Good Mixed Secondary schools in Buckinghamshire or Hertfordshire

Not many Cedars kids go to Aylesbury . Most LB kids stick to the two schools. Some venture to MK.

I wasn't too sure if it snuck over the border , tbh. Was going with OP's confident assertion!

The Cottesloe is in Wing which is in Bucks, Piggy! I am a local. It is a secondary modern and of course the children who get the 11 plus will go into Aylesbury for the Grammars. Unfortunately the Grammars in Aylesbury are full and often remain so. Although that could change for y9 in Sept but then there is the testing to go through. Even if DCs pass that, they still won’t get into a grammar if there are no spaces.

The Cottesloe is one of the better secondary moderns. I haven’t looked at it regarding spaces and I haven’t looked for Cedars either. However if OP doesn’t have an address here yet, I’m not sure how that works for The Cedars. Also some DC from the Leighton Buzzard area could well get into Bucks Grammars as the MK children do. That alters the intake for The Cedars too.

I live in a village near LB. LB a nice place to live out of the local towns. The villages all round are v nice if you like countryside.

Train wise LB is good to get to London.

If you want a private school Berkhamsted is good but price of housing in Berko is high

ps it's not High School - Cedars Upper School is its name. You may get confusions if you use the term High School!

Cedars is a nice school with good standing in the community. Cottesloe does not have such a good reputation (partly because it is closer to bucks so the most able can be creamed off to grammar schools across the border). Leighton Buzzard is just a very ordinary town : nothing outstanding about it. Check out the catchment of Cedars as there are some very pleasant villages nearby , such as Woburn, but this may not be catchment for Cedars.

If you haven't checked out Harlington Upper, I'd recommend looking at that, too.

someone else has suggested it already but you should consider Bedfordshire as it's a truly comprehensive county and is a 3 school system with children entering the final stage of their education at upper schools in year 9. There are some quite well performing schools - you could look ar Redbourne in Ampthill (Ampthill a v lovely small town) , Harlington which is a village just to the north of Dunstable and on the main train line into London or Vandyke and Cedars in Leighton Buzzard as these schools all do consistently quite well. Good luck with the move OP

The MK admission information is all on the MK Council web site.

No you won’t. MK is s separate education authority. The schools are all comprehensive but like anywhere, some are better than others. It will depend on vacancies.

True, but if you looked on the Bucks County Council website you wouldn't find any info about schools/vacancies, I presume? I've no idea as I've never looked.

Maybe not @timeforachange but if she's coming from abroad and looking in the county - it is in Buckinghamshire, has fantastic rail links North South (35 minutes to Euston), the M1, will shortly have the East West rail link, and has comprehensive secondary schools, tons of green space, and lots going for it as a place to live. It's also a lot cheaper than many of the other towns mentioned that are closer to London.

Milton Keynes is not Bucks as far as schools go. There are no comprehensives in Bucks.

Stowe have reduced their day fees I believe. If you can pay, the fee paying schools are very different from the Milton Keynes comprehensives and Secondary moderns in Bucks.

Year 9 isn’t catered for in the prep schools named above. None of these schools are around Herts/Bucks either. Berkhamsted School is the obvious co-Ed private one in this area.

Buckinghamshire County Council lists which schools have vacancies. Google Bucks CC School vacancies. The list was current this week. Obviously it changes. However you won’t get a place in any school unless there is a vacancy, even if you take exams at 12 and 13 plus and pass for a grammar school place. You also need to be resident because schools cannot hold vacancies open. You could take exams for Chesham High and ask them what their position is regarding vacancies. Others will
probably be doing the same. However is DC up to speed with the curriculum here? Sometimes where this is not the case, DC go a year down in private (fee paying) schools. So you could approach Berkhamsted and see what they say. If you didn’t want Co-Ed you would have more choice. You could also look at Stowe in
Bucks near Buckingham.

Not all Bucks is Grammar. Milton Keynes has the comprehensive system.

Many of those are primary age. Claire's Court is Maidenhead, not Bucks. Bucks private don't have a great academic reputation because those who can use grammar schools. Piper's Corner (not mixed though) has a growing reputation. St Mary's gets mixed reviews.

Private schools are good, there’s Dair House, St Mary’s, Maltmans, Highmarch, Claire’s Court, few others too.
Think Dair House is the only mixed sex one though out of those. The privates tend to be single sex.

Comprehensive is a state school that takes all abilities. Grammar schools the children have to take an exam. Bucks is an all grammar/Upper school system so if your child doesn't pass they go to an Upper School which is missing the "top" 30%, or at least the 30% who passed the exam. Great system if they pass, terrible system if they don't.

Comprehensive is mixed ability across the school. However Bucks has selective schools, a two tier system. Those not in the grammars are in secondary modern schools with relatively fewer higher ability students. At year 9 you really need to stay put until year 11/gcse is finished. Swapping may mean lack of continuity in choice of subjects and even different exam boards and topics within the same subject.

Not "if you can". Avoid Khalsa school.

Wycombe High is grammar though too. There’s the 12+ and 13+ but by Yr9 not sure you have hope of getting in.
Are you looking for comprehensive?
There’s Beaconsfield Secondary, Chalfont Community College, Bourne End Academy.
Avoid Khalsa School if you can.