Where to live in Chester for schools?

[Februaryschild2023]

Looking to relocate to Chester in next couple of years- if you know the area, where would you recommend for best schools (mainly secondary).

DC1 would be in probably year3 and DC2 starting reception so appreciate school place availability might dictate a lot.

Christleton/Upton keep cropping up but is it a nightmare to get in if you're not in feeder primaries?

Any inside info much appreciated!

Bishop Heber is an outstanding school in Malpas.
Malpas and surrounding villages (Tilston, Farndon, Shocklach etc) are all lovely but not great transport links into the centre.

St Peter's in Rossett, it's close to Chester (on the Wales side) and the high school there is a pod one

A 'good' one

Ah thanks I hadn't thought of schools slightly out of the city. Are the catchments pretty big do you know, as we're keen to be relatively close to chester itself

Not sure that the criteria is based on feeder primaries. Possibly on distance from school. Do check it out before you commit to a house. It’s a lovely area to live in with lots of great primary and secondary schools.

Btw my experience is recent, in the last couple of years.

Christleton is the best state secondary, with most of the feeder primaries in the area being excellent so general CH3 region is good although getting into a primary may be difficult!

Tarporley second best secondary if you're prepared to go a bit further out.

I'd avoid Upton / CH2 for secondary, might be ok for primaries but the high school has gone downhill.

Again if you're prepared to go a bit further up the Wirral has some excellent grammar schools although single sex. It's not unheard of for children living in Chester to get into the Wirral grammars but it is distance based so not a guarantee.

You didn't mention if independent schools are an option but I'd say that uptake is generally high for the area and many do go on to Kings / Queens / Abbey Gate College.

Good to know, thank you

Thanks, good to have recent local knowledge- wasn't sure if the Ofsted report tallied with the current reality, but good to hear it does! It sounds like the villages east of Chester might be a good shout then, if Christleton is the aim.
Grammars might be an option but wary about putting all our eggs in that basket in case it doesn't go to plan (and moving from Trafford so know about the possible heartache of grammars!)

My daughter is at Christleton High currently (her sister finished A-levels there last year.

dd1 bright student and was very well supported to do as well academically as she could. Finished with x2 A*s, an A and an A star for EPQ.

dd2 less academic and has had some real struggles with mental health over the past few years. The school have been excellent. Really supportive and have put a lot of additional measures in place to help her. They have also been kind. Kind to her and kind to us. It’s a big school but we’ve been made to feel that her welfare matters to them.

@Rutaceae that's great to hear, particularly for your second daughter. My eldest is currently in a small village primary which is heavily focused on the pastoral side of things, so it's good to hear that this is the case even at a large secondary.

The last OFSTED inspection for Christleton High was done almost 10 years ago so I would not make your decision purely on that!

If you do want your child to go there, best to get them into a feeder primary or live very nearby as it is oversubscribed. If you look on the Cheshire west & Chester council website in the starting secondary school booklet it shows you what the criteria is for entry if they are oversubscribed and how far down that criteria list they got last year before they were full.

My DC go to Upton High and are very happy there - no issues, nice friends, good teaching and excellent predicted GCSE grades. 6th form is outstanding. We live locally so they walk or cycle to school. If you don't live in christleton that would probably not be possible at CHS due to it being a village just off a busy main road

I would avoid Blacon High due to poor academic standards and behaviour. Also no 6th form.

We also avoided Bishops High because so many people I know who send their kids there have complained about bullying and poor behaviour. I don't know if that's just a coincidence though? I literally only know one person who's kids have not had issues there. But their ofsted report is good!

This is the document

www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/documents/education-and-learning/schools/admissions/secondary-school-guide-2022.pdf

To get into CHS last year they took all criteria 1 (looked after children), 2 (medical etc needs), 3 siblings, then 4 children living in catchment but only up to 1.250

They never got to criteria 5 which was partner/ feeder schools.

Ah thanks for this, looks like a very small catchment so will bear in mind

Hi, looking for a bit of advice please! I was just wondering if it’s likely my child would get into a school in Cheshire if we lived just across the border in Wales? We are relocating from the south and there isn’t a great deal of rental properties so we might have to widen our area….

Could you tell me what school you went to? My daughter in y1 has Ehcp and I’m looking to move to somewhere near Nantwich as I’ve been offered a job there x