Schools in Darwin

[alioops]

We had decided on a school here in Townsville, but now we won't be living here so there is no point enrolling Sarah there.

We will be somewhere near Robertson Barracks, so what schools are near there and good?

[Pandora]

Public or other?

[alioops]

Either. If there is a really good public then that would be great but if they arent so good then we will have to go private.

[Kamarine]

Roberstons barracks are near Palmerston from memory.
The best school is closer to Darwin, being Essington. It goes start to 10 I believe.

Having went to school in a few darwin primary schools and only just having left Darwin, I was only prepared to put my girls in there.
I don't know if its because not being a state, theres no state schools. But I found most public schools to be quite lax, especially in the palmerston area. I feel horrible for saying it, but its my opinion on it. Friends of mine attended Essington and swear by it. And when we first moved up it was the most recommended school.

Essington I believe to be public (cant be sure) but it is the best school in Darwin.

HTH

[AnyDream]

Ali is does depend entirely on where you're living. There are some good catholic schools dotted throughout, they tend to run buses to other areas (like Palmo) BUT there are also some good public schools in the older more inner suburbs in Darwin - for eg, Parap primary has had a very good rep for a long time, Stuart Park was also considered good when we lived there. You might get a bit more of a sense if you post on some of the Defence family forums, there are quite a few ladies either in Darwin or who have recently been in Darwin with school aged kids who will have opinions and advice to offer.

[mrsmac]

Essington is private.

My DD went to Durack school when we were posted to Darwin, it was lovely then and some of the teachers are still the same 10 yrs on so i would imagine it is still good. Durack had a lot of defence houses when we were there so I imagine it still would.
I taught at Stuart park school and it was also a great school, a lot of defence families went there if they lived on Coonawarra (not sure if its still residential) or on the RAAF base as they didn't want to go to school closest to it. (a few Army families lived in the RAAF and Navy bases when we were there)

I still have friends in education in Darwin so PM me if you need anything else (and I can be more frank privately LOL)

ETA She won't be able to start school until the start of the term after she turns 5 in NT.