BevBack2Oz Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Hi there folks, My partner, myself and 2 sons (18 months and 12 years) will be arriving back in Australia end of May and will be settling in Toowoomba. We have lived in WA before but never visited this part of the country. We would love some advice in regards to the area, which suburbs are family friendly and with good schools? My eldest has lost a huge chunk of his last year at primary here in Scotland due to lockdowns so a good school will be essential to get him up to level with his new peers which will have already started secondary over in Aus. Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Cant help with specific schools but dont sweat that he will be behind his age peers here - UK kids are generally well ahead at this age. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 (edited) 6 hours ago, Quoll said: Cant help with specific schools but dont sweat that he will be behind his age peers here - UK kids are generally well ahead at this age. Well ahead in what? That's a huge generalisation and depends what school you went to in the UK. We had friends emigrate when their two boys were 12 and 14. They had been to a Manchester comprehensive in a fairly working class area. When they started school here they thought it would be cool to demonstrate how "hard" they were and how they weren't going to follow rules. Kids here didn't want to know them. Luckily they changed pretty quick and are 2 of the nicest kids now, young men really mid 20's with good jobs. Certainly sport was one thing they really struggled with. Fine with soccer but both were overweight, unfit, couldn't swim, tried to take the piss out of any sport that wasn't soccer. Soon learned that was a bad idea. One of them turned into a really good surfer, they both loved the beach. Toowoomba wouldn't be my first choice to settle. Boring place I reckon. Had to stay there a few times on work trips and if we were there over the weekend I'd drive to the gold coast for the weekend. Lots of kids just hanging round the streets at night with not a lot to do. Seems to be a fair amount of god squaders round Toowoomba too. Long way from the coast or any other place worth visiting. The areas round there were much of a muchness, nowhere really bad, seems to be a choice of near the City or rural. I'm sure you could get a rural property with a bit of land there but you would need a car or 2. Public transport wouldn't be the best. Where did you live in WA? If you were out in say Midland you might like Toowoomba. Edited April 1, 2021 by Paul1Perth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 Was thinking academically. Nothing is going to make them sporty if they arent already and school wouldnt be helping them catch up with that. I would imagine that Toowoomba kids are going to be pretty hard anyway and not much is going to harden up a softy, especially not expecting a school to do it. Admittedly Queensland is educationally more rigorous than Canberra but my UK yr 2 grandson is doing what my Aus yr 5 granddaughter is doing (he knows his tables and his writing is better!). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BevBack2Oz Posted April 1, 2021 Author Share Posted April 1, 2021 4 hours ago, Paul1Perth said: Well ahead in what? That's a huge generalisation and depends what school you went to in the UK. We had friends emigrate when their two boys were 12 and 14. They had been to a Manchester comprehensive in a fairly working class area. When they started school here they thought it would be cool to demonstrate how "hard" they were and how they weren't going to follow rules. Kids here didn't want to know them. Luckily they changed pretty quick and are 2 of the nicest kids now, young men really mid 20's with good jobs. Certainly sport was one thing they really struggled with. Fine with soccer but both were overweight, unfit, couldn't swim, tried to take the piss out of any sport that wasn't soccer. Soon learned that was a bad idea. One of them turned into a really good surfer, they both loved the beach. Toowoomba wouldn't be my first choice to settle. Boring place I reckon. Had to stay there a few times on work trips and if we were there over the weekend I'd drive to the gold coast for the weekend. Lots of kids just hanging round the streets at night with not a lot to do. Seems to be a fair amount of god squaders round Toowoomba too. Long way from the coast or any other place worth visiting. The areas round there were much of a muchness, nowhere really bad, seems to be a choice of near the City or rural. I'm sure you could get a rural property with a bit of land there but you would need a car or 2. Public transport wouldn't be the best. Where did you live in WA? If you were out in say Midland you might like Toowoomba. Unfortunately we don't have a huge amount of choice in regards to where we can relocate. My other half will be working from Roma, inland even further so Toowoomba is our closest city with decent infrastructure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 13 hours ago, BevBack2Oz said: Unfortunately we don't have a huge amount of choice in regards to where we can relocate. My other half will be working from Roma, inland even further so Toowoomba is our closest city with decent infrastructure. We were working in Oakey, which is a lot worse than Toowoomba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 To be fair Toowoomba has grown a lot over the last few years just like its population and its no longer that like country town. If you work nearby, Toowoomba has pretty much everything you could need/ want on a day to day basis and is beautiful when all the flowers are in bloom. Cal x 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Returns Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 22 hours ago, BevBack2Oz said: Unfortunately we don't have a huge amount of choice in regards to where we can relocate. My other half will be working from Roma, inland even further so Toowoomba is our closest city with decent infrastructure. 6 hours ago, calNgary said: To be fair Toowoomba has grown a lot over the last few years just like its population and its no longer that like country town. If you work nearby, Toowoomba has pretty much everything you could need/ want on a day to day basis and is beautiful when all the flowers are in bloom. Cal x We were there last September, and again in October, for the flower festival and the rose gardens - it was simply stunning. There's a lot to like about Toowoomba, although I'm not sure I'd want to live there. It doesn't get quite as hot in summer as the rest of Queensland because of the altitude (700m above sea level), and it can be blinking cold in winter - even in spring and autumn - but if you're from Scotland you might like that! My main concern for you is that the town doesn't have a great reputation for young people - lots of anti-social behaviour, petty crime, drugs etc. If you partner is going to be working in Roma, couldn't he FIFO in and out of Brisbane? It would take less time to fly from Roma to Brisbane than it would to drive from Roma to Toowoomba (about 4 hours). I teach in Queensland. Here are a couple of links - one for the ACARA website, and one for the Toowoomba SHS annual school report (worth a look). https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/47417 https://toowoombashs.eq.edu.au/supportandresources/formsanddocuments/annualreports/annual-report-2019.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Fletcher Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 I live in a town west of Toowoomba, similar size to Roma, and would rather be here than in Toowoomba itself. Fewer facilities but less social problems! Roma is a buzzy little town, maybe you should visit it first before assuming you can't live there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Flu Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 With Some of the highest drug rates (meth) in the country. Best be aware if taking children to Toowoomba. It is hardly alone in this problem just more so than other places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BevBack2Oz Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 Thank you everyone for your input! We arrived here in Toowoomba back in June and couldn't be happier with our decision! Toowoomba is a beautiful and thriving little city with an outstanding community spirit. My eldest has settled in well at School and is the happiest I have seen him in a very long time, he had a rough time at school in Scotland so this is a huge relief for myself. My small business has already taken off and the locals have been amazing at supporting me with this. All in all no complaints here. I haven't seen the side of Toowoomba that above have mentioned thankfully. I have no doubt there are crimes and drugs here like everywhere else but haven't encountered anything thus far. 2 hours ago, Graham Fletcher said: I live in a town west of Toowoomba, similar size to Roma, and would rather be here than in Toowoomba itself. Fewer facilities but less social problems! Roma is a buzzy little town, maybe you should visit it first before assuming you can't live there Thank you for your input but my other half lives in Roma a considerable amount of time, more than 50% due to his work base being there. With his experience of the place we decided that wasn't where we wanted to be :) so yeah we didn't assume anything 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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