Princes Risborough School?

Would you look at Wing? Only 2 miles to the station at Leighton Buzzard (fast train to Euston takes 30 mins) & the Cottesloe school is a decent Bucks secondary. Also cheaper houses than Thame/wendover direction, though arguably because it’s not as nice! Leighton buzzard is ok as a town, it’s literally over the border in Bedfordshire (they have their own system of primary/middle/secondary schools which is unusual) but as a town it’s decent enough - lots of nice countryside too, with the canal running through it & good walks. Might be a bit out of your area but if you want commutable Bucks then may be worth a look if you haven’t already.

[quote TizerorFizz]@JSL52
You would have to look at admission stats to see if they get in every year. Birth rates, parental choices, 11 plus results, new houses etc all make a difference.[/quote]
Absolutely

@Frontloaded
Yes. That doesn’t surprise me. I would live in Thame and book a taxi for the station run if it’s not a daily journey! Or cycle.

may be siblings

You would be taking a risk with Haddenham. Last year the longest distance offered was 3.182 miles. The situation with Haddenham has swung up and down over the years. Entry is now 12 form, but more and more houses are being built in Thame. Children currently attending from Haddenham maybe siblings, or maybe there was less pressure on their year group, or they just live nearer to Thame - Haddenham is quite big.

@JSL52
You would have to look at admission stats to see if they get in every year. Birth rates, parental choices, 11 plus results, new houses etc all make a difference.

You would need to look at the admission stats for Lord Williams to see if children from Haddenham get in on a regular basis. I know they used to.

Wendover has a very strong community feel. I do know if well. There are certainly very many residential roads that are still very popular and within walking distance of the schools and the station. It is also very handy for amazing outdoor spaces.

Thank you so much Tizerorfizz. That’s good to know not all of wendover has been blighted by HS2, I will definitely look into that.

JSL52 Haddenham isnt in the catchment for Lord Williams unfortunately as that would definitely be a good option if it was!

Haddenham has a station and you can get in to Lord Williams from there. Friends kids went there.

Well although Winslow is getting a station it’s not linking with a quick route to London! It’s gong Oxford to Cambridge so I cannot see Winslow as being any good at all. The 6th form at RLS Buckingham would be vastly superior. Or one of the Aylesbury grammars.

Aylesbury is way cheaper than PR, Thame or Wendover. However you won’t find excellent secondary schools other than the grammars. You cannot walk to the station at Thame bug you can at Tring. Although the station is out of town, it’s a flat cycle route. However Tring isn’t cheap but it’s a comprehensive school there. Quite a lot can get into the Aylesbury grammars though! Tring isn’t on HS2 route. Neither is Thame.

Also in Bucks, you do not have to take the 11 plus. You can withdraw.

I would suggest OP that you might need to be a bit flexible over things, getting all your requirements: excellent school with no admission stress, no HS2 interference, walk to station, still affordable - might be quite tricky!
Note as an aside, Thomas Fremantle are closing their VI form, only current Y12/13 will complete.

at the mining!! At the moment has no playing fields. It’s also on a building site and looks unfinished.

The station for Thame is Haddenham and Thame Parkway in Haddenham. It’s not far from Thame. Closer snd much easier than Marlow to High Wycombe station which is not a pleasant drive in traffic! However the Elizabeth Line is coming to Maidenhead so that will change things.

I would not look at the secondaries in Aylesbury or PR to be honest. All have had problems on snd off for years. You will find some primary schools have the odd child that passes the 11 plus but if you want children that are brighter in greater numbers, look to leafy lane areas.

Leafy lane also applies to most secondary schools. Waddesdon is top because it selects on religion. It’s catchment is tiny. You cannot get in otherwise unless you are churchgoers. Then you can live miles away. The other sought after secondaries are The Misbourne in Gt Missenden and Aylesbury parents want The Cottesloe or John Colet. So look at these snd live in catchment. Wendover is still popular by the way. Houses are selling. Just a couple of roads are affected. PR is quite a nice place to live but I’d go to Thame every time. It’s way nicer. It isn’t more expensive than PR.

Village schools are sought after around PR. PR primary schools have never been great. People either go private or go to village schools such as Monks Risborough, Great Kimble and others.

The Sir Thomas Fremantle in Winslow looks like a warehouse for DC snd has, at the mining, no playing fields. Parents didn’t like Buckingham School so the STF opened but it’s not like the John Colet or The Misbourne. It has limitations to say the least!

Depending on where you need to get to in London, have you looked at transport by Oxford Tube? It is a fast and very frequent coach service between London and Oxford using the motorway and is much used by commuters.
It comes off the motorway at Lewknor to pick up and drop passengers. If it was suitable, you could easily live in the catchment for Lord Williams.

Thank you player456 that’s interesting to hear your nephew had a good experience there and also that your son passed the 11+ without tutoring :-) did you like the feel of the school (PR) when you looked around it?

@Peanutbutterandjams my nephew went there and enjoyed it and did well.

It has a poor reputation, though I'm not entirely sure why. I live in Aylesbury and know some mums who chose Mandeville over PR, which is bizarre to me.

I know nothing of the primary, my nephew went to Little Kimble for infants, then Cuddington for juniors.

I think that the emphasis on primaries is slightly exaggerated. My own DD went to a school in special measures in Aylesbury, but now goes to AHS -without tutoring, so a poor primary doesn't lead to a poor secondary.

I'd have been happy with PR for a secondary if either of my two had failed (I actually looked around it for my DS, but he passed the 11+), as all the secondaries (non-grammars), in Aylesbury are pretty poor.

My DS has autism. It wasn't diagnosed until later in his teens. I didn't think he stood a hope of passing and sounds quite like your DS. I didn't have him tutored either (I'm sadly too poor for that), but he pulled it out of the bag, so your DS may surprise you!

There is also Waddesdon? That has an excellent reputation, but you'd need to live very near to Waddesdon, which isn't near to where you want to go.

Thank you both for your replies. The issue with Thame and long crendon is they don’t have a station and marlow is two changes to london

Lord Williams's has an autism base and lots of experience with autism and ADHD. Though I believe you can only get a place in the autism base through an echp, the school has a lot of experience with SEN as a whole. It is 12 form entry now but years 7,8 and 9 are at one end of town with years 10-13 at the other end of town. So as far as the students are concerned it's like 2 separate schools that just happen to share teachers.

Risborough didn't used to have a good reputation but I've heard that it is improving. I'm not sure about more recently but house prices in Risborough used to be higher than Thame because Risborough has the train station for commuting.

To the more recent poster. From Risborough you will definitely not get a place at Lord Williams's. Thame has 3 good/excellent primary schools as well as lord williams. If your children are academic, you can also opt to take the Bucks 11+ as an out of county entry and several children from Thame each year do go to the grammars in Aylesbury.

I would choose Thame over Long Crendon purely on size, there are more facilities and things going on. Long Crendon is lovely but very villagey and you will spend half your life driving to Thame for kids activities!

How about Marlow then you have two excellent options in SWBGS and GMS.

Does anyone live in Princes Risborough and if so where do your children go to school (interested in primary and secondary responses) and are you happy with the schools?

There are road closures and diversions between Wendover and Great Missenden. The other side of the village doesn't seem to be effected too much so far, and houses are still selling.

Thanks GRW! Wendover is lovely but I would worry about the impact of HS2 there. Even if there won’t be a station there or the property immediately next to the line it is the disturbance caused by the constructing of the line there, diverted traffic etc. Do you know much about the level of impact of the HS2 in Wendover and Great Missenden?

What about Wendover? Close to Princes Risborough with a railway station close to the High Street, and the non grammar secondary school John Colet has a good reputation. It's in catchment for the 3 grammar schools in Aylesbury if they do pass the 11+.