Good places to live in Auckland for senior schools and a good area

[Justfoxes]

Hi All looking to relocate to New Zealand,( thinking of Christchurch or Auckland) Can anyone please help with where to live for a good area for a school and a decent area to live in Auckland.
any other info regarding Auckland life style would be appreciated.
Regards
Rob

[Alan]

Pretty much everywhere on the North Shore is, but housing expense can vary enormously between areas. Will you be buying a property, if so how much is your desired price range?

[Seawitch]

I was looking at the Rangitoto Zone in North Shore City or The Auckland Boys Grammar & Girls Grammar Zone in the Epsom, Reumera area. Apparently North Shore City has some great schools, as Alan has suggested.

If you google the top schools of NZ, and then check out each school online they will provide information as to their zone. Sorry I don't have the links on this PC. Housing is expensive in the top school zoned area, I've read that it can be $100,000 more on one side of the street than the other - just because it falls in the school zone!!

Probably any school with a decile score of above 7 & 8 would be okay, but that doesn't indicate performance, it just indicates how well off the students are and how much funding they get from the government.

[Tia Maria]

This article comments on the Metro list of top Schools:

The best high schools in Auckland are Marist College in Mt Albert and Macleans College in Botany, according to the annual list just published by Metro magazine.

Metro has split its analysis in two, producing separate rankings for schools that rely on NCEA and the Cambridge exam system.

Marist tops the NCEA list, followed by Epsom Girls Grammar and Mt Roskill Grammar, both equal second, Carmel College and McAuley High School.

In the Cambridge list, Macleans is followed by Westlake Boys High School and Auckland Grammar.............

The rest here: http://news.msn.co.nz/haveyoursay/69...s-best-schools

I'd be wary of basing your choice solely on these tables as lots of schools have different 'personalities' so to speak. Some more musical, some more sporty, some more traditional etc etc but it gives you a place to start and then check out their individual websites to get a feel for whether they would suit your child.

The majority of the non-fee paying schools will have zones and as a result you'll find that most of those areas surrounding the school are pretty decent as people pay extra to live in zone.

Some people find it cheaper to live where they want and pay for their children to go private, however, this does have the potential downside of none of their friends living near by which could make it trickier for establishing new friendships.

You might want to start a different thread for your Auckland lifestyle question...along with a few specifics of what you are looking for as you'll probably get more responses that way.