10 aspects to consider Selective High School — New South Wales, Australia
Students and Parents perspectives to be considered from Year 2 to Year 6 for attempting Selective High School exam in Australia
This post is based on the personal experience which myself and my family had undergone in preparation for the Selective High School , NSW Australia.
Disclaimer: There are many parents/people who are not interested in opting for Selective High School and ask their kids not to prepare for the same. If you are one of them, then you can skip the article.
This is also a free flow article based on the different stages of preparation. Go through the entire article to get the complete information. This is a long article. I have spent time to give information, as much as possible. Use this at your discretion. Just because I have started the article from Year2, doesn’t imply that if you haven’t started, its a miss out. Also, Selective preparation is part of life, not the life itself for the family. Enjoy your small vacations, parties, friends and family visits and don’t be too hard on this preparation.
Selective results/outcome is also like a percentile. It’s the comparison of the students who had taken up the exam that year. Getting a Selective seat means that , the student has performed xyz compared to their cohort that year. Not getting a seat means that the student has not performed in comparison to thta cohort. This doesn’t mean that student is not skilled, not good or anything related to non performance!. And not getting into selective school is not the end, there are many options available and your knowledge around this will help you and your kid at the time, your kids needs most of your support.
Please also have the context of Year 6, 2022 kids are most affected due to COVID-19. They had spent their Year 4, 5 fully in online classes, less physical sports events. For Year 4, 2020 also OC was a big mess in terms of exam date kept shifting three times, format changed etc. This same set also facing challenges in year 6, with change in selection criteria etc.
What is Selective High School ?
In brief, Selective High Schools are meant to be for High Performing students and that’s where the first confusion starts among parents. Who is High Performing? Can the student become High performing ? What is the pathway to become like one and what if tried and 1) become successful in getting an offer from a selective school 2) not successful in getting the offer. I will try to cover, as we know in August 2022 from 4 aspects.
- Students perspective
- Parents perspective
- Financial
- Overall ecosystem
- Sample Tracking of averages
Students & Parents
Students go through massive changes from Year 2 to Year 6 (from age ~7 to 11/12). Consider this as you step through the Selective process.
Students @Year 2
Students are unaware of this Selective Tests until parents inform the students and try to set a goal. But again for the young kid, they may not understand this fully. Please remember when they reach Year 6, they really understand the importance and what is they get the school and what if not, also the accompanying is the peer pressure.
It’s recommended to get students training started as early as Year 2. This is the year, they got to play around and at the same time learn the basics also. Whether its from tutoring or one of the parent can teach is upto the family. But what’s required is a routine on daily basis focus on a subject, specific area and keeping the practice. eg: multiplication tables, simple vocabulary, simple words to start with, general exposure to good news subjects, kids magazine etc. Don’t expect that they will read / do everything. They will do some. Its’ a way of getting the interest for subjects for the students. Now, you may not agree to this. that’s ok. Find a way to get a routine for your kid in subjects. that’s the crux. Otherwise, they are going to spend time in screen, parents will try to control the students leading into arguments and frustrations.
Parents @year2
For Parents, year 2 is the time for deciding how / what you want for your kids. If you are from Asian culture, where you had been pushed to study, your core strength could be studies and it would have helped you to migrate here. Your core principles could have changed after migration saying, “I do not want to push the kids”, but still not convinced due to peer social pressure. Social pressure comes from different angles. Your contacts, your spouse contacts, school zone, which school your kid is going to etc matters w.r.t social pressures. You can and you have to decided what you want to do for your kids. Selective is not the ONLY option. So, this is the right time for you to really explore what’s this all about.. like NAPLAN, OC, Selective etc. You may end up a decision saying “ I do not want all these things” and I will to go “Private/catholic school” or I will get myself placed in a good High school catchment area. Read about catchment area for primary schools, secondary schools etc. Read about Parenting. If you are very focussed on the regular, catchment based secondary school (eg: Cherrybrook Tech school), then you can plan for rental/buying property in that catchment.
Students @Year 3 :
It was not critical until Year 2022. The only exam done by students is NAPLAN in year 3.
Why this will become critical in the next coming years? If the student is going to apply (apply in Year 4 for year 7 seat) for Private/catholic schools , then they ask for Year 3 NAPLAN reports. By the time you apply for Year 7 seat (eg: Year 7 2026) in the Student’s Year 4(Year 4 in 2023) , Year 3 NAPLAN would have completed(obviously) and you would have lost to make an impression to the Private/catholic school. Until 2021, even if you apply in Year 4 for year 7, it seems to be ok. But in Year 2022, I hear that people are getting rejection letters rightway in some schools. again.
Hence the Year 3 is critical. This is also right time for the students to get the basics / fundamentals correct. Need not study for many hours. But consistent exposure to Maths, English, puzzles, small problem solving etc is good exercise. Daily Homework is good at this point. It may seems to be like a force, but believe me this consistency helps a lot in speed in Year 5/6.
Parents@year3
Ok. Now you would have got some information around Public schools, Private/Catholic schools and made up your mind to ask your kid to go towards which path!
Year 3 — as mentioned for students, its important for Parents also. Go to different suburbs and see the school students conduct themselves (high school). for eg: I was working in Parramatta. Whether I want or not, I know what’s happening with the kids in paramatta high school. Again, it’s very generic information and you will form an idea when you discuss that with known persons. It’s also important to expose the kids not only to academics, but also sports, music etc.. There are special schools for sports in High school level and it may not be Selective. Its OK. eg: Hills sports school in Seven Hills, Fairfield high school (specializes in cricket), Fort Street (in music, debating etc). Identify which schools specializes in what — ie both selective and also regular high school. Depending upon your kid’s interest, it may come handy later. Being carefree or letting kids do whatever they want, doesn’t mean that you should not do the home work. For kids, again decide the tutoring required . Is it with CS Education, or Stephanie coaching (long term goals) or Pre-uni(more homework) or any other tutoring near you. Or are you going to honestly sit with your kid, explain the concepts , make them understand? Option is yours. But don’t leave it wide open. DO SOMETHING. This is also the age, there the kids get into proper sports like soccer, cricket, afl/rugby etc. Let them play and let them be as active as possible. From the academics, you also have to start thinking about OC (Opportunity Class placements). Do you want your kid to go to OC or not in Year 5 for which the exam will happen in Year 4. What’s the advantage etc — you should be able to get it from internet/whatsapp group etc. In short, its the cohort of the students, who will push the peer to excel. Good cohort helps your kid also to push himself to excel on his own :) This is also good opportunity to expose the kids to a competitive exams before Selective exam in Year 6. Do you plan to change suburbs/schools? Do it now. School marks for Selective exam comes from school and how the kids behave consistently over the years in academics. eg: There are extension classes for each year.. like Year 3N extension. these kids go through bit higher level of studies in maths.. eg: Olympiad problems will be given. Invest in a good printer. it will help to take printout of homeworks/stretch problems etc. I would recommend you to watch parenting videos, tips which will help you excel at home. There will be multiple moments of frustrations. Where are you going to show this? typically ends up with kids. But that may not be right for you or the kid. Then how do you handle it? find your way. One day at a time!. you may have to decide which parent [ Dad or Mom] is going to take primary responsibility to provide direction to the kid. Accordingly, you will have to manage/juggle the work pressure.
Students @year4
This year is like final revision on the basic, get the vocabulary sharpened, do complex problems, write essays, read many more books in different categories. Seek help from the tutors, elders, school/ library on the variety of books to read. spend time in library and not just at home. Grab any book you get and finish it. More books you read, more ideas you are going to get for your essays, poems and what not!. By year 4, you would be good in the grammar, punctuations, handwriting(so.. so..) and you can focus on the content of the story you are asked to write. In maths, take up stretch problem. Whether its thinking skills or GA, start the practice well in advance in Year4. It will help in the OC examination also. Whether you want to go to OC school or not, you SHOULD write the OC examination for sure. This will be your first competitive exam in public school. You will know where you stand, what your strength, weakness individually and in your cohort. This is really like a stepping stone for planning Selective preparations.
Parents @Year4
You got to decide for sure NOW. Private or public school. There is no point pushing the kids to study for Selective, where you have already decided as private school at the back of your mind. You also have to start fine tuning the kids portfolio ie academics, sports, music, any other activities the kid does, robotics .. anything. Reason for this is, you will be asked to fill up all these in the Private school application form. Its also good step to go to each of the High school (Private/Independent/Catholic) website and see the application forms (latest). you will get an idea of what they are asking for. If you feel that private is the best option, start planning accordingly. If you decide, Selective or regular high school is the option, plan the tutoring accordingly.
Sending kids to Tutoring is NOT bad !. Your kid could be exceptionally skilled in all the subjects. But when it comes to timings, tutoring helps by way of practising again and again. The crux of all these exams are will the kid be able to handle the pressure, anxiety and also use the skill at best speed possible?
What’s the sports frequency for your kids? Swimming? any other extra curricular activities? you will have to plan for how to pick up, drop, when ,who in between snacks, weekend works.. As said for the student, you would have applied for the OC exam last year. This year — Year 4 is the year for the OC exam, results. Join Whatsapp groups, FB groups to gather more information, share information. Apply for the Private schools, Visit the Open day for each of the school in Year 4 itself. Year 5 will be too late for the Open days. Why? You should start applying in Year 4 or atleast in Feb/March Year 5. Again, if you are shifting suburbs, schools etc. do this now. Don’t do in Year 5 or year 6. It doesn’t help the kid or you. As the School marks are important for Selective exam, its good to stick to same school from Year 4 atleast. At the end of Year4, start creating a portfolio for your kid. Please note: some of them are learning for myself and stating here doesn’t mean that I have done this in Year 4. Having the consolidated information like extra curricular medals, interest in sports, music, certificates from school (if any for annual awards), external awards if any will help to put together a good portfolio for the kid, which is important for Private / Catholic school. You may have a better way to do this and so do this in your style which is comfortable for you. Private / Catholic also has many advantages from High school side.
Another aspect is to meet with you kid’s friend parents to understand their planning also. Do you want to select the same school as their ? or not? The advantage is the friendship built in Primary will continue in High school also. Don’t underestimate the power of this. Even now, my school friends are very close compared to the current lot :)
Student @year5
It will be like studying almost full time in Year 5. Yes. its good if you are focussed for the Selective. By Year 5, term 2 students will get to start thinking about selective, what to do / how to practice etc. seek help from tutors, parents. identify your strengths. See how you can capitalize on that. Identify the weakness also. put more effort to overcome the weakness. Understand the exam pattern now. Understand the weightage. Understand the speed you have to complete the tests/questions. Identify the logic/pattern for your studies. when does it suit you to study ? morning/evening or night? Decide for yourself. Plan your week in advance. Complete all the given homework in school and in tutoring. This is also your NAPLAN Year. These NAPLAN results will go to Private/Independent/Catholic schools when you apply. Tutoring for Selective, can be started here also for Selective Trial tests. Typically from Term 2, Year 5 all the tutoring colleges will start the schedule of classes. This will help the kids to write the ASAT exam in Term 3.
If your parents have applied/applying for the Private school, then you will get interviews in Year 5 itself. Be prepared for answering the basics like what’s your interest, what games do you play, what do you do in idle time etc.. Focus of the interview is on kids. You do not have to train your kids on what to speak and what not. But they are appearing for the Interviews for the first time in Life and its would be good for you to prep them little. eg: What do you do in free time? Answer for this question to be given by the Year 5 student, not parent.
Year 5 school marks will be sent to Department of Education. This normally carries 20% weightage. So, regular school is also important. Keep in touch with the class teacher. But in Year 2022, Government decided that they will not include school marks for overall selective scores
Parents @year5
While you have been very busy in your work, supporting your kids education, curricular activities, did you also notice that your kid is growing up.. Really.. growing up, asking new questions, new ideas, if new school for OC, then new friends. If you have changed suburb now, then new school. Apply for the Private /catholic schools. Decide whether you will be able to drop the kids, or whether the kid will travel from home to school and how? these are very important points to be ticked off in Year 5. If you have to travel, travel to high school and see for yourself.
Identify which selective schools offers what. Year 5 is good time to measure your kids’ ability in terms of how much he is getting across different subjects/across weightage. These will be indicative and you can plan for your tutoring accordingly. If you have to focus on music, plan accordingly. Sports High school ? Why not? Go for it.
Financially, start calculating how much you have to shell out of private/catholic or independent schools. See which school offers scholarships.
In Year 5, Pre uni conducts very good assessment (ASAT) for around 3000 kids. It happens around August/September in Year 5. So, imagine — if you have to assess your kid based on this exam, then by this time , the student should have mastered almost everything required for Selective exam? Speed, accuracy, skill etc. Now you will appreciate that, why the tutoring/training is required from year 2 or year 3. Because end of year 5 and start of Year 6, is more of execution and delivery phase. Not a phase for learning the basics. its phase for fine tuning the basics. Nothing wrong.
Important aspect in Selective Trial test is 1) How much in each subject your kid is getting and how you can improve that 2) Ask the student to start estimating how much they are expecting after each test and what’s the actual number they got. As parent, you will have to understand this deviation. ie is the student telling you all rosy picture immediately after the test and the actual numbers are not stacking up or otherway around. You main responsibility is get this deviation as narrow as possible in each successive test. Why ? There is no logic how you can decide which school you are going to opt for. If the deviation is narrow, then you can depend on your kid to tell you how they did. Even if you had selected some school as Option 1, 2, 3 while applying for Selective in October/November in Year5, based on how the kid has performed in Real Selective exam, you have option to change the choices. Be comfortable — as parent and as student- both of you have to be really comfortable in choosing the right schools for your family. Don’t repent later in choosing uncomfortable schools. Talk openly and decide.
While you submit the application, my recommendation is to submit the application in year 5 as early as possible. Why ? because the outcome of the Selective test results are sent out in email/updated in the Dashboard based on application number. You are going to help yourself by applying early(ie early application number) and then reaping the benefits when the outcomes come. Less anxiety! For comparison, in 2022 out of 99000 Year 6 students, 15000 students applied for Selective Tests and there are 4248 places available for Selective seat ie Year 7, 2023.
Please also understand, You kid’s mentality now. This is the age, where there is strong focus on PD(Physical development) at school. They teach everything. Not all kids will be able to understand. So, this may have some side effects/impacts on the studies. Be supportive to your kid at this point.
You will have to shell out for application fees, enrolment fees and these are non-refundable. Application fees are in 100 or 200 AUD. enrolment fees varies from 1000 AUD to 2000 AUD. Its like the Insurance for Year 7. If the kid doesn’t get desired selective school, not in a great high school catchment, then this private school options will become important. You will not be left in a lurch of “OMG!, I don’t know what to do now”. It depends on your family’s risk taking appetite, how dynamic, what you consider good. AUD$ cost depends on each school. Overall Private/catholic fees varies from 10K to 25K and beyond. You will have to let the private/catholic school know before end of Term 3 (Year 6), if you do not want the seat. Normally there will be waiting list for these seats also. Read the terms and conditions, before signing anything. Its good to have backup private/catholic school, even if you are confident enough to get the school you want.
In parallel to all these, you will get exposed to REACH exams, ICAS exams, AMC, North shore exams, ASAT etc. Normally there will be 2 ASAT. One in September during Year 5 and another one in February of Year 6. Applications for the ASAT exams for Year 5, gets closed in April/May month for July exam. its first come first basis.
You will also start researching for Private schools scholarship exam date. Typically these are conducted last sunday of February month. This is called as ACER exams. https://www.acer.org/au/scholarship/participating-schools
You have to apply for the ACER exam. Plus you have to apply for scholarship for each school and select which school is priority for you. Whichever school you have picked as Priority1 will call you if they can offer scholarships. Scholarships are very helpful and its real. People get 50% or 75% or even 100% scholarship on the Tuition fees for Year 7 to year 12. Please bear in mind, scholarship confirmation is for year 7 to year 12, but the kid will be assessed every year on whether the kid is performing or not to continue the scholarship. Also, there will be other fees you will have to bear the cost. Financially, you will have to work out what’s possible for you and how much do you want to stretch.
Logistics plays the important game for Year5. I would recommend you to go to different High schools, visit them in different timings and check how your kid will travel. eg: If you are happy with Penrith school, travel to penrith by train or bus to checkout. 99% its all happy go scenarios. But if the trains are not available due to any reason, how the kid will travel. Think this aspect also along with how much time the end to end travel time (not just train time). I was told that High Schools give lot of assignments and in high school, kids have to start owning each of the assignment and its very important for them to be organized. So, think about the sports, high school assignments, other classes etc + the travel logistics.
For the Private schools, speak to registrar, go to their website, if possible join the FB group and you can see how the school is operating, what different activities are happening and you can get an impression of how your kid will get adjusted. its takes time to form an opinion. Go for the Open days which starts early in Year 5. Please sure to take you kid also and their input is the key and how they feel safe in an environment. Different schools are good in different areas. What matters to us, is how the Kid feels in that environment and that’s will make / break the decision later in year 6. Sample for what documents are required, how much will be the fees for different years for Oakhill college, castle hill. Prepare like this for each school you want to explore. Believe me, this provides clarity.
Summer Holidays: are you planning for extragavagant holidays during year 5 completion and start of year 6? Think again.
Depending upon the ASAT results, multiple selective trial tests, by November you will have an idea of where the students real range/capability is. This is important to know as you have to discuss with your kid and decide which schools are best opted for. There are different scales , as the overall marks were for 300, then they changed to 120 with 20 marks from school, then they changed to 120 without school marks, then they (DOE) changed format of the results outcome, then they gave some reservations to disadvantaged kids, finally keeps changing from paper to online. So, one think you can expect is the consistent changes from DOE until the last minute of the exam date, how the results are calculated and how the results will be given to parents.
On the holidays part, think twice. Do you want give extra attention to the kid who may need specific/focussed help for their maths or Thinking skills or English? this could be the correct timing as they can learn with less pressure. As parent, you will also be in Christmas holidays and can really spend quality time. But don’t be so strict, Have some fun during the Christmas/New Year.. With full vacation of one month type, kids will get distracted as the Selective exams are normally in March. For 2023, its 4 May 2023. So a bit of relaxation for summer holidays doesn’t hurt.
Subscribe to online Selective tests paper also. Do no have to wait for Year 6. This is good time for the kids to practice as much as possible.
Also, keep updating your Kids portfolio with various achievements they have done in swimming or sports or music or any field. This will boost their confidence when achievements are all consolidated.
Student@year6
Starting in Year 6 itself a great Joy for students. Last year of the Primary schooling. All geared up for the exciting times.
From the Selective exams, this is the year where all the hard work will start paying off. You will be wiser by knowledge, well read due to the time you have spent on reading different genre of books. Much more resilient, having faced multiple Selective trial tests. You know what’s your strength and where are the improvements required.
All these will sound very serious, but remember we are speaking only about the Selective topic here and not entire aspects of life. Life is not just about selective. Start thinking about how you will give the exam, what the best routine for you etc.. Jan to March is typically the revision time for all the tests, fixing the final concepts issues, fixing the mathematical silly errors etc. you will face many yahoo moments, when you solve the Thinking Skills!.
As you are very well prepared, relax. Attend the ASAT exam in Feb 2022. Go for the Scholarship test in end of Feb month(ACER). Go and attend interviews with private schools. By end of March / April, you will start seeing the results of ACER tests. If you are getting scholarships, that’s excellent. Keep in your back pocket! This will boost your confidence to go and write the Selective exams also (all depends on what happens first). Once the Selective exams are written, that’s it. All your efforts stops now and just wait for the results. Enjoy your life. Plan for holidays before the exam. Enjoy the holidays after the exam.
Parents@year6
For Parents, from Jan of the Year 6 year is going to be roller coaster ride. To start with, you will keep asking yourself on the choice of selection of schools. You may know you have done the best by asking right questions and selected the school. Until the results come out, this question doesn’t go away! if your kid gets into selective, you will be answering that “yes, we made right choice”. Else, will be thinking, where did we lose the plot. Its OK. As you may have back ups, you will have start invoking one by one.
Year 6 is also the year, where your kids are growing up fast. You will have handle every question in right way. You will not know how to answer. You may need some help from Parenting community/FB groups/family. Don’t be shy. Take help. World related events will /may impact eg: COVID-19, bushfire, floods etc. How are you and How are you going to make your family/kid more resilient is important. How does your kid perform under the exam situations? do you know about it? do you know about the deviation which we spoke about in Year 5 ? Is the deviation getting narrowed down ? Have you applied for scholarship exams? ASAT exams? Have you spoken to registrar of private schools? have you signed up for the Open days of different public/private schools? All these matter and all these are in parallel. Share your workload within the family. Speak to close friend to sound off ideas (not just family). speak to other parents.
If you kid is going to multiple selective trial tests, think about consolidating the results in an excel sheet. Average it out. Try to understand the peaks and lows and map with the life events also. Timing of the day also plays an important factor. eg: All the selective trial test classes could be in the week day evening (based on your schedule), but the kid is going to write the exam in the morning around 9 am. Got the point?
Update on 26 Aug 2022: Based on the feedback from readers, I would like to introduce the term “Portfolio”. A portfolio for your kid is as important as your corporate career Governance packs!. You have to spend time and keep the documentation in place for your kid. This portfolio template could be changing as years gone by, but the crux of the portfolio is what’s that you kid has been doing in any fields over a period of time. For me, I had maintained as simple excel, Year on year, Month of Month, across different categories of school, sports, travel exposure etc. Its’ not about getting judgemental as this is about awareness for you as parent also. The number of classes you had put your kid into / or the classes you had declined. The amount of time you have spent in coaching them. How much this has helped them? In which area they are showing interest towards? In which area they have their strength and what can be done to maximise this strengths? Have a look at this Gallup resource. This is applicable for kids also. https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/250382/coaching-truly-strengths-based.aspx
If you need any help with the Strength Based Coaching or what is it, please feel free to reach out to me. I have done my Strength’s assessment for myself and others around me. I have done this for my kid also and hence we are focussing on strengths then pondering over weakness.
Sample Portfolio Tracking :
Resources :
Tutoring: You should understand how each tutoring college works, what their entry criteria, the impact of home work on other activities for your kids, travel time etc. During covid-19, everything was online, so it was bit easy to arrange for multiple classes. But if its face-to-face, then what? and also you will have to decide where to enrol for WEMT and where to enrol for Selective Trial Tests. I am not affiliated with any of these institutions
- Kumon (early years): Good to get some discipline of daily work for the kids. Over a period of time, kids may get bored and as parents you can judge when to move out of kumon.
- CS Education : Very good for fundamentals. My son went upto year 4 with CS toongabbie. Suchi and Sanjay are doing excellent work with kids.
- Brilliant Academy : https://www.facebook.com/BrilliantAcademyAus/ Speak to Dr. Subrat Nargundkar for either enrolling or also get more insights. I have lot of respect for the Dr. title. Either its education or clinical. Even for my PR Migration to Australia, I had consulted and got help from another Dr. He is Dr. Annadurai Gnanasambandham https://www.linkedin.com/in/annathurai-gnanasambandam-629a457a/ for a simple fact that a highly educated person will never have a wrong intention for you or anyone around them. PERIOD.
- Pre Univ : WEMT and Selective Trial Test. Very rigorous Trial tests. Cohort comparison on weekly basis which helps the kids to know where to work on. Prepares for the https://www.asat.com.au/. We enrolled in Baulkham hils
- SWOT shop : Tried for OC. You have to clear the entrance exam to get into SWOT shop. Not much impressed with SWOT shop. Helps a bit
- Alpha one college,Castle hill — Very good for Maths and Thinking skills. you get 1:1 feedback like others.
- Stephanie’s Coaching — Very good for long term goals. Very methodical, strict and ensure that Parents play their part for kids education. My son liked this type of coaching. Rigorous 7 week (7 Sunday) selective trial test which shapes up the kids for final exam.
- EduVision — Real Masters in English. Specifically Tysan Allen is too good for English. There are many turn around stories for kids studying with EduVision. For my son, EduVision was good for Maths and Thinking skills.
Books:
- Buy the books from FiveSenses
- Books from MohanDhal for Critical Thinking and from Yvonne Kang.
- Use the library to borrow books. Take the kids to library, let them spend some time there to absorb and observe.
Sample Images of books:
Financials :
Financials also play an important role in Selective Exams. Tutoring is bit expensive. You can approximate around $60 to $70 per session. Per session will be around 2 hrs to 3 hrs. 10 Sessions per term. That’s around $700 per term per tutoring. If you enrol in multiple tutoring, due to sheer nature of what they offer, this could be doubled or tripled. eg: Kid can be in WEMT in a tutoring class, but go for Selective trial tests in another tutoring for experiencing the variety of questions. Even the worst case of starting the tutoring in Term2 of Year 5, you are looking at atleast 4 terms ie around $2800 minimum in 12 months period. You got to be prepared for this.
Year 4 — Prepare for Private schools fees ie enrolment, Books, Tutoring etc.
Year 5 — Tutoring, Private school fees for enrolment, if you accept the offer in couple of schools (ie 2k each ?), registration for scholarship exams, ASAT exams. ICAS also? Books
Year 6 — Paying the Term 1 Year 7 fees.
Overall ECOSYSTEM
There is strong competition (peer) and parents are trying to keep up as much as possible. Ecosystem wise — You are in Australia. So by default, you will hear things like “Let kids be kids, why to pressure them, let them excel in whichever field they want”. At the same time, if you are from Asian background, then you may value studies as important, fundamental and must. You will have to go through this process of giving the basics, fundamentals to your kid. If you are reading this article, which means that you have lot of interest in your kid getting through selective and trying your best to make it happen. Don’t stop now.
Competition is good for the KIDS. Giving appreciation for small things, too much pampering is not good. These are facts not just from parenting, but from Neuroscience also. At the same time, its not just academics. Its good to get the overall development for kids across sports, music, academics, leadership, debating, Business acumen etc.
5. Sample tracking of averages
Selective Results
Only one department has control. ie Department of Education, NSW. Keep visiting the NSW Department of Education website for updates. They keep updating many information over a period of time. Results/outcomes announcements also happens in Website and Facebook also. Keep a close watch. Historically, the results start flowing on a Friday from 5pm
Wish you the best,
Gurusubramanian Swaminathan
guru_subbs@yahoo.com or reach out to me in the comments. Happy to support your family’s Journey. Our family’s journey of getting the first choice school — Year 7, 2023 at Girraween High School, NSW is completed now. We also have couple of private schools as back up created in Year 5 (2021)
I’m also LIFE Coach. In case of any queries, reach out to me.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guru.subbs
