Secondary School planning for an unborn child

[MissHoney85]

DH and I are in the midst of a gruelling house hunt. We have been meaning to move for years but never got our arses in gear until just after lockdown, now every other bugger is looking for the same thing as us - a house in the country with plenty of space and a nice garden! We have accepted an offer on our house but few houses we like are coming up, and when they do the competition is insane.

I found a place which we both thought looked decent. However, DH did his research and found that the secondary school into whose catchment area it falls is RI across the board. (Inspection in 2017, was also RI in most areas in the previous inspection.) He is now pretty determined not to move anywhere in the catchment of that school, which eliminates quite a big part of our search area.

Now, our child is not yet born - due in January. I am a teacher so I'm aware of the importance of a quality education. However, I'm not sure if this should be grounds for ruling out a whole area. I feel like schools can change a lot in 11 years. This school is not in a 'bad' area - the catchment area is mostly nice little villages between Reading and Newbury so I'm not sure why it gets such bad results. Then again, it seems to have only gone backwards since 2013 so maybe there is some kind of major underlying problem.

What do you think? Would you rule a whole area out of your house search based on the secondary school choices of an unborn child?

Name change as I live in this area. Which school and general areas? Schools can change a lot but I also know the schools so can give you a better idea. There are some in central Reading that are always awful.

Eldest DD went to the worst performing school in the city, it was her choice, it was far smaller than the the other outstanding schools in the area which made her feel overwhelmed and she flourished there. That school that was outstanding within 3 years. Other 2 DC went to the outstanding school and within 4 years it was in special measures

@Ilovetwiglets I live there too. My kids went to a bog standard comp and both did v well, went on to uni and got good degrees. Attitude to learning begins at home.

@Ilovetwiglets the school is Theale Green

The grammars are really good and lots of private options.

I do thing 11 years is a long time though op. The area is already changing a lot with crossrail. Our local primary has changed a ridiculous amount in the last 5 years.

I'd dig deeper in what could be going wrong. Parental influence can undo a lot of what's good in a school, but it can also eliminate what's going wrong.

My DD's are all in their 20's and their schools have completely changed from when they were there. Two good schools have closed after just completely failing. Although one was unfairly marked imo. They took a lot of SEN children and were in a impoverished area. One that was having difficulty is now outstanding.

Ah OK op that one I haven't heard as being that bad!

@AhNowTed Yes it's my feeling that the support at home is what matters the most. DH is a bit more sceptical as his mum was a teacher too but he still needed a lot of extra support in school (though flourished in higher education and beyond)

The Ofsted report your dh is looking at means absolutely nothing.

We had an outstanding primary. The furthest you could live from the school when Dd was about to start primary was 140metres

Within 5 years it went from outstanding to RI
Equally Ds started at a primary that was in Special Measures.
Everyone looked in horror at me when I said Ds was at this school as it had such a terrible reputation.

Ds loved it. The new Head who had a big budget to turn the school around had been there a few months when Ds joined and in that time the head had replaced virtually every single member of staff from the kitchen staff and caretaker to the deputy head, landscaped the playground and playing fields and in the summer holidays the whole school was painted and deep cleaned.

Within a few months of Ds starting Ofsted returned and they got Outstanding.
It is now completely over subscribed.

You really can’t buy a house based on what the Ofsted rating is now things change so much

We're in a similar situation, but with dc a bit older. I think as long as it doesn't mean the area is bad, it's ok. Maybe??? I also think it depends what the Ofsted report says. The latest one we read said the school was RI due to poor safeguarding and a bullying problem that they couldn't get on top of, despite a new head being in post for a few years. I absolutely wouldn't send my dc to that school. Sometimes it can be due to curriculum issues, which would not be so bad.

My old school ,which is the same school which my nephew's have both recently left ,was graded outstanding in 2011 and was,nt inspected untill last year after many complaints ,it's now in special measures .

My nephew's went to*

I find this really silly. So much cam change in that time. Schools ofsteds go up and down all the time. Maybe that specific school won't be a school one day. You can't look in to the future. Stop stressing. You can always move again in the future!!

I have seen schools that look similar on paper: awful results despite ‘good’ area, low fsm etc. What happens can be things like resistance to new leadership and ideas, low expectations etc. And yes, parental influence makes a huge difference but if a child is in a school where top sets work towards 6’s instead 8-9’s there just isn’t the culture of striving for more and working harder.

Looking at the stats, the Willink School and Little Heath look more desirable. Given that Theale Green has been struggling for a few years, it is likely to develop a bit of a reputation and could be a gamble going forward.

Are houses considerably cheaper in this catchment vs the better schools?

" I am a teacher so I'm aware of the importance of a quality education".... Dont take this the wrong way but I am not a teacher but I am also aware of the importance of a quality education

[quote MissHoney85]@AhNowTed Yes it's my feeling that the support at home is what matters the most. DH is a bit more sceptical as his mum was a teacher too but he still needed a lot of extra support in school (though flourished in higher education and beyond)[/quote]

In fact a willing student in a standard school gets an awful lot of attention. It's actually a bonus. They feel like winners which motivates them even more.

Better to be a good student in a standard school, than struggling in a hot-housed one and feel like a failure, in my opinion.

The senior schools in my home town haven't changed in the 20 years since I left. No idea what Ofsted have to say but I know what schools are crap/teachers focus on crowd control vs ones that have generally been fine since forever

Name changed as I teach at one of the central Reading schools that @Ilovetwiglets so kindly described as awful.
TG has had a tough few years, but is a school that is rapidly improving. It got into a cycle of a poor Ofsted, rapid turnover of Head/teachers, poor Ofsted etc but is much more stable now. It’s A level results were superb last year. It’s joined a MAT that will give it a lot of support and also has a new Head who came from an Outstanding school. I’d far rather send my child to a school that is on the up than one that is coasting along.
But as this past few days have shown...a week is a long time in education...you have no idea what it will be like in 11 years time.

So it has 11 years to get the extra funding, and extra help, have the inevitable turn over of staff and get settled before your child starts?

I think your DH is being unreasonable. 11 years is a long time, lots can change in an outstanding school too. One near me went from outstanding to RI within 5-7 years.

He’s being mental, in 11 years it could be an entirely different school.

I'm going to go against the grain here. Your DC is due in January, so you'll be applying for secondary school when they are still 10, at the start of year 6. This means in practice, you need to make the decision in year 5 (when they are 9/10) if you are moving area or not.

That might feel like a long time, but as someone who moved into this house when pregnant with DC1 who is about to start year 6, it's not really a long time in terms of house ownership!

I have a lot of friends who have DCs the same school year but living in different parts of the country. There were 3 couples who bought houses in areas without great secondary choices. 1 couple moved last year to be in place to apply this year, and then had a lot of stress trying to get their DCs in year 5 and year 3 into the local (full) primary school. 1 couple have gone private and the 3rd are just accepting the poor secondary as they love their home and can't face moving. They had all hoped local schools (in different parts of the country) would be better by the time they had to make a decision, it hasn't happened, even though technically it could.

If this is a 'forever' house, one that you are planning on investing time and effort into making your perfect home, then don't do it unless you are happy with the schooling. If you can see it as a 10 year or in between current and 'forever' home move, then take the risk.

We're in a recession. We're about to have the full force of Brexit to hit the economy, do not bank on there being extra funding for schools that RI for the next 10 years just because a school in that situation would get it now.

@Itsrainingatlast

You're probably familiar with Bulmershe? Condemned as inferior to the sainted Maiden Earley 10 years ago, but has done brilliantly, and had a first rate 6th form.

Leadership is key, but most importantly what goes on at home.

You can't abrogate all responsibility to schools - it begins with parents.

OP's husband here. Thank you for the insightful comments. Upon consideration, I think I agree that IABU and will now disregard my previous stance and listen to my good lady wife.