It’s all good close to home
Gold Coast dad Brendon Wolf says it was a no-brainer when it came to choosing a school for his young son.
The 36-year-old lives in the Broadbeach State
School catchment — his son Lincoln, 5, started prep at the school this year.
“When you’re living in a prestige area and the local school has an excellent reputation, it makes it a bit easier to make a schooling decision for your child,” Mr Wolf said.
“We knew Broadbeach State School had an excellent reputation and a lot of people say it’s one of the best state primary schools in Queensland.”
Mr Wolf said living close to the school also helped with drop-offs and pick-ups.
“My son is only at school between 9am and 3pm so there is that time borine Mountain, Southport and Varsity College high schools were the top three.
Meanwhile, Mapleton SS and Noosa District SHS were the top scorers on the Sunshine Coast on both metrics.
In the Far North, Babinda, Goondi and Walkamin state schools had the best Bang for management aspect of getting him to school and picking him up on time,” he said.
“Fortunately we only live 400m down the road so it’s actually quite easy to run him up to school.”
Broadbeach State School ranked in the top 10 primary schools on the Gold Coast in News Corp’s Bang for Buck, a tool that looks at both NAPLAN scores and home prices to inform parents and homebuyers in their search for high performing primary and secondary schools within their budget.
Mr Wolf said being able to enjoy the beach before and after school was an advantage of the area.
“You simply can’t beat that beach lifestyle,” he said.
“There’s nothing better than strolling 30m down to the sand.
“It’s an upbringing I wish I had.”
Buck scores for primary students, while in Cairns itself, Caravonica SS came in with the top score thanks to NAPLAN rank (64) and median house price of $638,900.
Cairns SHS was its top performing high school for academic performance and median house values.
REIQ Cairns zone chairman Tom Quaid said school catchments were a significant factor for many buyers. “Cairns SHS is highly sought-after and I have had buyers willing to pay a premium to be an extra street over to ensure they are within the zone,” he said. “And it is not just buyers either, we have had people go out of their way to rent within a certain catchment.”
In the Townsville region, Hermit Park, Magnetic Island, Ingham, North Shore and Belgian Gardens state schools were the top Bang for Buck catchments.
Top-scoring high schools included Ayr, Home Hill, Wil
liam Ross, Pimlico and Ingham.
Each year, parents camp out the front of the sought-after Pimlico SHS in the hope of enrolling their out-of-catchment children.
Proptrack economist Paul Ryan said school catchment zones were a significant factor for many buyers. “Where there is a good school, there is competition, and being in a certain catchment becomes a major selling point,” he said.
But despite the competition for homes in some catchments, an Education Queensland spokesman said: “Simplistic league tables to compare and rank schools is not supported by the department. Measures such as NAPLAN and housing affordability do not adequately summarise the different context or the diversity of education that our state schools provide.”