To choose new area to live based on grammar schools

[2021hopes]

I’m at a point where I can relocate to pretty much wherever I would like but stuck where to start. I have two primary age children and I’m a full time working professional but can work from home a lot. Need to get into city of London maybe 8-10 times a month.

I’ve lived in London all my life. Would ideally like to stay in the leafier parts, also happy to consider Surrey and Kent too. Would love outstanding schools and ideally plenty of grammar school options. Somewhere safe with things for us to do at the weekends and holidays.

A three bedroom semi or detached would be fab. I’m happy to try new builds too. Please help wise people of mumsnet where should we move too!

St Albans has been mentioned. That might suit someone who is from inner London as is a fairly quick journey into London but has more of a rural feel than much of Watford and outer London boroughs.

The right move house linked is gorgeous!

Op my dd is in a good comp, but I'm not over awed with it. I can't put my finger on it...

Maidstone is very racist. We relocated from London in 2007 and it has steadily gotten worse. The problem with Maidstone is London borough councils are sending people who they are unable to house in London, this is causing a lot of animosity as you can imagine.
Our youngest is 13 and attends a private school in Sevenoaks, hopefully DP will get his well earned promotion and we will be able to move out of Maidstone, personally I will not miss the place. The best thing to do is research each area extensively and drive around all different times and days so you can get an accurate picture of the area.
My friend loves Borough Green and Wrotham.

@TheNanny23

I went to grammar school and whilst I do appreciate the education I got, I’m now an anxious professional who bases her self- worth almost entirely on academics and job performance. Despite being a doctor, being well thought of in appraisals, doing lots of quality improvement work, happily married and homeowner in my twenties I often feel like I’ve underachieved, like unless I’m the top of my field and doing ground breaking research I’m actually not good enough. I’m constantly comparing myself negatively to others and feel I should be doing a masters or phd in my spare time.

That’s just me but actually the story is the same from lots of people I know who were in the system- people who are solicitors etc but because they are not criminal barristers they feel like they failed.

I was also incredibly socially awkward...

I’m planning on sending my children to the local comprehensive so they can be more rounded. I’d rather they be happier and less focussed on attainment.

You've pretty much described me, @TheNanny23, except I did the MA and PhD and still feel like an underachiever, however many successes I have in my career, in which I am now fairly senior. I had counselling at work and they wanted to send me to therapy (I refused as I didn't have the time or emotional energy for it!). Still, at least I didn't develop an eating disorder like so many of the girls in my class did.

2021hopes
The reason I wished I hadn't gone to a grammar school is simply that I was not bright enough to do well there. So I was always near the bottom of the class which left me feeling like a failure. It was a great school for the high achievers, not so for the also-rans.

Wokingham is definitely worth a look, somewhere like Twyford where you have a fantastic comprehensive, but you can also have a shot at Kendrick/Reading and you are on Cross Rail there too. Reading as well, but you’d need to be very careful which school catchment as the state schools are a bit mixed.

Thanks for sharing your experience @Idliketoteachtheworldtosing1 a few people have mentioned the same to me about some parts of Kent which is why I have asked about a somewhat multicultural community in these areas. Good advice about the drive rounds, I plan to do plenty and generally see if we have a nice time when we are there.

Thanks for your honest replies @GCAcademic and @Spasiba. I feel this might be the case for one of my DC and then the other would do very well in that type of environment. I’ll explain what the test and type of schooling is like and let them decide if they want to do it.

"Hampshire is too far out" ??????

Look at a map.
Fleet is 20 minutes from Waterloo

I'm in the Berks/Bucks border area and two of my colleagues have DC who have recently gone through the 11+ and school selection. The one in Berks has gone private because grammar schools are oversubscribed locally. The colleague in Bucks (think HW/Amersham) had no issues getting her DC in to grammar school because in Bucks they are apparently undersubscribed.

The grammar schools are not undersubscribed in Buckinghamshire.

Yes they really aren’t. Do not rely on that.

The issue with the Berks colleague will have been that they are out of county for catchment so that can work against you, they will have been applying to Bucks grammar schools. You still need to pass the 11+ with a high score to get in to the bucks grammars. I don’t think there are any in Berks?

So will be a distance/catchment issue.

There are grammars in Slough & Reading. The pass mark for Bucks is the same for everyone, then it's on distance mainly.

Best kept secret.Berkhamsted is in Herts. Commutable to London. Most of the town is in catchment for certain excellent Bucks grammar schools - Chesham Grammar and Aylesbury Girls/Grammar (boys). As it is in Herts the alternative to grammar is not a secondary modern but a really excellent cpomprehensive with fabulous facilities. The primary schools are all really good too. There is also a very good old private school if that interests you. Its kind of perfect on the school front although not particularly multi-cultural and the small town might not be your scene - very leafy in the Chilterns (loads of ancient national trust forests etc) but good shops/restaurants too.

@Delatron.

Fair enough. Only sharing what I picked up on .

My Bucks colleague had no issues getting DC in to first choice Bucks Grammar, not the highest 11+ score either. DC is also a 20 min drive from his school, it's by no mean the closest.

My Berks colleague's DC was the same on the 11+ in terms of score but couldn't get in anywhere (I think she looked at Reading).

Yes some are harder to get in to than others. Pass score is always 121.
If they are a few points off that then there’s a chance at some of the other grammars I guess.
Ones near here are over subscribed.

@gruffalo28 thanks for the suggestion. I see it’s just a bit further on from St Albans. What is the name of the excellent comprehensive please? I’ve spent time in St Albans over the years and have always liked it so Berkhamsted maybe a good option if it’s similar.

@akittencalledjesus and @Delatron this is interesting to know. In the summer I looked at a website which states the number of places each grammar school offers in the UK and the number of applications they receive. As far as I can recall they all seemed over subscribed. But I will go back and look in more depth in these areas.

@akitten what are the primaries and secondary schools like in your area?

Also can anyone suggest any good websites which offer sound and useful advice on applying to grammars? Where they are good a simplifying and demystifying the process? TIA

There’s no process. Sorry. The process is applying to do the 11+ (Our school automatically enters everyone) and then you put the grammar schools you want in your application for that school year in the top two places. Then make sure you put the back up local non grammar. If you don’t get the pass score you either appeal if you’re close enough or you get the local non grammar.

There’s no interview, it’s just how they perform on one day in two 45 minutes tests.

I’d second Berkhamsted to be honest.

In our area, I'm pretty certain they tell you if you have passed the 11+ before the schools application deadline.
So you'd only put the grammar school if you passed, and then it just goes on distance. i.e. they take the closest 150 children who scored above the pass mark.

Some areas it goes on score rather than distance i.e. they take the highest scoring 150 applicants regardless of where they live.

I think in some areas (possibly Reading is one of these) they do a mix i.e. top 150 scorers but only if they live in certain postcodes.

You need to look carefully at the admissions policy of the actual school you are interested in.

And btw the 150 above is just an example, I don't know how many places are actually available!

Chesham , Aylesbury (town horrible) High Wycombe , Beaconsfield , Buckingham , Berkamsted , Hemel (use Bucks). Milton Keynes (use Aylesbury and Buckingham but not guaranteed a place )

The elevenplus exams website - also has a talk Forum.