Schools in Adelaide and South Australia

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Most suburbs around Adelaide will have their own primary schools and a local high school. There are numerous options for schooling in South Australia including state schools, catholic and private. No matter which school you choose you will have to pay school fees to contribute towards the cost of education here. These normally start from around $180 per year and will increase depending on which school and which school year. Catholic and private schools have higher fees but even the top private schools are a lot more cost effective than those in the UK.

Another difference between the UK and Australia is how the school year and terms work. The school year runs from the end of January until mid December and is broken into 4 terms with a two week holiday at the end of terms 1,2 and 3 and the 'summer' holiday at the end of the school year includes Christmas. There are no half term breaks.

Children at the age of 4 can enrol in Kindy where they are entitled to 4 sessions per week of either mornings or afternoons and full time school runs from the term after the child turns 5 although is not a legality until they reach 6. The school years run reception through to years 1-12. Most primary schools will either be from kindy to year 6/7 and high schools from year 6-12. You may find children of different ages in the class depending on their abilities and often classes may be a mixture of 2 school years as well. The teaching style is definitely not as structured as that in the UK which can take some getting used too.

As a rule primary schools are not zoned so you can chose your preference providing they have space but more and more high schools are now opting to only take students in that live in the locality and will only take enrolments from those living within the zoned area.

TAFE is the UK equivalent of college providing further education on leaving school and SA has a world class university. Below are links you can use to find local schools, school rankings, term dates and specialist schools.