As any parent who's lived through it will attest; selecting a school for your child is one of the most difficult decisions you will face. I am currently in the process of finalising my first child's school selection for her first year of school and I can tell you it's been daunting. On the one hand, I want to obviously send her to the school that has a good reputation and clear evidence of academic excellence and good teacher-child, and parent-teacher relationships. The opportunity for my daughter to partake in a variety of different classes that broaden her sense of creativity, and interest in things outside of academia such as music, performing arts and sports is essential. But as I've also realised during her preschool year, friendships, especially in these early years, are critical in so many ways, mostly in the confidence, happiness and eagerness my daughter shows towards kinder and I suspect it will be the same when she attends school. So it was reassuring to be told by midwives at the Royal Women's Hospital that Oak Park Primary, our local school would be a great choice for us, due to the constant high results recorded on the Government's MySchool website, modern facilities and low ratio of teacher to students in classes. Undertaking my own research online the proof was there in the results on MySchool that Oak Park was indeed the top performing academic primary school in the local area. Tick, Tick. Then came the stage of visiting schools of interest, going to information sessions and meeting Principals and other members of the teaching faculty. To cut a long story short I was left feeling judged by the local private Catholic school for being open to religion rather than belonging to just one, and another nearby school with a top reputation made me feel like I was entering my own primary school, which would be ok in 1995 but in 2011 I think my daughter deserves better. Oak Park Primary has managed to meet if not exceed almost every expectation I have, and I'll admit I'm high maintenance when it comes to being impressed. We are now in the transition process, and my daughter has been attending the school as part of a special program for 2012 Preps fortnightly on Friday's. The program has been organised and communicated to parents thoroughly. Each session is structured so the kids get to experience each class they'll do in Prep. Parents get to attend each session and I'm kept updated weekly via email of any information deemed important for me to know. And on the final session we all attend a teddy bear's picnic to celebrate the beginning of school life. So for the things I love about the school; new, modern and spacious classrooms, an open and informative transition process from kinder to school, friendly and available teachers and a vast curriculum. Separate play areas for younger and older kids also wins my vote. In fact, the only thing I was disappointed in was that although the school is equipped with a brilliant music room there's no funding for a music teacher, obviously limiting the music program for students. Which is more of a reflection on the State Government and their lack of funding in education than on the school so I couldn't really hold that against them. And the best thing is, my daughter has already found a new best friend who is a lovely little girl. We've already been on play dates and they're busily preparing and making plans for next year. To me, it can't get much better or more reassuring than that. read more

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