to want to move to bognor but to worry about the kids education?

[Confusedmartie999]

We want to move to bognor for many reasons, cheaper rent, family nearby and a really good catholic secondary school in barnham.
However the catholic primary hasn't done well at all in recent years and my husband worries about job opportunities etc when they're older.
Are we right to worry?

I don't normally trawl through people's posting history because I think it can be rather bad form. However, I am getting so irritated by seeing the word Bognor in a thread with your name on it that I did, in fact, go and check your previous posts.

Whereupon I discovered that you have now asked for the same information on FIVE separate threads. At no point do you seem to use any of the answers you've been given because you just come back and ask the same fucking question again. And again. This is getting beyond ridiculous. By now, I suspect that you are unlikely to get any useful advice beyond "Stop It!"

In summary (since you also insist on using AIBU) I confirm YABU to even consider mentioning that coastal town in West Sussex again.

I'm with Summer. The same information is being given to you on multiple threads and you don't seem to be listening/engaging/moving forward with anything.

50% of children not speaking English

Having English as a second language does not mean that the children cannot speak English!

Bognor's a shithole, I'd stay in Horsham

It's not the immigrants and their English as a additional language children you wanna worry about anyway.

It's the natives. Nasty bunch of Britain First bothering chavs, whose idea of a good night out

Is buying a day pass to Butlins and then glossing someone on the dance floor.

Allegedly.

What questions have I not answered?
I don't know what you mean about something else going on other than utter confusion!
I worry about the kids education and whether I'm making the right choices for them as I'm sure all mothers do.
We haven't bought so are not tied to a certain area so I guess that doesn't help as we don't have a house to sell etc.
logically bognor makes sense for us but the school reaults aren't good compared to here and the English is a second language not an additional one, some of the teachers didn't seem convinced results would ever pick up whilst the % of kids going into school with no / limited English is so high.
I'm not a teacher and never have been so I have no idea if this is a problem at all,
I haven't purposely not answered questions, once some time has passed and I click " I'm on " nothing shows up!
Although obviously I'm purposely not replying to rude comments as those people don't need to comment in the first place :)

Poor kids. Going away to uni is what it's all about. Besides you have to pick the uni that had the best results in the subject you take. If you go to a shit uni it hinders your job prospects irrespective of what degree you have. Surely they would commute to London from Bognor for jobs or even Southampton

I think maybe I'm just a bit baffled by this Confused as I have lived in about 6 counties in 5 years and moving area is second nature. You just look at the area, weigh up the pros and cons and make a decision. Worrying about something that could happen 15 years in the future (they might want to stay at home when they get their first job, for example) is overkill IMO. How do you think all the other teenagers/young adults in Bognor manage?
Go to the area and look around. Look at the schools. Talk to the head teachers. Make a decision. You never know what will happen in get future and could move to Scotland in 5 years time!

Summer you're massively rude. Going through OPs posting history and then demanding she stop asking about Bognor is ridiculous.

OP....I've done the same thing with a big life choice here before too....there's NOTHING wrong with asking for advice again because some things are hard to decide.

I would consider how that 50% of English as a 2nd language will immpact the high school in a few years though OP. Because it will.

Mrsnextdoor,
Thankyou very much for your reply. People can be very nasty sat behind these screens, maybe in real life too who knows, but it's clear I'm struggling to make a decision and sometimes people from the outside are really helpful at putting things into perspective! My husband said the same thing with the secondary school however my way of thinking was surely, even if kids are starting reception with no English that come secondary you shouldn't really be able to tell the difference between students.
Not sure if I'm being daft to think that though

I think your right to an extent but a high proportion of ESL students will impact in other ways...not all bad of course...but socially and culturally.

My sister's children attend a school with a high muslim intake and they've both struggled to make friends in a way ....mainly because their mates aren't allowed to come out with them at weekends.

Yes I agree totally with that as me and my brother went to a secondary with quite a high number of different cultures and although we did very well academically we didn't make any friendships really as the cultures were very different even though all catholic at that school.
Such a hard call, especially when the decision isn't just for us as adults but for the kids

I'm a bit confused about the school thing, if the secondary is doing well then I don't see a problem? Largely it will be the same children as in the primary which indicates that some perform poorly in primary but have caught up and are doing well come secondary so where's the issue? By uni age they may well not want to be near you so that's a none argument anyway until you get to that stage.

The secondary is doing well currently but the rise in non English children there has only come about in the last few years so they wouldn't be in year 11 taking exams as the vast majority have come over very young

Are you looking at a specific primary OP? There seem to be some decent ones in Bognor...can't you look at some others other than the one you've considered?

What about moving to the Westergate side of Bognor? It's a bit nearer to Barnham and the primary (Aldingbourne) is Outstanding (although ofsted was a while ago now so no guarantee it will stay that way).

Sunniest
Unfortunately although that primary is lovely it isn't catholic so not a feeder for the secondary in barnham.
St marys is the school in Bognor that's the feeder ( look it up you will see the results! ) and st richards in Chichester but can't afford there!

Does it matter that it is not a feeder? It is still in the deanery do the admissions criteria specify preference for certain schools? I know plenty of children who have gone to SPH from non-catholic schools (obv still baptised catholic and church attending families though).

There are not many outstanding schools anymore - mainly as ofsted keep moving the goalposts!

No baptised practising Catholics get first dibs whether they live across the road or 30 miles away like we do.
So theoretically they could go to the primary in Horsham which I love and then my son would go onto philip howard for secondary however as the kids are only one school year apart that would be very difficult with school drop offs / pick ups whether we stayed living here or moved more barnham way.
I guess secondaries have before and after school clubs maybe so that could work but would obviously be a 60 mile round trip per day so a few hundred pounds a month and an awful lot of driving!

lots of kids catch the train to Barnham even in Y7 - could you 'train' your son up and/or find other children for him to travel with. What do the other children in your church do? Is there anyone who could help you out there?

Op you truly need to relax. You're speaking as if you are emigrating to far away lands where there is 1 school on a mountain top. If there is a snobbery within you about Bognor then just face that and deal with it. If you don't want to move then discuss with your DH the reasons why. I've never seen so much fuss about schools. I have news for you..you won't be able to "hand guide" your DCs throughout their lives. Whatever school they go to, they could end up going to Uni miles away..you surely don't think they're going to be denied Uni education just because of primary school they went to?! I don't believe Bognor is full of shit schools either.

Really I think its a "class" thing...also wrapped up in worry about non-English speakers. You'll likely say it isn't that but it comes across loud & clear in the way you're speaking. You don't think Bognor & its people are good enough for you & yours.

If you're stuck in 1 mode there's no sense in the repeated threads..just decide what you want to do, then discuss in RL with whoever matters. Maybe you're being forced into a move you don't want. Or maybe all the Bognor-ite savages are just waiting to get you and yours...run for the hills...

OP when I had to make a hard decision re moving...and in my case to another country....I struggled badly for a number of years. Then I realised that th fear of making the wrong choice was really behind my worries.

WHICHEVER choice you make you might always think "Ah the other would have been better" whenever something bad happens...you have to let go of that mindset and realise that life is full of ups and downs no matter which choice you make.

I am far from a snob, I don't own my own property, I left my career to be a stay at home mum and we get by on one wage which is double our rent each month!
Of course I want the best for my children, so does the rest of the world.
I feel under pressure for them to continue a catholic education as it's the done thing in our family and I would like to be closer to my mum as she gets older but not at the expense of the kids schooling.
The English as a second language isn't something I've had to worry about here to be fair so when the headteacher said that was the reason for the results being low obviously that concerned me.