Primary schools, Ushaw Moor, Durham county

[RamonaCP]

Hello everyone!
We will be moving soon to Ushaw Moor and want to find a school for our son before September 2021. In close proximity to our place, there are Silver Tree and St Joseph's Roman Catholic. Can anyone give me some feedback, please? Are there any other schools in the area, that we should consider? We would like to find a primary school which is a feeder for a secondary, ideally. Many thanks.

If you're on Facebook join the Mums in Durham group, lots of this type of question on there.

Secondary admissions are mainly done by distance from school although those attending Catholic primaries i.e. St Josephs currently have a slight priority for the Catholic secondary, which is often oversubscribed by baptized Catholics who have highest priority.

Ps it's County Durham not Durham County

Do you actually know either school has spaces for the right age group? We had no choice in schools just a bit further south - it was the one with spaces or nowhere. You might not get much choice.

Thank you. :-)

@PeonyTime I really don't know. My son is 8, currently in year 3, so he'd be year 4, in September. Haven't looked into it as yet.

Many primaries outside the Durham City area areundersubscribed (I'm v close to Ushaw); the council website has lots of info on reception age admissions which will give you a decent idea of where there are likely to be spaces.

@OverTheWater thank you. Very useful.
A bit OT, but, if you're close to Ushaw, and lived there for some time, can you, please, tell me what's your opinion about this area? We are in the process of purchasing a house in Ushaw, we love the area. We love Durham City and County Durham :-)

My dc are having an idyllic rural childhood and the area is perfectly nice with plenty going on for kids. My dh wouldn't dream of living anywhere else. There are pockets of rural deprivation around and some university related snobbery.

I get frustrated with being a bit remote without being truly rural and we are about to move into the city so as to be closer to the secondary schools. But quality of life is far better than we could afford in the SE!

The only feeder school (or partner schools as they’re called in this case) is the Catholic primary into the Catholic secondary in Durham city, St Leonard’s. It’s only the Catholic schools in Durham that now have this arrangement.

There are quite a few primary schools within easy reach of Ushaw Moor so you shouldn’t have to travel too far to find one.

@OverTheWater thank you very much for sharing this with me. I really appreciate it!
If I don't ask too much, what would be your recommendations for primary schools in the area? I've looked t Silver Tree and I think it's ok. I have also looked at its Ofsted report; however, I don't trust this much. I have just qualified as a teacher and I have a better understating of these reports now. :-)
What do you think about Neville's Cross Primary?
PS: I have asked to join the fb group you've mentioned, but until then...
Thank you.

@NotAnotherPushyMum thank you! What primary schools would you recommend, please? :-)

We preferred a city centre school for commuting and childcare reasons so my comments reflect that . . .

Nevilles Cross, together with St Margarets and St Oswalds, is a very popular and very good school (including with the university "in crowd"). Nevilles Cross has the better pastoral care reputation, maybe slightly less academic. All three are more likely to be oversubscribed than the ones in Ushaw.

Personally I was really drawn to the Catholic primaries but our local is split form entry and e.g. this year only had 8 in the reception class which I felt was just too small.

Nevilles Cross Primary is lovely, but the ones around there tend to be oversubscribed, but you might get lucky. There’s the schools in Esh Village, New Brancepeth, Bearpark, Langley Park, Esh Winning, all within a short drive.

@OverTheWater, @NotAnotherPushyMum thank you so much!