Where would you move to for schools in NE?

[Flippinfurloughed]

I’m a single parent of a year 3 child currently at a small private school.

I can’t afford it, I could barely afford it before this, but we are now at breaking point. I few hugely guilty for needing to move my child, so please don’t berate me, I am genuinely trying to do my best.

So, If you could go anywhere in the North East, where would you live and where would you choose for schools?

We currently have small class sizes so to swop to somewhere with 3 classes in a year of 30 kids a class would probably be too overwhelming, therefore I’m assuming smaller village schools may be more appropriate?

Help!

Fylingthorpe near Whitby might be worth a look? It has an one-form entry,small primary school link. There are shops within the village, but it is only a 10 minute drive/ 30 minute bike ride to Whitby which is larger. all the best x

Where do you mean by NE? Where do you work?

When we lived in Gosforth, Newcastle DS1s school was a small single form entry, made even smaller as a school by the fact that Gosforth is under 3tier school system (1st, middle and upper schools)
When we moved to rural Darlington (for work) we ended up with the shock that was a huge school 3.5form entry (500 capacity) but actually they were slightly better at addressing needs (as they could set by ability in certain subjects & have SEN resources / teachers) and were very good at making sure the kids weren't overwhelmed by the size of the school. We were very worried about the transition but he adapted fantastically and did exceedingly well in his SATs before he left.
Secondary provision in Darlington is a real issue so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as an area but just wanted to illustrate that larger schools shouldn't necessarily be feared.

If your child y3 I would be thinking more about high school than primary. Where I am we had a choice of about 5 outstanding and (very) good primary schools, however there are only two local high schools and I'm not keen on either.

Whitley bay has good schools, both primary and high schools. I believe wickham does also.

I'd start with catchment for secondary, and work backwards from that.
You may well not get a space at a preferred primary for Y3. We got a pair of spaces at a primary walking distance from our new address a year ago. DS1 is due to start at one of the schools on the state list above in September.