know results aren't everything. As its holidays as well i cant pop in to check it out either! also what high school does it feed into. any help would be appreciated. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walkabout Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hi We looked at Hillarys primary, it looked fine! Its quite large and they tend to separate by year groups, so kindy and reception, year 1 and 2 etc, when we were asking for a Feb 14 start for kindy they said that had no places at all and that we would have to use the community kindy and make arrangements to get our other 2 to school and 1 to community kindy. This was not really ideal for us as we were keen to have all 3 in the same place. Plus my daughter didn't really like the headteacher - not a good enough reason in itself to reject a school, but she is actually a scarily good judge of character. There was nothing that said it was a bad school by any stretch of the imagination, but for us it just didnt feel right and out of a list of 5 we ranked it at 4. It was A LOT about feel for us and what we thought was right for our family, and we did say that if we ended up going there we really wouldnt be that disappointed! I believe they feed into Duncraig secondary, which was a plus for us. Good luck making your choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRocks Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 My kids go to hillarys PS. We love it. Oldest ds is going into yr2 and youngest is starting kindy this year. The kindy has been full since july but I can highly recommend thw community kindy. My oldest went there and it is awesome the only reason my youngest isn't going there is because of convenience. Hillarys is zoned for Duncraig HS. We have been living in Hillarys for nearly 3 years and we love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozzachino Posted January 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Oh no, will we not get a place if we move into the area? What is community kindy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRocks Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Kindy isnt compulsory so once they are full they are full but you might be lucky and get a spot if someone has pulled out. Hillarys community kindy is under the management of the school but aren't located at the school its a very good kindy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozzachino Posted January 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Thank you. So from pre primary would he get a place at the school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRocks Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Yes preprimary on if you are in catchment they have to take you. My son loved preprimary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arwen Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hi all, anyone have any experience with Hillary's Primary School? About to decide whether to stick it out in butler as my son is enrolled to start kindy next month at John Butler Primary College, but our lease ends this month and we hate our neighbours and don't love the area. Have found a potential house in Hillary's but have not done any research on the schools until now as we never thought we could afford the area. the naplan results look pretty good for the last couple of years, compared to most schools we looked at, but i know results aren't everything. As its holidays as well i cant pop in to check it out either! also what high school does it feed into. any help would be appreciated. Thank you. I would choose Hillarys over Butler every day of the week!! Then you are in boundary for Duncraig SHS which is an excellent public high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanFrako Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 We are not there yet, 17 weeks to go, but Hillarys Primary is definitely in my top 5 for what its worth. Its just the house prices that put me off. Others on the list are Davaillia, Poynter and Carine.... but things may change when we get there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozzachino Posted January 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Thanks everyone. Seems a bit odd they cant accept kindy enrolments but magically there is enough space to take all the community kindy kids at pre primary level? i have read some opinions from two or three years ago suggesting it didnt have the best reputation, not sure why, if it was just academically as the academic results on myschool seemed to have improved dramatically the last two years. TheRocks, do you know when the admin staff are back in the office so i can call up to enquire? Thanks also with uniforms can you buy generic shorts and just get the school polo shirts? Or do you have to buy school ones? we had ordered and paid for his uniforms for john butler kindy, wondering if i would be able to get a refund or if i would have to sell it on. Also would we get our voluntary contribution back as we have already paid that? sorry for all the questions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRocks Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 The community kindy is independent its just under the umbrella of the local school. They are an alternative to school kindys. The community kindys have no catchment so not all kids will go on to the local school. The school kindy dont have to wear the uniform but most people do. Its black shorts and red polo. School office is open the week before school starts. I don't know about a few years ago but now the school is great. There is a good school community and the kids are always doing something new. There are alot of people who have left there kids in there when they moved out off are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arwen Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 Thanks everyone. Seems a bit odd they cant accept kindy enrolments but magically there is enough space to take all the community kindy kids at pre primary level? i have read some opinions from two or three years ago suggesting it didnt have the best reputation, not sure why, if it was just academically as the academic results on myschool seemed to have improved dramatically the last two years. TheRocks, do you know when the admin staff are back in the office so i can call up to enquire? Thanks also with uniforms can you buy generic shorts and just get the school polo shirts? Or do you have to buy school ones? we had ordered and paid for his uniforms for john butler kindy, wondering if i would be able to get a refund or if i would have to sell it on. Also would we get our voluntary contribution back as we have already paid that? sorry for all the questions! Kindy isn't compulsory so they don't have to accept enrolments. PP is and therefore if you are in boundary they have to accept you. If they still have space after that then out of catchments would be considered. Yes you can wear generic bottoms but anything with logos on would usually be purchased from school. As for your Butler uniform if the tags are still on then I don't see any reason why they wouldn't refund you. Voluntary contribution refund will be discretion of the school but they are desperate for money in primary schools so I wouldn't count on it. The admin should be back in school sometime the week before they go back to school on 3rd February. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozzachino Posted January 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 Thanks everyone. Now to wait until admin staff are back so I can find out whether there is space at either kindy! What timing! But i guess if we can get in now its definitely the right thing to do. Have had another person recommend then school as well, so hopefully he will get a space at either location. The community kindy is actually closer than the school to the house we are looking at so that would be fine for us. thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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