Moving to Winchester...schools and areas

[pickles2010]

I hope this is the correct place to post for advice. We have decided to move to Winchester to be closer to husbands work. Moving down from Surrey with 3 kids only my DS of 6 is school age going into Year 2 in Sep, looking at the Ofsted reports for the state primary schools, very impressive . My question is, if we buy a house in the catchment area of either St. Faiths or St. Bedes in the hope of gaining a spot in those schools - what are our chances? I can see those two schools were oversubscribed in 2015. I would also consider Private but not Pilgrims as I'm not keen on boys only for primary. Is there any need to go Private when the State schools are so exceptional? Also, what is the most family friendly area in Winchester? I like the idea of living in the city centre and being able to walk everywhere and to the station as may be going back to work in London - are there many Mums commuting to London for work? Thanks so much for answering these random questions!

[blueberryhedgehog]

Sorry but I'd say you have virtually no chance of getting into St Faiths or St Bedes.
St Faiths is a lovely tiny little school but you literally have to live in the few surrounding streets to get in (and even then you might not as it's very popular) St Bedes is a much bigger school but again very popular and always massively over subscribed.
To be honest most Winchester schools are good the worst are probably Stanmore (although nice houses!) and Winnall.
All of Winchester is pretty family friendly (a lot of uni student houses in Stanmore though) but be aware that if you are looking to live in the town centre that house prices are very high. A London commute from Winchester would be more than possible though - a lot of people do it.

[Florabella]

Going into yr 2 you have better chance of getting a space at either the new Westgate or Western as places eased up because of the new school being built. Both great schools.

[winchesternanny]

I think with your son being older - going into year 2; you may have a range of choices - best to call around.

To be fair most of Winchester is walkable and is a lovely city - great for walking home from the train station rather than paying for parking.

Have you looked at any specific areas?

[winchesternanny]

Oh and yes lots of mums commuting to London = hence a BIG nanny contingency :)