To think this surely exists somewhere?

[TheNotoriousRBG]

We currently live in London. DC1 is 4.5 and we didn't get any of the six primary schools in our neighbourhood. We missed the closest by 30 meters. DC1 is currently in a private school as a result but it's not financially tenable long term. We do have a fairly healthy house budget to work with of 1.25m. The only constraints are that we are after a 5 bed house within an hours drive of Leighton Buzzard (stepkids) and an outstanding primary that isn't over subscribed. Am I asking for the moon on a stick? AIBU unreasonable to think that such a place exists? So far I can't find it and am beginning to think IABU!

You won't find an 'outstanding' school anywhere that isn't oversubscribed !

I sometimes wonder if I'm on the same planet as other people

Have you looked in little villages like Studham, Little Gaddesden, Tring?

Reduce your expectations on house size/budget and go private?

Also I'd look more closely at schools than their ofsted reports... some are nearly 9 years old! Things change quickly in schools

How can you have a house budget of £1.25m but not be able to afford private school?? I can understand you saying you don't want to use private school but it does sound like you can afford it.

You aren't going to get outstanding and undersubscribed. You could get first place on a waiting list and privately educate until that place comes up.
You buy a house that has potential to be a 5 bed and use the balance to educate privately.
You l9ok at areas you wouldn't have looked at in round 1

Move out to Herts/Bedfordshire and you can get an absolutely lovely house for that budget and go private. I wouldn't bother chasing an outstanding state primary, it would be really hard to find one now as your DC1 has already started school and the reception places will all have been filled and there will probably be long waiting lists.

St Albans, Harpenden, Welywn Garden city, Hertford, Hitchin. Trains into London are great from any of these areas.

St Albans would be my choice - it's a proper city with everything you need on your doorstep. 2O minute train into London and only 38 minutes drive from Leighton Buzzard.

Do you have to stay in London? Why do you not want a prep school? You could easily afford one and get a lovely house further out...If you are looking for a 5 bed, are you worried about putting several kids through private education? I still think it would work out cheaper to move further out and go private than to stay in London and go through the state system...

you need to think about what "outstanding" means for you in a school.

There's plenty o' threads on here about "outstanding" schools which are crap.

Find a properly good school. Ignore OFSTED. Look at where pupils achieve and kids and staff are happy. End of.

Or go private if you have nothing in common with me.

opps! meant to do that crossout thing with my last line

I'd also maybe try and think a bit more longterm about secondary school and where you want to be. I think a good secondary school will have more impact on children's future than primary school. If you can find an area with a decent primary and outstanding secondary I'd go for that.

If you are happy with your nearest school (I assume you are as you applied) and where you live, just wait it out on the waiting list. You must be fairly near the top and schools in London usually have a lot of movement.

We missed out on a place at our chosen school, went on the waiting list and had a place by the 25th September! A child who had moved over the summer and never took up her place.

I agree the easiest would be to remain on the waiting list for local schools. How many waiting lists are you on?

There are in fact under subscribed ofsted outstanding schools, even in London. Personally I look at more than just ofsted ratings.

Our kids were at an outstanding primary in London. The school, and all surrounding ones, were over subscribed. People just a few hundred yards away were unable to get a place. But by the time we were half way through year 1 there were places in two of the three forms for my kids' year. By the end of year two there were more.

Schools are often over subscribed at the start, but people move away and free up spaces. Check with the schools you are interested in whether they have space in later years. If they do it is highly likely your child will get a place before too long. It would be much less expensive to stay and get your child into a local school than to move. Stamp duty alone on a 1.25 million home is nearly 70K. That's a few years of private schooling.

Have a look at your local 'Good' schools as they will be just as good as the Outstanding ones. Look at why they didn't reach 'Outstanding' - our Primary was fantastic but it failed on being diverse. We just aren't a diverse/multicultural part of the country. In the end the school had to spend lots of money sending teachers abroad and joining up with schools in Africa etc.

You need to rethink your local accessible schools.

Dds school is currently special measures. Due to a mixture of poor management from the previous head and failures from the LEA to provide much needed funding. However the teaching is exemplary across the board and it has the highest SaTs results in the area.

We are on all the waitlists for local schools. We are 7th, 15th, 27th, 35th and 22nd in order by distance. The council themselves have advised that we are extremely unlikely to be offered anything in our neighbourhood. We have moved further down each list rather than up.

I really can do my sums and we really can't afford 500k in fees for two children to go private all the way through nor do I want to. 70k in stamp duty is far more doable. I also have two stepkids who need to be supported through university. I don't want to back to work full time just to pay school fees and a nanny to never actually see my kids. It's just not for me. I'm not fussed about a school being outstanding in the ofsted sense. I'm more interesting in good pastoral care and outstanding teaching.

DH reckons we are going to have to pay for prep for DC1 but should try to move before DC2 hits reception. So I suppose I'm after a place we could move and get a school place. I'll have a look at the places mentioned - thank you!

Harpenden. It is stuffed full of cracking schools, great travel links to London and is a really lovely place to live. On your budget you will be able to get a 5 bed house or buy and extend.

I agree with others. Look at good schools in your area, as well as outstanding. Visit the schools. Also some schools which are listed as requires improvement will have already improved. Visit schools and see if they would suit your dc.

500k house 500k private school, and money left over for cars helicopters and shit.

My dc go to an Outstanding school that is not oversubscribed, but it is nowhere near Leighton Buzzard.

Schools are often over subscribed at the start, but people move away and free up spaces. Check with the schools you are interested in whether they have space in later years. If they do it is highly likely your child will get a place before too long.

This. Keep DC1 in prep until a place opens up, then move him/her. You may get sibling priority with DC2, or same again (prep/wait for a place).

Where do you actually want to live? No point moving to Tring or wherever if you want to be in London. I'm in a nice bit of SE London and your budget would buy a great house near a shit-hot secondary and good primaries.

I agree with the others, outstanding schools will be oversubscribed. I would either go for a £500k property and rest on schooling or work when all the children are school aged (you surely won't need a nanny if they're at school as you could use before and after school clubs?)

5 bedrooms on 1.25 near an outstanding school? Not in London that I know! 5 bedroom houses sell for at least 5 million to 12 million in SW London.

Sorry, I missed third option, wait it out. The lists should go down as others get schools they want, move on or decide they don't want to move schools.