Merryl and Drew Robertson, of Flinders, this week sent their youngest daughter Piper, 5, off to start kindergarten at Flinders Public School where she will join her sisters Addison, 9, and Scarlett, 7.

"It's definitely a little bittersweet with Piper starting school, it's a bit like your babies have all left the nest," Mrs Robertson said.

"In saying that Piper's well and truly ready for school, she's looking forward to it and she's keen to start school and start learning new things."

The Robertsons live within walking distance of the school, which has made the transition easier.

"Addison was the same as Piper, she made the transition easily and looked forward to starting school, where as Scarlett was a lot more timid about it.

"The kids have grown up around the school and feel part of the community so by the time they were ready to start they were pretty familiar with it."

With the Robertsons living so close to Flinders Public, location played a part in where they decided to send their daughters, but cost was also a factor.

"We live just around the corner from the school and the location was definitely a part of our decision, but the financial side of things was definitely a big factor as well.

"We did look at an Anglican school in the area, but Greg Wells had just started as principal when we were making the choice and we'd heard nothing but good things about what he was doing."

According to the Australian Scholarships Group (ASG) Planning for Education Index, K-12 schooling for a child in the public system in regional NSW costs $54,421, compared to $161,231 for the systemic (religious) and $343,385 for the private system.

"When we were looking around we thought about the advantages they would get at the different schools, but so far we've been extremely happy with what they've got out of the public system.

"With the money we've saved from going with the public system we knew we could use that to fund any extra-curricular activities if they needed any.

"So far we haven't needed to, the teachers and staff have been great and they've given our girls a great education."

Mrs Robertson also praised the school for doing a good job in explaining costs to parents.

"Before our first orientation I wasn't really sure what to expect in terms of fees and that sort of thing, but the school gave us a lot of information and it really helped to understand it all."

While it might be a few years off yet, Mrs Robertson said her and her husband had started thinking about high school.