Stay or move ?

[crazystar]

My daughter’s prep school closed, so she moved to an all-through school where she already had friends. She’s really happy, settled and we’ve also built a lovely community with the other parents.
But we’ve found a house nearby in a much better state-school catchment, with stronger onward options for secondary/high school. It would also mean we could move away from private school fees, saving us a significant amount and giving us a much better quality of life financially.
The dilemma is moving her again when she’s finally happy and settled.
Would you prioritise keeping her settled and happy, or make the move for the better catchment, future school options and huge financial saving?
What would you do?

It depends on a number of things.

How old is she? She’s at an all through school, so I might move at the normal transition between primary and secondary. In order to secure a place at your preferred school, you’d need to have moved before application.

I’d stay.

If this house is in catchment for a really good state school is there a high demand for it ? If you aren't ready to proceed how likely are you to buy it?
Where I live , outstanding state school catchment houses are snapped up quickly .
If your daughter is happy ,having already changed once then the stress of another move might not be fair on her.

She’s only 6 and it would be a in year application and yes a desirable area - our offer has been accepted on a house

Could you move house and keep her in the current school, then switch to state secondary when the time comes?

Or is there an official 'linked primary school' system so moving to state primary would give an advantage for getting into the preferred state secondary?

Yes this