Australian children start school at the age of 6 years old: before this age, this is the parents’ responsibility to train their children: either look after them at home, either pay a nanny or leave them in child care or pre-school centres: there is no crèche subsidied by the government, only private centres asking from AU$ 50 to AU$150 a day!

See below the table explaining the Australian primary and secondary schooling:

General description
- Secondary studies are taught at private and private high schools. The choice of the high school will guide the professional future of the children: Australians are very keen to the British tradition of elitist schools and often prestigious high schools are “co-educational” (ie private, religious based from the Catholic or Protestant church). The public high schools have faced such a severe crisis in the 90s that the Australian government did not only launch a national campaign to improve the image of public education but also created Selective High Schools that accept the best students according to their results and they often appear on the list of the best students at the School Leaving Certificate.
- Australia being a federation, each State has its own ministry of education and rules are different from state to state; eg the final leaving school certificate at end of Year 12 are called differently: HSC in New South Wales, VCE in Victoria….
- If your child wants to study high school less than one year in Australia, you have to be aware that the conditions are not that easy unless the school of your child has an exchange agreement with an Australian school.

Entry requirements
- A level of English equivalent or superior to IELTS 5.5 or TOEFL 197 or the Certificate of an English for High School Preparation programme; students who don’t have a sufficient level of English will have to enrol in an English for High School Preparation
- Translate into English all final results of the previous school year
- Uniforms are compulsory in most high schools
- Year 11 and 12 are part of an integrated programme and it is difficult or international students to enter year 12 without terminating year 11 in Australia
NB: the International Baccalauréat or IB is a 2 year programme and offered by a limited number of high schools

Intake dates: end of January or early February;

School holidays: summer holidays are from December till end of January and winter holidays from early July for 3 weeks

Duration: one school year minimum to be sure to be accepted easily in any high school

Fees: from AU$10.000 (public high schools) to AU$ 17.000 (private high schools) + AU$1000 for uniforms (including summer, winter and sports uniforms)

Timetable: from Monday to Friday from 8.30 am till 3.00 pm

a 2-month stay on a tourist visa in Sydney: 4 week English course for High School Preparation and 4 weeks in a public high school with Australian students

Public schools in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria
Stella Maris Sydney
St Augustins Sydney