Education dilemma when moving area......

[chumble]

Hi All

DH being relocated due to job and we are currently in a quandry and the deciding factor seems to be DC schooling. One DC in a good primary and Second DC in adjoing preschool which is very good too. In the longer term there is a huge choice of secondaries which are relatively small with good reps.

However in the beginnings of my research to relocate we are stuck. One area good housing stock but mixed barrel of schools (on paper) and another are good schools (heavily over subscribed)but more limited housing. We need to rent initially until settled.

We are considering kids and me staying put and hubbie working away from home (4 days and reduction in salary) or all moving together (DH staying with us five days). However we keep stumbling at the Education issue as we seem to have it pretty good where we are but DH has no reasonable chance of employment at moment so we have to take the job on offer (very good terms and conditions and pay).

Seeing the other thread we had considered private but are concerned at the long term commitment of this (experiencing redundancy scenario has really made us realise how vulnerable DH job could be)

we have no mortgage.

Posted on Education as this seems to be the area we are struggling with.........

Suggestions and views welcome. (sorry it is so long but have tried to summarise keys points!!!!)

You need a salary coming in so the job has got to come first. Whilst plenty of people do work away during the week and then come back home at weekends this again is a financial drain and could well be an emotional drain for both adults and children.

I would forget about the education that the children are getting at present and you also need to get the children into a mindset that they are moving and will have a new school. So the only decision seems to be where are you moving to.

I think you need to consider the options and the pitfalls on admissions. If your preschool kid is due to start in september then this is difficult as they will be at the end of the list for schools, will be very limited choice and will be the schools that everybody does not want. If however the preschool kid is not starting till sept 2012 then that admission is no real problem as long as you are in long term rented accomodation before Christmas, near to the school.That leaves you your eldest and it does depend on which year group we are talking about. If it is infant then the infant class size regs come into play in many schools and your chance of wining at appeal are slim, if it is not an infant class then winning at appeal is more likely.

I would personally not go on Ofsted reports, you need the personal touch. Chose the area that you think you want to rent in and then arrange a day of going to schools and seeing what they have to offer. You say how good the current school is, well you will know which is the new school you want when you go into it!