Would you move house to get your child into a good school's catchment area?

daisiegg

Not sure if it counts, but when we bought our house one of the main considerations was making sure it was near good schools. This was before we were even married and were years away from having children.

FBaby

I strongly believe as it has been mentioned that it depends on your child's need. My experience is that schools tend to either focus on very able and SEN children and tend to leave out those in the middle or the opposite.


The schools my children have been to have tended to do very average in terms of SATS/GCSEs and Ofsted reports, but, they were schools that gave a lot of attention to very able children. It suited my children perfectly and they have done very well in that environment. However, one of my friends is considering taking her son out. He is a clever boy, but a bit lazy and shy, and likes to blend in but because he does ok, he doesn't get much attention from teachers. He would do better in a school that gives attention to those who do ok but could do better with more motivational type of work.


I really believe that the only good school is the one that children and parents visit together and all feel it is right for them.

silvercar

We sent our children to different secondary schools, precisely because we wanted to make sure the needs of each child were met.

themull1

No i wouldn't.

nickj_2

surely one criteris for getting in to a school is the amount of time lived in the area , a few years ago my local primary had 40 kids chasing 30 places for the reception class , one family rented for 6 months and got in , whilst a friend who already had kids at the school didn't , both parents had attended the school as did their parents , they lived i a neighbouring village which was meant to come in the catchment area

Spendless

I did, but with regard to Secondary education.There's 17 Secondary schools where I live but only a handful I'd want mine at. I moved into the Catchment of one of them before son was 2. The school concerned could have declined in the meantime, but knowing the areas well I thought it unlikely to decline to the level of some schools that I wouldn't consider.

I paid less attention to the Primary years, and though the Infant school improved during my kids time there, their Junior school declined to the point it's just gone into special measures. Youngest has only a few months left though before she goes into yr7, so am not overly concerned.

Hippipal

Schools were part of the reason we bought the house we are currently living in.

poet123

We factored school catchment into every move even before we had children.

emmmski

Yes, without a doubt.

We moved last year purely for Schools. My DD did not get into the primary school of our choice, and with no right of appeal, we accepted our fate. She spent 3 years there , throughout which I was disappointed. It was a tough decision to move, despite my issues with her progress and the school, she was very happy, had friends and didn't want to move.
We've more than doubled our monthly rent to live where we live now. We live in a house that we could never afford to buy, in an affluent area with outstanding schools. So the move has come at a price in terms of our lifestyle. some people think I am completely mad, But it really was the right decision, for me and my family and I have no regrets. I did not want regret not moving. You only get one shot at School education. :-)

wik

Yes....
36 years ago my parents did this on paper to get me into a secondary school!
what they did was say to the school that they were living in a house in the town the school was in (it was house of a work collegue of my dads)- it was over the county border from where we actually lived... I can remember the first few months at the school - when people would ask where i lived! and i had to remember to give them the street that parents had told the school about!!
was awkward sometimes when others at school wanted to call to play! but got round it by saying we had hobbies most days
Luckily it only lasted a term! then we 'moved'... so once my brother was ready to go up to secondary cos i was there he was allowed