[Bergita]

We might be moving soon and obviously we are hoping to get a rental in the area we are currently in (east auckland). However, rentals are in short supply and we might have to move somewhere completely different. In this case we would be interested in the North Shore. Anyone know of good primary schools in the area to help us decide?

[nickiware]

Browns Bay School is very good, also heard good things about Murrays Bay. Campbells Bay is supposed to be one of the best.

[Tia Maria]

You can't go to far wrong with most of the schools on the North Shore, however, those in the East Coast Bays area, Milford, Takapuna down to Devonport are considered particularly good.

I don't know much about the schools in Albany, I'm sure someone on the forum will be able to point you in the right direction.

I would maybe look at your rental budget and use that as another starting point for looking into possible North Shore areas.

Cheers

Tia

[Familyofmonkeys]

My daughter is at Oteha Valley School in Albany. It is very good school IMO, school is in international best practice initiate (the head has been off visiting various other countries for comparision studies), and some of the teachers also teach classes at Massey Uni for the Ministry of Education. It swings between decile 9 and 10, but the 'donation' is not excessive. School only opened fairly recently so all of the facilities and equipment are very up to date and modern, as are the actual buildings.

There are no bad schools in this area.....it is all down to personal opinion as to which one suits your child. We are also very close to Albany Primary School and Pinehill School....both equally as good, but a bit larger than my daughters school, which we were not so keen on personally. We are also close to Sherwood School and Brown's Bay School (in Brown's Bay) and Glamorgan School (in Long Bay)......some of the other kids from kindy moved onto these schools and are happy with them. As for high schools, the East of Albany where we are is in the zone for Rangitoto College and the West of Albany will soon have the new Senior High School opening. If you prefer private schools both Kristen School and Pinehurst are less than 5 minutes drive from Albany.....I have friends with their kids at both doing the IB programme and they tell me they are excellent.

North Shore also has an absolute ton of activities going on for kids from critical thinking/problem solving/science clubs (for younger kids not just teenagers), art classes, cooking classes, brownies, girls brigade, scouting, St Johns youth group, swimming, dance, ballet, music of various sorts, yoga, gymnastics, tennis etc as well as all the usual soccer/netball etc.

[Bergita]

Thanks very much everyone. We've decided to stay where we are for now. Soon we will be ready to buy, and then the North Shore is very high on our list of places to go.... So this information is very valuable.