to be starting children in a primary knowing they will not continue to a local secondary?

[Confusedmartie999]

My son starts a catholic school in September in our current area however there is no catholic secondary here so most go onto the single sex secondaries that are local to here.
There is a catholic school 10 miles away in an area I'm not keen on, 20 miles away in leatherhead and another 30 in barnham so it's likely we will end up moving in time for applications and send my son, followed by daughter the year later to one of those depending on finances / parents health by then etc but the women at Playgroup seemed to think that was awful and that we should make the move now whilst he is young not for secondary.
We looked at the primaries near those other schools and they were either really low performing or massive neither of which appealed to me hence our decision to stay until secondary age.
Is it a massive problem?
I went on with a few fiends to secondary, all of whom went into different tutor groups and made new friends anyway!

I don't think you are unreasonable at all with your plan. However, if you decide to move later you will need to find two school places which may not be easy AND if the Catholic secondaries have feeder schools or parish mass attendance as part of their criteria you may end up very limited in both your housing and schooling options.

YANBU. Lots of people move for all sorts of reasons when their DC are going to start Secondary School. Your children will be fine starting at the primary school now and you moving later,

When I went to secondary school I had zero classes with anyone I knew from primary school. Its a great time to start again. At college I had the same thing.

Athena,
This is my worry.
We could move February next year ( when our tenancy contract ends ) and him start at the local primary in the January so only a month of driving a 60 mile round trip however the school is only performing 50% at key stage 2 results instead of the 98% at the one here :(

With it being a Catholic secondary, it is more likely than with other secondaries that pupils will come from a very wide area, and lots won't know each other when they start. Honestly, I doubt it would be a problem.

If it was me, I would think the DCs would get much more benefit from going to a much better primary in your current area.

Yes to be fair they must be as just common sense wise, so many children ( well, half ) aren't achieving at this primary I speak of yet on entry to the secondary they are all above average so clearly they're not all from that school either.
The secondary is about 6 miles away from that primary so maybe some parents opt for a school the kids can travel alone too etc.
Aggghhrrrr what a horrible decision to have to make.
This is the one bit of being a parent I don't like, having to make decisions that can affect their lives so much!!!

50% achieving level 4 or above is low isn't it?

Its how far they progress that's important. If there are a lot of non English speakers then they may be doing a fantastic job getting them to where they are when they leave. These same children may continue to exponentially improve to get fantastic results at the secondary.
You cannot expect non English speakers to get the same levels at year 6 as native speakers, but by the end of secondary these same children may even out perform the others. That may be the reason why the secondary is good, rather than the pupils all coming from better primary schools.

Presumably your children will be in the 50% that do achieve the higher levels as you obviously value education as well and they have the advantage of being English speakers.

Either choice would be ok IMHO. I think I would base the decision on housing costs and quality of life. If you are planning on buying, prices may have gone up too much if you wait. What is the best option for your family if you take schools out of the equation?

Agree with meditrina, if your ds is starting in reception now I wouldn't plan for secondary yet, just remain aware of the schools around you. In 7 years, previously failing schools might be thriving and good ones failing. Revisit in a few years' time and meanwhile go to the lovely primary you've found.

Thanks for your further replies.
Good point actually about the non English speakers, I never thought about it like that actually however I don't see that as a problem really as obviously mine do speak English and I'm sure the teachers will know how to deal with both sides.
Unfortunately we won't be buying anytime soon and rental prices are only about £100 a month less than where we currently are which would be taken up in petrol for work no doubt if I couldn't find another more local job.
I guess I'm wary as lots of people class Bognor Regis and round that way as a poor area and where we live now, affluent.
I just worry the schools won't have the same opportunities with trips etc however the secondary is that way and that is where we would like then to go in an ideal world as it's the only mixed one with a sixth form that does very well and has done for a long time!

I wish I could decide if London or West Sussex were better places for the children to grow up, that in itself would solve a lot of these problems!!