need lots of excellent advice please! Steiner/Samford/Brisbane

[starstarrainbow]

Hi all, well we (me & my family) arrived in Brisbane & are very keen to say the least to get out of my DH's parents house!!! It is not comfortable or very appropriate for a newborn (hot & dirty). So DH will be straight to job hunting.

This is so hard to do not knowing where he will find work but we need to think about where we are going to live. So i have some questions...

Samford - is the Stener school good & what is the wait list like? I will ring on Monday but I have DS 4 years who is ready for kinder. Would Samford be a nice place to live? Is there yoga out there? We will go to look tomorrow & at a house. We are thinking Samford for the Steiner but if DS wont get in......

How about Brisbane city? wHERE is nice for families? What areas should we be thinking about?

DH works in project management in construction so his work will more then likely be based in the city. We drove down the Gold Coast tday but I don't think it's us, I need a great yoga studio/organic shops & more options for the wee ones.

ANY THOUGHTS ADVICE COMMENTS REALLY APPRECIATED.

[Esther]

I am nearish to Samford. I have heard Steiner has a long wait list but don't know from experience. My girl goes to a lovely small community school nearby.

I guess it also depends on what type of place you want. Do you want a large section or is suburban block okay? If you want to live nearer to the city then the block sizes usually get smaller and more expensive. So more people close by. My dh works near the city and he just takes the train in to work. So you could look for something near the train line.

[Kathryn]

The Steiner school does have a wait list. DD2 is on it for pre-prep for 2010. Definitely call them though as their year-split is different to the state schools, i.e. they work on year of birth, not July-June like the state schools do. DD1 goes to the local state school and she's pretty happy there. It's not a small school though - around 900 kids, I think.

This area is beautiful and is well supported as it services all the outlying areas, but homes are usually on large blocks/acreage, so it depends on what you are looking for upkeep-wise, and of course your budget. From the village it's 30 mins to get the city by car, and public transport means mainly driving to the station at Ferny Grove (5 mins or so). Beware though that if you search on realestate.com.au for Samford, you get all the houses in the Samford area, which can be 15 minutes drive out of the village, so you might want to call and get the address if you are seriously interested in a place. :)

[spiralgirl]

I LOVE Samford.....but there is no way I can afford to live there :(

......its beautiful, and yes, an organic shop, crystal shop, cafes, and yoga classes

there is Steiner there or Montessori in Mitchelton and Grovely and a small community School local too....

[starstarrainbow]

oooo can't wait to drive out for a nosey today. Esther, what school does your wee one go to? I think it was you who is from NZ? We are kiwi's but have been in the Middle East for the last 3 years, tryng to settle into Aus for a while. DH grew up here.

[Rinelle]

There's a Montessori school out here at Caboolture too. Organic markets, though TBH I've found them pretty disappointing. The biggest advantage being that prices are cheaper than Samford.

[jodiemiller]

Yes, it's lovely here, but it costs. Rental properties are generally small acreage (1 acre or larger) for around $550/week and upwards. There are lots of lovely schools around the area, including a very small school at Mt Nebo, which hasn't been mentioned yet. Rentals at Mt Nebo are cheaper than at Samford, and the school has a great reputation and a very small population (around 60 students last I knew). It's a State School too, so no school fees, and it's multi-age and the school grounds are beautiful. I would look there to start and it's still and easy drive (mountain road tho') to the Steiner School if you're still keep to pursue that path.

[Rach]

Another option for alternative schooling is Hillbrook in Enoggera (North Side) which is private. Unfortunately the fees are rather high but it sounds like an exciting school...

[Kathryn]

Hillbrook is high school Rach. That's where mine will probably go if we are still around these parts by then. :)

[starstarrainbow]

Are you in Samford Jodie? We've decided DH needs to find work first but then we'll definitely look at Samford area, Ferny Hills looks cheaper & some nice properties for rent there too. I rung the school & DS wouldn't go into pre prep until 2011 so I will get him on the waiting list. Thanks for all the info, will take note of it all! Caboolture & Mt Nebo getting googled now :)

[Rach]

Kathryn... my understanding is that Hillbrook is from Prep right through Y12... I haven't checked their website yet though but I was talking to someone the other day who teaches there.

stars: I tried replying to your other thread but it somehow got wiped... I am just up the road from you at the moment (unless you have already moved!). I'm in Holland Park.

[jodiemiller]

I'm a bit north of Samford. Kathryn lives in the heart of Samford. Esther, Spiralgirl and a few others live in the Ferny Hills/Grove area.

Gotta say, I love it here, but we couldn't afford to move here for the longest time.

[Rinelle]

Yeah, we looked around samford/dayboro area when we were first looking to buy, but it was out of our price range. And now I'm kind of glad we're here in Caboolture, because we're so close to the highway/shops/etc. But then, it all depends what you're looking for.

[jodiemiller]

Gorgeous Qlder in a great position for sale in Dayboro for 450K. Only a small block but got a level concrete pad in the back yard for parking/shed. If I didn't already live here I would snap it up.

Best school in the area then becomes Mt Samson SS (where my kids go) but you'd have to enrol quickly because the school population has been capped and Dayboro is just outside the school zone.

[Rach]

I have checked out Hillbrook's website... it is secondary only.

[moo]

Rach if it was P-12 her child would already be going there ;)