Hi,

I am South African (came to Aus via UK) and living and working in Brisbane, Don’t know too much about Ipswich though. There are loads of Safas living in Brisbane and the Gold Cost see africaclub dot org dot au I generally try to equate towns here to those in SA to try to give friends and family an idea of what a place is like here. not sure where you are in SA but I would say Ipswich is like Petermaritzburg ...inland not far enough to be rural not close enough to the cost to be coastal. Small city.

I am not sure why you have chosen Ipswich but its that far that it’s not really Brisbane.

My sons play rugby for their school and have played against a school called Ipswich grammar that seems to be a good school. As with anywhere the quality of the schools depend on what you are looking for. There are good private schools in most areas good state schools in the good areas and the usual not so good in the less desirable areas. But you will find a school to suite your requirements and your pocket. The private schools of course are a bit more difficult to get into they don’t have entrance exams here but applications on a first come first served basis. People put their kids’ names down for the popular schools when the kids are born. In any event the applications for high school (year 8) close about two years before. We missed this cut off for my eldest son and tried 9 other schools before we could find one that had a cancelation and only one space we are still trying to get the other son in for next year.

cheers
barrow