Only freedom will do

smallholdingsister

It doesn't matter whether there are formal assessments.
There will still be assessments that get passed on.
I take your point, Ed, but try teaching your child a subject regularly after a long day at work when you have household duties to attend to and the child has been convinced by the school that they are crap at it and so they really don't want to take part.
I knew your Ma was a teacher - your Dad too?

Karmacat

I'm still in shock at the prices for your target of £150k, Ed, I'm hoping for a one-bed flat when I downsize :eek:

Goldiegirl

It looks like you'll be able to get a lot of house for your budget, Ed


When we were having a half hearted look around the other week, the prefect apartment by the river was £220,000, and that's in a cheaper area of Kent.


If we ever downsized, I've assumed we'd stay in Kent, or if not, somewhere in the south, but we have no real family ties now. If we looked further north, we could buy a really nice place, and have lots of equity in the bank.


But I have good friends around here, so I probably wouldn't go too far

edinburgher

I take your point, Ed, but try teaching your child a subject regularly after a long day at work when you have household duties to attend to and the child has been convinced by the school that they are crap at it and so they really don't want to take part.

Well, I will be trying my best to be an involved parent, I realise there are limits to what even good teachers can achieve.

I suppose what the school/house link boils down to is the fact that there is a £100k premium for a good house in a 'good' school area. We are 'competing' with senior managers, execs, doctors and the like. While we can't match their salary/debt leverage, we can trash their savings rate, but it takes time to build the equity.

I am feeling that we'd be happier in a nice family home with a slightly less well regarded primary school than a tiny box in the best school area, moving before secondary school.

There are limits to our selflessness, I think that I would resent paying for a tiny box that doesn't meet our needs just for schooling...

I knew your Ma was a teacher - your Dad too?

Headmaster

I'm still in shock at the prices for your target of £150k, Ed, I'm hoping for a one-bed flat when I downsize

I can believe that. The cutesy 2 bed terraces we used to love in Bromley (not even real Lundun) have gone up by £150k? in the 6 years since we left :eek:

When we were having a half hearted look around the other week, the prefect apartment by the river was £220,000, and that's in a cheaper area of Kent.

Sure I could find something in Broadstairs for that, was always very taken with Broadstairs

smallholdingsister

Just looking out for Baby J as one of her MSE Godmothers! X

edinburgher

smallholdingsister wrote: »

Just looking out for Baby J as one of her MSE Godmothers! X

Thank you!

I value the value of all levels of schooling, IYSWIM. I just need to make realistic choices about where we can get best bang for our buck. I honestly believe that would be 'normal' primary school followed by as good a secondary school as our house can muster

DD always in our thoughts when making decisions :beer:

biglass

Sorry to pop up as a lurker Ed! Poking my nose in re schools- Scottish primaries very much assess and influence where children are placed in secondary school,just no SATS involved. As do children's peer groups. A "heads up" also too re moving home and your daughter's school before secondary- it will feel very far away at this moment in time when she is a baby- but the reality is she will have friends and security in her primary school and transition to secondary can be tough enough - DD doing it without what and who she knows around her may be very sore on her. Even a school move at primary level is hard for a lot of children and it's difficult to know just how resilient children turn out to be, despite parents best efforts and hopes! Have you had a look at cheaper areas of eg Bearsden( there are some!) which have catchment to a good academy? Maybe smaller house in good area now with potential to add an extension in the future?
I'll shut up now! All the best!

AlexLK

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm going to be controversial and say that primary schools don't matter all that much

We are looking at two types of areas - good value, less fancy areas and the areas with the 'right' schools - hefty premium, tiny houses.

Personally, I think finding the right school for your child (which isn't necessarily the 'best' on paper) matters a lot. However, I think in cities it is harder to get a child into a school away from your area?

edinburgher wrote: »

You know what? I don't even think about our wants so much when I'm looking at houses, tend to be more focused on DD and future sibling (probably stop at 2). We saw a house the other day where half the garden was covered with a massive workshop, a typical 'man cave' where the Dad spent the day tinkering with boats. It left us cold, we couldn't stop talking about how the needs of the parents had been prioritised over the children so that they had nowhere to play outside!

Kids love making and fixing things, one of my son's favourite things to do is 'helping' me with cars and restoring furniture. Often he has an option not to do it but he wants to learn about such things and finds it fun. What you and your wife thought was going on may be true but the boats may well be a family activity, one that is fun and allows the kids to learn quite a few skills from. How do you know what your daughter and future siblings want at this stage?

Not trying to be harsh and I think it's great that your priority is your child(ren), so is mine but having a child does not have to mean having no hobbies of your own. Nor does it mean potentially conforming to parenting stereotypes.

edinburgher wrote: »

I'd like either a garage or enough room to build one. Like most people (maybe not you with the classic cars), the garage is basically a great space for storage, DIY and general hiding from the missus :rotfl:

:rotfl: I'll admit my wife and I bought our house based on as much land as we could afford (not much, just less than an acre), the house being detached (didn't matter back then that it was in an awful state ... the fact we managed to mortgage it was a bit of a miracle) and lots of space for cars / messing about with cars / working on cars...

Unfortunately no hiding from the Mrs in this place ... the fact I met her at a classic car meet probably says it all. Glad when she goes to work in all honesty most days.

newgirly

Hi ed, I completely understand your views on schooling when they are young, but im not sure how to put this nicely but i found it preferable to get mine into a better school as the local one (in our first place) had mums in pjamas at the school gates

Although you have control over how much imput goes into learning at home, you have no influence over their delightful peers! You will see what i mean when your dd has that devil child round for dinner after school :eek: there is always one :rotfl: seriously though, ive never regretted moving for schools and i know my kids have achieved much more being lucky enough to go to "outstanding " ones (even if our bank manager doesnt agree )

I wish you all the best with the house hunt

midnight_child

Virtually everyone on this board seems to be a teacher. Cant you just arrange web based home schooling?