List of schools worth moving house for

[Cortina]

Found this (dates from 2007 I think). Would you agree?

State schools

Dr Challoner's Grammar, Amersham
Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
Chelmsford County High
Chelmsford
Colchester County High for Girls
Colchester
Saffron Walden County High School
Saffron Walden
Pate's Grammar, Cheltenham
Peter Symond's College, Winchester
The Judd school, Tonbridge
Newstead Wood School for girls, Orpington
Bishop Luffa C of E School, Chichester

Any to add? Agree?

Most of those are grammar schools. If your children are not super bright then you might have to find yourself moving again! It is easy for a grammar school to get good results.

Prehaps what is more interesting is to pick outstanding comprehensive schools where you do not have to be a millionaire to live in the catchment area.

I think that what children achieve depends more on the parent's attitude to education than where they go to school (within reason). Also a school might be suitable for one child and not another.

For example I have a friend who works at an truely outstanding school, however its a school for children with severe special needs.

I dunno, I went to one of those schools and my brothers went to a perfectly undistinguished minor public school and I think they got a better education than I did. I got excellent training to pass GCSEs and A Levels, they got a lot of confidence (or arrogance?)-building and the opportunities to develop independence and their own interests which stood them in better stead for their careers.
Of course it might have changed in the 20 years since I left but I doubt very much it has improved in that way, in all probability got worse due to the league table obsession. I am not at all clear that is what I would want for my children. I am inclined to think a good school, state or private, that supports a range of aptitudes including academic might be better. (By the way I know these schools are also good for stuff like music and sport but it tends to be in a very conventially achievement-oriented way.)

Though I am scared stiff of having to send my children to a school that doesn't support and enable academically oriented children to succeed.

conventionally, sorry.

bishop luffa?????

but what if you moved to be near a school which ideally suited one child only to find that it wasn't right for dc2? We're in the catchment for a highly sought-after school - families are constantly parachuting in, renting virtually next door for a year and then buggering off again once they've got their place - however ds1 doesn't go there as it would have been completely wrong for him. ds2 will go there - and it's perfect for him, as well as being round the corner and where all his friends are going

children don't all fit the same mould ...

No, I can see that.

Moving near to one of those schools does not guarantee a place though.

At least one (as my DC go/went there :)) is a superselective grammar school with no catchment area and pupils travel from miles around (e.g 20/30 miles)to attend and there is intense competition for a place, from not only the state sector but the heavily coached private sector too.

Moving to be near this school is absolutely no guarantee of getting an actual place there.

Having said that, they do get outstanding results on the whole (lots of Oxbridge etc) as would be expected from the intake. But the pupils do have to be self motivated to a certain degree to achieve the good results. They are certainly not spoon fed.

DD attends a sperselective girls grammar in Kent. Passing the 11plus and living next to the school willnot guarantee a place as they only take the girls with the highest marks. Your child could well be sent to another grammar school the other side of the county.

It's interesting that this list assumes if you choose a state school but are also considering private schools your DC must be bright enough to pass into a super selective school.

I think that a list of schools you would move for would be subjective, depending very much on your child and what suits them. We moved house to get our daughter into a school that suited her but its not one on this list.

Thornden, Chandler Ford, nr Southampton

Outstanding comp; defined catchment (doesn't whiz around the map every year), does well by all its DCs, not just the bright one IF for whatever reason it doesn't end up working for you, you have Kings in Winchester, Mountbatten in Romsey, also both comps.

PS Peter Symonds, Winchester, is a 6th form college! All my suggestions 'feed' it.

"I dunno, I went to one of those schools and my brothers went to a perfectly undistinguished minor public school and I think they got a better education than I did. I got excellent training to pass GCSEs and A Levels, they got a lot of confidence (or arrogance?)-building and the opportunities to develop independence and their own interests which stood them in better stead for their careers."

Very interesting, sethstarkaddersmum, and backs up my own hunches. Some state schools can be excellent exam factories but maybe a broader and more rounded education with a little less emphasis on examination results stands children in better stead for life.

So if you live outside the SE you're stuffed then?