To be constantly thinking about school places when DS is only 1

[QuietlyPlotting]

We live in a slightly crappy area with substandard schools. We have a son who has just turned 1. DH does not want to move house at all but I reckon I might be able to convince him to move one more time. I don't really want to send my son to the local "Requires improvement" primary that was in special measures until recently and I want to move anyway as I am sick of my long commute to work.

Where I really want to live is a particular road in our city, overlooking beautiful woods, posh area, lots of amenities, short walk to town and to my work. The only downside is that the local state school has a teeny tiny catchment area - it's literally a couple of hundred metres as the crow flies. One end of my perfect road is usually within the catchment area, and one end isn't. Unfortunately the houses down the end with the catchment area tend to be about £50k more than we can afford unless they are in a state of disrepair and I think wherever I was on that road I would be nervous that we might be a few metres outside the catchment area for that year anyway. We really need to be in the catchment area because the next nearest schools are in the wrong direction for my work and quite far away (we don't drive).

I've been spending some time plotting. The issue is that I think we need to move before DS starts school in a few years but I want to make sure we are within the catchment area. I have been thinking that when DS turns 4 we could sell our current house, rent a house in the catchment area for a year or two whilst we wait for one of the houses on the road I like to come on the market. This would also give us the bonus of being chain free when buying the house.

Is it be bonkers to be so fixated on this already? Or is it sensible? I think DH will think it is all too much effort but he doesn't have the same sharp-elbowed middle class upbringing as me.

Also, has anyone done this and did it work or go badly?

I think the main thing is I don't like my current house or area anymore. We bought it because it was cheap and convenient for DH's work, but he is a SAHD now and I have to walk nearly an hour to work along an industrial road which gets very puddly in the rain (I've been drenched by cars going through puddles a few times this winter). I can't drive for medical reasons and the public transport around here is terrible and takes longer than walking. We seem to have moved to an area where everyone drives apart from us.

I guess ideally I'd want to move ASAP to the posh area near work but we can't afford the nice big houses overlooking the woods yet which are my dream homes. We did look at a house in that area when we were previously house hunting and I really regret not going for it. We could have lived there within the catchment and moved to the really nice houses when/if we could afford it. But DH definitely won't want to move to an OK house in the nice area with the idea of moving again to the posh houses in the nice area in another 5-10 years, which is why I'm trying to see if we can scrape enough to just get the better house soon.

I think the issue really is that I don't want to move DS after he's started school and made friends, but we could do with a few extra years to be able to afford the nicest houses as DH is so averse to moving house.

There aren't any private schools in our rough area on the edge of town. We could possibly just about afford one but not together with a more expensive house in a decent area unless there is a lottery win or inheritance (the latter is a possibility but it feels ghoulish to think about). DH would not be happy with sending DS to private school anyway I think as he is very lower middle class and I am quite upper middle class. He doesn't even much like the idea of trying to move to improve our son's prospects.