moving from Italy to Oxford advice fo primary and where to rent

[paola76]

HI, we are moving from Italy to Oxford in july and we need advice about schools and the place to rent a hause. Our children are 5, 4 and 1 month. At the moment, they don?t speak english at all. We suppose it would be best to choose and contact a school, and if they were to accept the children we would then look for accomodation in the area. We would like the two children to attend the same school, so probabily we have to look for a primary with nursery. Ideally, a "child-friendly" area, with families, parks, a good children center and other facilities for children would be the first choice. At the moment I?m on maternity leave but I?m a very active person so I need to stay at walking distance to a lively area. I have the feeling that Cowley might be ok for us but we have never been to Oxford and all the ideas we have about areas come from the internet. My housband is going to work at the Headington Hospital but communting will not represent a problem. I would appreciate advice about the following schools and their surroundings : Larkrise Primary, Cutteslow. All the schools with nursery around Headington are in Marston, is that a nice place? !!!!! Last but not least, our budget is around 1500-1800 pounds pcm for 3 bedrooms and a small garden.
Thank you for your help
Paola

[Bekabeech]

It is not that easy! Sorry.

You need to be in the UK to officially apply for a school place. Also for somewhere like Oxford the schools are likely to be full, which means the local authority Oxfordshire has to find you a school place for your children, but it may well not be at the closest school to your house.

If your 5 year old will not be 6 before 1st September, then they will be going into year 1 next year. Similarly your 4 year old if they do not become 5 before 1st September, then they will be going into Reception class, which is actually the first year of schooling, and all schools will offer this.
Almost no schools will offer a nursery which will take a baby, so your 1 month old is irrelevant.

However, the good news is there is a lot of movement in Oxford, so you may well be able to find school places.

The final bit of bad news is, that the traffic in Oxford can be awful. So I would suggest you start house hunting with a view to living somewhere convenient for your husband's job. Headington is pretty nice itself.

[paola76]

I was not looking for a place for my 1 month but I thought my second son (4y in august) would have needed a nursery since many schools have 5 years as lower age range....

[Bekabeech]

All schools in Oxford start at 4, in fact I believe all state schools in England do so.

[maryoz]

you might look in new hinksey/grandpont. they have an excellent children's centre (grandpont) where kids go from babies until they start school. they then feed into either new hinksey/st ebbes. Both schools are fine though st ebbes is better regarded, class sizes are smaller at new hinksey. There are also a lot of europeans in the neighbourhoods. rents are in your range. the nice thing about the children's centre is that it has a nursery which keeps the kids until the term they turn 5 so you can avoid the madness of having a very young 4 year old start at reception. It is very popular however so am not sure how feasible it is to get a place. if you're in the catchment area for the children's centre I think they have to take your child for the nursery ... [ie from c. 3.5]. the only other thing is that it's not so close to the hospitals. though nowhere is far in Oxford and your partner could easily bike. the neighbourhoods have lots of young families, big parks, the outdoor pool, etc etc

[vessoxford]

Marston is ok, by the way. Not that many shops but otherwise fine.

[Zimbolino]

Agree with above posters re: schooling ages. The wording in England is confusing, Reception year is "rising fives" which means the academic year in which they turn 5.

If you like to be a part of things, then Marston is probably not the place for you. :). Headington has lots of shops, a some children's centres on the periphery. Grandpont as previously mentioned is very nice and is a short walk to the city centre. You might be able to afford a 3bed in Jericho/waterways which would set you up for the North Oxford schools and shops. Cowley is fairly dynamic but the schools are variable and it can feel really studenty on Cowley Road.

[paola76]

Thank you very much. We had a look at Grandpont and It might be our first choice even if schools don't seem to be good ( according to Ofsted report) and not meny so we are afraid to reduce our chances to be admitted to a school close to home...

[GColdtimer]

Might not be what you want but have you thought about the Europa school in culham? It's multilingual.