To move house for this reason?

[glastoforever]

We have a two year old DS.
We have a house that we have lived in for 8years that we renovated and we absolutely love it.
We want to try for another baby and will need a bit more room.

Options are - move house or do a loft conversion.

Issues are - the main issue is the schools. DH and I both from this town and we both went to same secondary school in the north of the town where schools are much better (but more expensive area).
We live in the south of the town and the schools here really aren't great. Much bigger and it has some real rough estates around.

We love our home and our preference would be to stay put and go in to the loft.

How easy is it to get in to a primary school outside of your catchment?

Re - secondary schools out of catchment, would we have a case to say my DH and I went to our favoured school and were both prefects there - does it work like this? I'd love our DS to go there too. It's only a 15 minute drive but is the other side of town.

We are really torn. Our house is perfect for us in every way except school catchment.

If you were in Ireland you could apply wherever you want @glastoforever it's very different here...

Op, some harsh answers here, which isn't fair. You might want to post on a parenting board next time rather than AIBU (lots of people just looking for a fight).

It's not a crime to be unfamiliar with admissions criteria for schools when your child is only 2...

Sorry you're getting such a hard time OP.

OP can google and quite easily find out far more information on the admissions policy in her area as well as the distance for the last child placed.

OP, you list so many negatives about the area and not liking the neighbourhood children etc Why would you not just move and bring your child up in an area where you will allow them to make friends and go out to the park.

Ah op, bless you but no. If you have a hunt on the schools website they will have published their admissions criteria. It's usually siblings first priority then distance from the school as the crow flies. They might have a catchment map. If you speak to them they might be able to tell you if they've been over or under subscribed for the last few years and if there's a trajectory they seem to be on with that.

Re the house, I think that unfortunately I would look to move. I would prioritise a better school. But you should look at your local school first, maybe you'll really like it.

It doesn't sound like it really is the perfect house for you if you dislike the area so much.

How rude of those mocking OP for asking
Plenty private schools or other countries have something similar where previous ties can help. Plus only being 15 minutes away. It's worth mentioning anything to try state your case

Ignore the rude comments OP. Some people love to find anything to pick at or mock someone for. As a first time mum it's very easy to not know all the ins and outs and other people should be more sensitive and kinder to that - whether first time mum or not.

(Mentioning prefect is to point to the fact they were good, well behave students I presume so not OP gloating)

You've had good advice on here OP

It s lovely that you love your house and think you could extend it up into the lift to make it work for your second baby if you get pg

Schoo catchments are the thing though, as other PPs have said you need to check out if your preferred schools take out or catchment or are over subscribed, they can only tell you previous years stats not whether you have a quiet or a bumper year.

If you want to guarantee a school place in your preferred primary or secondary schools you do need to look at moving. Most houses in good schools areas cost more than those is less favoured ones. In our area, we have great schools but the favoured highest performing secondary school have houses £150k more for the same level of house than the second performing school. That's a whole level of expensive! It's over subscribed so no one out or catchment will get offered a place . Primary schools here are much of a muchness... unless you live in the cheapest area or town where the 2 primaries under perform, So I'm trying to explain that sometimes you have to compromise in the house if a particular school is important to you and secondary school catchments may be your deciding factor, if they are generally usually over subscribed.

It sounds like you have a lovely home.

Ime going to a school out or catchment means you aren't near your school friends and it can be lonely for a child who ends up having to travel or be driven. That walk to school if you can school locally is important and the friends they make, if they live nearby , is easier for play dates. Those are the things that matter also for your DCs.
I hope you can find a compromise. Are the local schools good enough? They don't need to be the best or the best, unless you have a ridiculously academic child who won't be stretched enough

OP, if the school you are considering is a good school in a nice area it is likely to be oversubscribed. This doesn't stop you from applying but if you're out of catchment you will be pretty much bottom of the list
Also consider if you did get an place, how you would get them to school every day. Assuming it's too far to walk, is there a bus route? Can you commit to lifts twice a day - not really ideal in terms of independence.
Your child will also possibly be leaving behind all of their primary school friendships as they will most likely attend the catchment school.

For what it's worth we were in a similar situation and decided to move to the better area. I didn't want the uncertainty hanging over us and I also wanted DC to attend a feeder school so that they would have friends. Ideally we would have moved before DC started school but it didn't quite pan out that way!

My DCs went to the local catchment secondary school m which is clearly second best to the highest performing one in our area, and mine are academic. But this secondary school was inclusive and offered extension studies and mine are top 25 in the year. So they have so far got excellent GSCEs and hit the leader boards, in the county for top marks. Because school impressed me how they catered inclusively for good students and learning development students. A bigger range- so whilst performance charts were lower it reflected a wider range . I knew they'd support my DCs and stretch them and loved the fact they had two teams for rugby and other sports, so was far more inclusive, unlike the top performing school who had one team and you made the cut or not .

Ultimately if they'd done the stats showing the range, this second best school performed as equally well for the highest performing pupils and significantly better for those facing additional challenges than the school more invested in their stats and telling pupils not to take course if they wouldn't pass it well.

It sounds like the house was perfect for you as a couple and as a very young family but is never going to be ideal long term.
You need an estate agent opinion on value now and potential value with a loft conversion. If it's not worth doing financially don't bother.
It sounds like you'd be better trying to move in next year or so. Start scoping other options for areas while you still have some time

We moved. We absolutely loved our house, location and the neighbors but the local state schools were rough.

We moved about 4 miles away to a different school district. While our new house is fine, we don't love it the way we loved the old one...but moving house was the best decision we've ever made! The schools are exceptional and that really is the most important thing.

Don't bother renovating - move.

I've never considered schools when moving, has always been for other reasons, all my kids are thriving, if your house is great, stay

If you want the good schools chances are you will need to move. Most schools are over subscribed and I’m afraid they don’t care if you were a prefect or not, the criteria must be followed

Ah OP this thread cheered me up!

Please do a little research. Instead of asking strangers on the internet look up the admission policy of the school.

As others have said it is highly unlikely being a prefect will be listed.

You need to look at admissions criteria and although it's a long way off, check if theschools have been oversubscribed or not and for how many years. This will show you those cal admission pattern.
I would also consider how far away it is- I didn't go to my local school so as a teen, had to rely on a lot of parent lifts to see friends out of school.

would we have a case to say my DH and I went to our favoured school and were both prefects there

😂 ask them. Tell us what they say.

@T00Ts

would we have a case to say my DH and I went to our favoured school and were both prefects there

😂 ask them. Tell us what they say.

Bless you OP that you think this is relevant 20+ years later

Unless you were legendary ...

If I was your age & in your situation I'd look at moving to the catchment if the senior school you both went to & ensure its catchment for good primaries.

You're bound to have made good money doing your place up, so hopefully can afford another diet-upper in the better location.

Living where you feel happy to let the kids play out/in neighbours/have neighbours kids around to play us great.

Walking to school is lovely too. Wrangling two small kids in the car & school parking is a living bloody nightmare. I'd move for that reason alone!!

You & DH turned this house into a home you love, you can do it again!!

You can make

Just to mention that my (PFB) DC also got a bursary for his Russel group high performing uni as he came from deprived area and I'm low income LP. Even though the school (second best mind!) was great and he went to a fab post 16 college. He got 9s and A*| across the board. Good students do well if they have 'good enough' schools and colleges.

Haven’t read the full thread but you need to get on the council website and see what schools cover each postcode area. We are house hunting at the moment and need to consider our secondary school options. We are prioritising access to decent schools (via catchment) over the actual house itself.

Did you mean to be so rude?

I have never actually seen this used IRL, just suggested on MN. Thank you OP for the experience

I have a feeling the poster has deregged.

Ignore the bitchy posts. You have no family/friends with school age children, this is the first time you've had to consider it, funnily enough this is a parenting website, you'd think asking questions like this wouldn't attract ridicule, but this is AIBU and some people think it's gives them the right to be bitchy & unhelpful. Their issue, not yours!!

Living somewhere that factored in your parents’ long ago successes in your current opportunities would be almost as bad as only having the opportunities if your parents could pay for them.

Assuming you’re in England and talking about state schools, it really really depends on a) the particular local authority and b) the exact area you’re in.

No where in the state system will have parental ties as a criterion.

State schools in my area don’t have a fixed catchment. The furthest distance a child is admitted from varies from year to year, depending on how many children apply to that school that year.

However, because I live in a built up area, where many schools are over subscribed, there are usually only a limited number of local primaries (could be 1-4, depending on exactly where you live) which you stand any chance of getting into, and it’s worse for secondary because there’s some which are semi selective state.

As others have said, you need to get on your local authority’s school admissions website and start researching what are the rules in your area.