Hi Everyone

My family is going to move to AU next year from UK. Can I ask you all some advise for schools and area for rent a house. I have two children one girl (4yr) and one boy (2yr). How can I search online for best schools in Melbourne? Where can I find out what area is better (less crime, best school, better transport and etc)

Thanks

Emily

HI, do you prefer public or private schools? And where are you likely to be working? This could determine where you would enjoy living!

Public is free, private is not. I'm not sure of the rules for non australian folks and free schooling, etc. .. if you don't have citizenship.

Anyways, this is the place to ask those questions and to search for places.

It would help us if we knew the general area of melbourne you might be moving too .. or are you waiting to learn which area's cater your requirements, and then look for realestate in that area?

Thanks for your reply.
One of my friends moved from Melbourne to England ten years ago. They said "Kew", "Hawthorn" and "Camberwell" are good areas. This is his exprience from 10 years ago, are these three areas still good? I think we are going to chose a good private school and live near to it. Children are first prority.

Kew, Hawthorn and Camberwell are all inner to middle suburbs east of Melbourne with good public transport and well regarded private schools (I suspect the public schools are good too given the demographics - it's a very middle class area - but don't really know for sure). Given the exchange rate you will easily afford to live there!

Like Brian said, IMO Kew, Hawthorn and Camberwell are my fav suburbs in Melbourne. Middle to Upper class living with nice leafy streets and plenty of well established private schools for children.

this is a good summary of Kew: http://www.streetadvisor.com.au/victoria/kew/overview
The other surrounding suburbs (like Hawthorn and Camberwell, etc) are all very similar and lovely.

If you can find a place to live there, you're in the right place :)

Plenty of Public Transport. Shopping for essentials is all very well established. The city is a few km's away only (even though everything you need is in the area).

My fav place to live in Melbourne :)

Public school is not free anymore and hasn't been for a long time. Just ask any parent that has school aged children. Keep asking around Emily, and visit as many schools as you can preferably within 8 klms of where you live. Get a feel for the school rather than what the principal will tell you. Finally private isn't always necessarily better than public. Good luck and welcome to Melbourne.

Hi happyemily,

I lived and went to school in the Kew/Hawthorn/camberwell area, and as everyone here is suggesting, they are the "known" areas for schooling, especially in the upper price bracket (Private Schools). If you have the budget, you really can't go wrong moving to any of these suburbs. Kew is generally a bit pricier in terms of housing, but still very comparable to Camberwell and Hawthorn. The reason for this in particular is proximity to schooling, so as everyone has suggested, these are great suburbs to raise young families in (also close to Melbourne CBD via Public Transport, and relatively low crime)

Schools of note are Xavier College, Wesley College, Melbourne Grammer, Genazzano (Girls School).

Good Luck!

AJ