Would you move counties for a better secondary school?

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We live in the north of England. Have a wonderful lifestyle: comfortable, a house overlooking fields with a sea view, lots of outdoor adventures etc.

The only big problem that concerns me is a local secondary school. The catchment is 15 miles around, so no other option even in theory. It has reputation of having problems with behaviour. All results are below average both for local authority and England: progress 8 score below average, 35% Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs etc.

The opinion of the parents with whom are talked to are that good kids stay with their circle of friends and are out of trouble and are doing fine in that school.

My daughter is in Year 3 and is meeting expectations in everything, have the ability to progress to ‘exceed expectations” but don’t see the point and overall consider studying and school boring. Have a close circle of friends, but would not call her a social magnet.

We put lots of effort in her: she has lots of extracurricular; museums, theatres, reading, national trusts, book festivals, you name it, pretty much every weekend without failure. We do reading, maths, music every day.

So I am torn between whether to stay as it is and hope it will be OK or move for a better secondary school but removing my daughter from her familiar social circle which I am not sure she would be able to rebuild.

So whether AIBU for wanting to move to a better secondary school?

And if move, then where? We don’t have family ties, mostly remote jobs with occasional trips to London, budget is up to 700k, we love countryside/outdours. Don’t really have a circle of friends around (another issue), just parents from school.

Currently my favourite is Durham. Love Yorkshire, but not sure whether DD would get into a grammar school. Any advice appreciated.

I would move, yes.

To as affluent an area as possible where there is likely to be a good supply of state schools. I would move somewhere more urban where you have a choice of schools and your DD will be able to get out and about by herself as a teenager.

I would also stop doing so much work at home if she's bored and not motivated to learn at school.

I live NE and we went to independent secondary for same reasons except our local state school had even worse outcomes!
Durham Johnstone is the best state secondary but the housing is very expensive. Other Durham state schools aren't as good so if you don't get in there then the choices aren't great.

NE has come bottom of national tables yet again for GCSE + A Level results. It has been left behind for decades.

The reason of doing homework every day is that we feel that without pulling her she will happily roll back and then it would be more difficult to get from there. She occasionally asks whether she has to work after finishing school and whether she can just stay at home with us.

up to 700k would not get a lot in actual affluent area, we are not (yet) mentally ready to move to 3-bed terrace with mortgage up to 70.

The only private school in the area has results even worse than the state, so will also require moving and all the hassle.
Two lots of private schools (have another DC) are feasible in principle, but not a lot will be left.

Whereabouts in the North are you?

Northumberland

I thought there were some really good state secondary schools up there?

I certainly wouldn’t move at present, no. Let her start at the local school and see how she gets on. Friendships, clubs and extra curricular activities all add to educating a person.

The overall low attainment levels of the school will surely involve some pupils achieving average, some above, but perhaps a higher than normal level of underachieving pupils. Do you know why that is? They could be recent immigrants, or come from a background where the family doesn’t prioritise education. I think that friendship groups have a huge impact on children in secondary school, and whether they go on to achieve or just mess about (or worse). if your DD joins this secondary alongside a good friendship group, then you are off to a good start.

Look into your options, but do wait until your DD has spent a couple of terms (at least) in the school and see how she is getting on. The rest of your life is perfect, you could move and your DD be in a position where she doesn’t make friends in her new school and you also lose other aspects of your good life.

There is Queens Elisabeth in Hexham, with very limited catchment and three tier system. We are not in Hexham. It will require moving pretty much next year to get in Year 5 catchment. So here I am, hoping to talk through all the options.

if you’re in Northumberland then QE at Hexham or King Edward’s in Morpeth are your best choices, very closely followed by Ponteland High. I’d send my DD happily to any of these and I work in Education.

Kings Priory Tynemouth and Whitley Bay High are the best choices elsewhere, again I’d be very happy with DD at these.

The other good ones are Catholic: Sacred Heart in Newcastle or Cardinal Hume. But they’re not rural / coastal.

You wouldn’t have to move far to have choice of very good schools if you consider the above.

The low attainment is because the families don't prioritise education, and overall there are not a lot of middle class families with professional jobs where income comes from education achievements. Well-to-do families are either farmers or have well established low key family businesses.

I don't feel that moving after starting secondary school will make a lot of sense as I have an impression that the good schools will be oversubscribed for 'in year' move at that point, and there is too much upheaval just to move to 'fine' school.

I agree. You need to move before Yr 6 so that you can choose schools rather than be allocated just anywhere where there is space

For secondary I would yes, and is something I’m also considering. Weirdly we’re in the catchment for the good high school but we’re right on the cusp/outskirts and it’s always oversubscribed. We’re thinking of moving around Y5/Y6 to get closer (the village is much nicer closer to the school too so win win!)

The other thing to bear in mind is that house prices and catchments of the best state schools are being impacted by VAT especially at key entrance ie Yr 1, Yr 7 + Yr 9.

Durham Johnston in Durham is considered to be one of the top 100 state schools in the country and with a budget of 700k you could afford to buy within the catchment area. It’s a massive school though and very oversubscribed.

We didn’t get into any of our preferred schools (Durham Johnston was 1st choice) and instead were allocated a dreadful school where I kid not the previous year had just 2% get 5 GCSEs at 5 or above.

We discovered a school in Barnard Castle that still had places as its rural so undersubscribed and is also an excellent school. So we accepted a place there and moved to the area. We couldn’t be happier, we love the area. And DS is on course for 8 and 9’s in his GCSEs this coming year.

Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire

That's the school we were aiming for but ended up not being allocated hence move to independent as the state options outside of the 1 I think you're talking about, aren't good!

@twistyizzy @BarnyBish Did you think you were confidently in the catchment for Durham Johnston?

We moved counties for a better secondary when the kids were in reception. Slightly different reasons in that there were four single sex grammars, and one awful state secondary. 1) I didn’t know if both my kids would make it into grammar and 2) I fiercely disagree with grammars, so we moved to an area with no grammar schools. It was a tough decision as we otherwise really liked the area and I really didn’t want the kids to move from their lovely primary school and friends.

It was all in all a good decision though. And now I don’t have sleepless nights about secondary school anymore.

We are nowhere near the catchment for Durham Johnstone as it is tiny. It was cheaper for us to use independent than buy a house in the catchment.
The school @BarnyBish is talking about is in Barney and one of top state schools in NE

Id absolutely relocate.
We moved at the start of year 5. Schools were 3 tier where we lived and had put 2 dds through that. Schools had got worse (big age gap).
We moved from East Midlands down to East Sussex to a small town with a very good comp. Dd joined the primary school, made friends and moved up to Secondary happily. She outdid expectations by a huge margin.

Remember it isn't all about academic results. DJ is great academically, less great with send support.

I do get it though. Where I live the catchment secondary is not a good choice so I got my kids in to a Catholic primary to ensure they had a solid chance of feeding in to an academic secondary.

All the Durham city secondaries get pretty good results academically and some are consistently just as good as DJ but don't have the same desirability for some reason.

I would have thought on your budget you can move pretty much anywhere you want.

We did. Considered very briefly going private but that’s not for us for various reasons. The terrible schooling available really got us thinking about the community where most (all) kids were being failed and what that meant long term for the area. So despite it being beautiful, and us having good friends there we upped sticks and moved on

Move!!! Not on the account of Internet randoms but because you have independently arrived at a logical decision.
As parents we cant control everything but at the failing schools she'll have prolonged contact with children raised by people you wouldn't share a lift with.

As for all the extra curriculum activity it's really good that you have the time and money for that but how do you select what is done and when? Where possible get her involved in it as much as possible so that she can feel ownership and doesn't feel her presence is contingent on her parents desires but is in fact a product of her own volition. That way you can achieve resonance with her.