Schools and housebuying

MoneySavingUser

Rightmove has a section in each advert which shows the local schools.

I don't have any children so haven't paid attention to it in the past. However I have had a look at a few lately and the local schools in some of the areas I have looked seem to have quite poor ratings.

I would be interested in hearing some opinions:

How much attention do you pay to the local schools when looking at a property?

Have you ever bought a house in a specific area because of the schools there?

Have you passed on a larger/cheaper house to buy one where the schools are better?

Have you moved house specifically so that your children can go to better schools?

Any other comments about schools and housebuying?

Hoploz

Ofsted changed their method of inspecting in 2013 so many schools which performed well under the previous framework ended up doing badly under the new criteria. My area has great schools but a number have gone directly from Outstanding to Requires Improvement in one step. Every primary school within 3 miles of here is currently RI but it's a traditionally good area and the schools are fine - they are all now under constant scrutiny to get the bit of paper that says they're ok again.

charlamine

When we bought the house we are in now we paid no attention to schools. Raising a family in this house was never the plan, unfortunately house prices crashed and we have ended up here raising a family.

One of main reasons for selling is daughter starts school in September next year, schools where we are are awful and have been for ages, and the reports specifically rate low on behaviour and teaching which are my main concerns.

The house we are buying I read the of stead reports of the schools in advance and used this narrow down the area we wanted to live. I wasn't bothered if a school had been rated RI but more about the specific reasons that this was the case, if the teaching and behaviour had been given an overall good feedback then that was fine,

We did discount 2 new build sites because of local schools having bad reviews.

clint_S

Schools are important and one of the first things I check out, but I have 3 school aged children. I look at the last few results for the nearest few school on the OFSTED website not just the current results as the OFSTED reports contain comments on why the school was ranked the way it is and this can sometimes mean a school listed as a needs improving simply was given this rating due to a new head teacher or young staff.


I only used rightmove school checker to give an idea of the schools, although the local authority can sometimes state completely different schools that the house comes under.

Rambosmum

We bought a 3 bed semi, a family home though considered it unlikely we'd raise a family here. We were concerned about the quality of schools due to resale potential, if you buy a 'family' home you'll likely sell to families who will care about that sort of thing.

ed67812

I'm in the Midlands so don't know what the rest of the UK is like. But over the past couple of decades, there seems to be an ebb and flow with schools. Then add in the changes to Ofsted and it is not as simple as those ratings.

Teachers have told me it is true; that often a state school can be brilliantly directed by a quality head teacher. Then a few years pass; the super head is head-hunted to a poor performing school, the demography of the area changes a little and all of a sudden the school starts to dip in the league tables. In the meantime, the terrible school has had money / grants injected, the super head has brought in quality staff (thinking Educating Yorkshire!) and all of a sudden the school is on the up.

I think long term planning of school placements / catchments is a lot harder than it may seem

DandelionPatrol

ed67812 wrote: »

I'm in the Midlands so don't know what the rest of the UK is like. But over the past couple of decades, there seems to be an ebb and flow with schools. Then add in the changes to Ofsted and it is not as simple as those ratings.

Teachers have told me it is true; that often a state school can be brilliantly directed by a quality head teacher. Then a few years pass; the super head is head-hunted to a poor performing school, the demography of the area changes a little and all of a sudden the school starts to dip in the league tables. In the meantime, the terrible school has had money / grants injected, the super head has brought in quality staff (thinking Educating Yorkshire!) and all of a sudden the school is on the up.

I think long term planning of school placements / catchments is a lot harder than it may seem

So if you don't have children, it is worth a punt on a property in a poor catchment area .... after all, it cannot get worse and might get better.

jjlandlord

For outstanding schools the catchment area is not all, you also need to consider the distance to the schools as it is likely that they will be heavily over-subscribed.

A good family house (e.g. 3 bed semi), in a good area, within guaranteed distance from an outstanding school will sell instantly with a bidding war in my experience.

Note also that good schools are usually in good areas, while poorly rated schools will usually be in (much) less attractive areas.
There is a very strong correlation.

PasturesNew

I've no children, so have never noticed anything in the RM adverts re schools.... the only time I notice/chuckle about anything is when they're advertising a studio flatlet and say it's close to schools and I wonder who they expect to be buying it

I'll go and look up my house now.... see what it says.

Three schools within 1/4 of a mile: Primary and junior 4, 1, 1. Within one mile three Secondary 3, 2, 1.

No idea what that means.

Dird

I don't even have a girlfriend and yet I was discarding houses based on the likelihood of not getting into good high schools

ed67812

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

So if you don't have children, it is worth a punt on a property in a poor catchment area .... after all, it cannot get worse and might get better.

Perhaps a bit oversimple, but then I did once twist on 19 when the dealer was showing a five. (Never play blackjack when drunk and trying to impress a girl into thinking your James Bond like).

I just think that when buying in your mid 20s, looking at having kids at 30ish who will not be in school for a decade from when you move in.......there is no guarantee that the amazing school down the road doesn't do a Bradford / Swindon / Leeds Utd style drop from the top flight.