Move closer to secondary school - do it now or wait?

Davesnave

If your council have changed the allocation system, it won't be long before house prices in the favoured catchment reflect this, so moving sooner than later might be seen as prudent.

Whether it's sensible to become an accidental landlord is another matter, because there will be stresses involved in that sooner or later, which not everyone is cut out for. If you are sure you can cope with them, and you're fully conversant with what your responsibilities would be, fair enough. The legal side means you shouldn't just 'leave it to an agency.'

FBaby

Difficult decision. The problem is that during the next 4 years, many things can happen. When we moved to our area, we were shocked to find out that we didn't have a place in our local school because of the allocation rule that flavoured feeder schools over location. What happened is that because that school had an excellent ofsted report, whilst the other was failing, parents did the same as you and got their kids in the feeder schools which were not oversubscribed to get them a place in the school. This ended up with kids travelling all over the town as local kids then had no choice but to go to the failing one...

However, whilst we were thinking of what to do, the Headmaster of the failing school was replaced and the school started to sort out all their problems. 2 years later, the school is doing very well in every way....but suddenly, the other school ofsted report was downgraded and their SATS results were not as good as previous year. There are supposedly some issues coming up and parents are starting to be unhappy.

All of a sudden, some parents have decided to move their kids back to their local school (the one that was failing) and this school is starting to be oversubscribed now. The whole thing is starting to be ridiculous.

I would say only move there if it really is the house you want, not just on the basis that it will get your daughter to that school. There is too much time left before being certain that this is the school you would want for her.

By the way, just under a mile is exactly where we are to our local school, and that wasn't enough to get a space, so you might want to check that this would indeed insure a place to that school.

Davesnave

meritaten wrote: »

shouldn't your priority be your home? schools are important but, are not the be all and end all.
a good home base is vitally important for children.

No, the priority should be the children and ensuring they attend the right school for them.

Unfortunately, most parents see this as getting them into the school with the best statistics or reputation, but it's far more complex than that. Quite often little Johnny goes to the 'best' school and plods along, where he might have shone in a different environment.

Indeed, it's unlikely that many parents will find the info they need and/or have the independence of mind to make the best judgement.

Nevertheless, most children survive, and some shine later, despite the adults' plans for them!

aliasojo

mandi wrote: »

While I understand you want the best education for your children. the discussion will always remain that why should you be able to jump the queue, because you can afford to and effectively take places from someone else .

In saying that I gave a false address to get my children into the right school , so I understand your predicament klmwong:)

Not helpful really , but just saying

You're right, not helpful really.

If you have issues, take them up with the people who make the rules, not those who do their best to work within them. People who work legally I might add, unlike you who admit you lied and manipulated to get your child into the school of your choice.

Just saying.

meritaten wrote: »

shouldn't your priority be your home? schools are important but, are not the be all and end all.
a good home base is vitally important for children.

A good home base is important I agree but a good education lays the foundations for the rest of a child's life imo.

Despite there always being the possibility of schools changing, all you can do is work with what you know know, you can't foretell whether a school will get better or worse in time so why even bother considering this? All you can do is consider things as they are now.

I'd be moving asap if it were me, you don't appear to be in a situation where you would suffer from the move in any way, it's really just that you weren't expecting it so soon. Perhaps it's an omen? :D

Good luck.

Dunroamin

mandi wrote: »

While I understand you want the best education for your children. the discussion will always remain that why should you be able to jump the queue, because you can afford to and effectively take places from someone else .

In saying that I gave a false address to get my children into the right school , so I understand your predicament klmwong:)

Not helpful really , but just saying

Those two situations are totally different!:eek:

Dunroamin

meritaten wrote: »

shouldn't your priority be your home? schools are important but, are not the be all and end all.
a good home base is vitally important for children.

A "good home base" has very little to do with the property you live in.

duchy

My only reservation would be if things change at the school. Basically a school is as good as its head. Good heads get "headhunted" for better things. Today's top school in a town can be the failing school in two year's time with a change of head. Works the other way too-My son's school was failing when he started primary school-head was on "sick leave". The acting head who was given the permanent job when the old headmaster "retired" was fantastic and the school was rated second in the borough on results (from second to bottom) within three years. My son's year mostly went to grammer or independent selective schools on scholarships so a complete turnaround.

If you've only been looking for two weeks -what's to say your perfect house isn't going to come on the market in a month or six month's time ? I think you'd need to be very sure the compromises weren't a step to far (or at least investigate whether a loft extension is feasible both in the respect of cost and planning )before making such a big decision.

Spendless

My daughter is ending yr 5. Yesterday I got her application for Secondary school in the post. Here after children in public care, the next criteria is catchment, followed by feeder schools, then siblings, then other. If you are applying under feeder school criteria then you need to be there from the beginning of yr 5. Since I last filled one in (3 years ago for son) they have added the questions 'have you lived at this address for more than 6 months?', to give details of any other properties owned' and I think there was also details wanted about any BTL properties owned or if you were living in rented accommodation whilst owning a property elsewhere (can't check at min cos unsure where hubby has put paperwork!). So it looks like this area is being tightened up on.

Whether I went for house would depend on how much more likely I'd be able to get child in, if it's still border-line I might wait, if it becomes an extremely likely, then I'd go for it.

FBaby

My only reservation would be if things change at the school. Basically a school is as good as its head. Good heads get "headhunted" for better things.

This is so the case in my county, but not sure how reflective it is of all counties. The number of excellent schools that have gone done and those who were the worse ones being the oversubscribed one are incredible, all in the past 5-6 years. As a matter, there is only one secondary school out of about 8 that is always at the top. The others have gone up and down each time depending on the headteacher.

We were extremely lucky that we had a choice of two good secondary schools within our catchment area. One was much more popular though by parents who aspired to the best education for their children. We however decided we liked the other one much better on various factors. Two years later, our school has had the highest GSCEs results in town, whereas that other school has had shocking bad results. Could be a one year off, or the start of a trend.

jackyann

Councils do change the rules, schools' reputations change, and I know a "supposedly" good school where "distance from the gate" is measured in centimetres to see who qualifies each year.
Have you looked round the "rubbish school" for yourself? I have often found that schools are very different from the reputation that gossips give them (cuts both ways)
Just because the school is nearest doesn't mean you have to go there, you might well be able to attend another one, depending on geography & numbers. I would have a look around several and see what you think.

I really do think this Government should turn its mind to sorting out this debacle - it takes energy that would be better spent on making our kids feel valued & confident.