I went to Princes Hill Primary School. I found most of the teachers of high quality and were really commited and enthusiastic about their work. However, bullying was rife in the school and it was largely ignored by staff and there was no school policies as to how to combat this problem. The admin team are of low quality and seem to run the school as a business rather then an education institution. Overall, it was a fairly average experience.

I had my daughter at the Mercy Hospital in 2007. I was very impressed with the overall quality of service. it is a great modern hospital which is always clean and has great facilities. most of the midwives and doctors were kind and understanding. they have a great system of antenatal care. The birth process was very good and all involved were really kind, dedicated and patient. unfortunately my daughter experienced breathing problems as she was born with fluid on her lungs. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was great. Great facilities and great staff. The Special Care Nursery was a little less satisfactory, while the nurses and midwives were still kind they were under resources and there were inconsistent care plans for my daughter and minimal support for me, especially as I was recovering from a c-section and trying to establish breastfeeding with a baby who was still partially being tube fed. Overall, I was impressed however, I felt rushed out of hospital even though I had not recovered from my caesarean.

My daughter had to go to the hospital for brain surgery. She was in the ICU, surgery and then the ward, overall I was very impressed with the level of service. I was very impressed with the ICU, there was great one on one service. The doctors and especially the nurses there were hard-working, caring and dedicated. They were very competent and were available to answer any questions and queries. I was however, not impressed with the head doctor in charge of my daughter's care as he was rude and lacked compassion and the social worker there was incredibly rude and incompetent. The surgeons were wonderful, very knowledgeable, competent and caring. They talked us through the surgery in a way we could understand and kept us involved every step of the way. The nurses on the ward were lovely. They too were very dedicated and enthusiastic and caring. Although over-worked and under-resourced they made time for the needs of every patient and to talk to the parents.

I went to the Royal Women's Hospital for my first born in 2006. I was very disappointed but I can't blame everything on the hospital alone because my experience exposed a lot of the flaws with the public health system as well. Being a young mum, I was put into the young parents clinic. While this was a good idea, they only ran the clinic on Mondays and there were so many people and a huge wait for basic antenatal check ups. The facilities were quite poor, but by the same token they are building a new hospital at the moment. They completely ruined the birth of my son and I deliberately didn't go back there when I fell pregnant with my daughter. The doctors were adrupt and it took 3 days for me to be induced while my baby was running out of amniotic fluid. The midwives had no idea what they were doing and had me pushing too early and my son had to be eventually delivered by emergency c-section under a general anesthetic because they couldn't even get the local/epidural to work properly. A very traumatic experience and I would not recommend it at all.

Lucio's Cafe is a great suburban cafe/restaurant. They make great coffee and have very talented baristas! The staff there are mostly lovely, warm and welcoming. They are welcoming to families and are great at interacting with the little ones! It is a realyl friendly place. The food is of a godo staandard, nothing outstanding but nothing to complain about. Some items are a bit pricvey but mostly you get what you pay for. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights there are some good specials and meal deals. Overall, I am really impressed and my kids and I are regulars!

Approximate cost: $20

I am currently a student at La Trobe University, studying law. I really like this university. They offer a great range of courses and a high callibre of teachings and courses. It has beautiful and unique grounds and a great atmosphere. They have a great range of extra-curricular activities both educational and social. However, the location may be hard to access if you are not local (though there are multiple campuses and flexible teaching methods) and they could improve greatly on the admin side of things.

Good coffee however, the service is slow and prices are extremely expensive. Gloria Jeans has a really good atmosphere and a nice seating arrangement, but the service and at times, the cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired! And while the coffee is of good quality, they do not have a great range of food (definitely nothing that provides for allergies) and is not always fresh!

Dr Catherine Renzaho is our local GP and is one of the lovliest women I have ever met. She has a family of her own but is still hard-working and dedicated. She always makes time for our family and does whatever it takes to address our family's needs. She is caring and patient. She is always very busy and it can be difficult to get an appointment at times but she always makes time to children under 5 years of age. Highly recommended!

Grimshaw Street Clinic is my local doctor's surgery. The receptionists are lovely girls and the doctors there are great. My GP is Dr. Renazho and she is so lovely, dedicated and hardworking. The Clinic is of very high quality and while always busy, always makes emergency appointments for under 5 year olds. The clinic also provides access to audiologists, psychologists and dieticians.

My two children attend this child care centre once a week while I go to uni. The staff there are lovely and genuine. You can tell that they are dedicated to their work and genuinely love kids. ABC Centres have good structured activities but the kids aren't pressured into joining in. The programs are fun but also educational at the same time. The Centre has good age groups for each room (Nursery, Junior Toddlers, Senior Toddlers, Pre-Kinder and then an additional kindergarten program). At the moment, both of my kids are in the nursery room but my son will be moving up to the senior toddlers next week. They are really good at accomodating routine and children's individual needs and also have an orientation period for children and parents before starting at the centre and before moving up to another room. The Centre has good sunsmart etc. policies and can accomodate for allergies. THere is a high awareness of peanut and other serious allergies. My only complaint would be that, as my son has coeliac disease (intolerance to gluten), they don't really provide for him that well. They just give him mashed vegies (baby food and he is almost 2 years old) because they don't have any gluten free products. Their solution is that I bring food for him but at over $60 a day I think they could buy a loaf of gluten free bread so he could have sandwiches with the other kids!

Approximate cost: $60 per day (Child Care Benefit is available)