Schools in Tring

[DewDr0p]

Can anyone offer a bit of local knowledge on state schools in Tring? We're thinking about moving and Tring looks like it ticks a lot of boxes for us but it'd be great to hear what it's really like to live there.

Ds1 will be going into Yr5, ds2 Yr3 and ds3 Yr2, so we want to consider secondary as well as primary options. Ds1 is fairly bright but a bit dreamy and looks to be quite musical, also loves drama. Ds2 is very bright, good all rounder. Ds3 has hearing issues which have delayed his speech a bit - he currently gets support from SALT and Hearing Support - and lots of support from his current school, where he is starting to make good progress. I think he is also quite bright but it's hard to tell where he's going to end up. So lots to consider!

We love where we live now (v small rural market town, more like a big village really, with a v well regarded secondary school) but work pressures are making it very difficult to stay here. Any thoughts/advice very much appreciated.

On the secondary front, there is only one state school in Tring: Tring School ( www.tring.herts.sch.uk/ ). Would I recommend it? No. Despite the claims of Ofsted and the school website, I would not recommend Tring School for a long list of reasons.

On the primary front you've got a few more options: Dundale Primary, Goldfield Infants, Grove Road Primary, Bishop Wood C of E Juniors. Herts County Council has got pretty strict on applications, limiting you to the school closest to your address. So you don't really get much choice. Dundale and Bishop Wood are good schools. Grove Road is best avoided. I have no experience of Goldfield.

Moving away from schools, what Tring is like to live in as a town really depends on exactly where you're living. If you live around Rosebery Way, Faversham Close or Kingsley Walk then you're likely to fall asleep to the blissful sound of police sirens every night. Live on the other side of Brook Street and things are better. Only a few armed robberies in recent years (Tesco and the Co-op spring to mind), and drug dealing is becoming quite a problem, along with arson (bizarrely). Not to put you off, but it's certainly not the information you'll get in the brochure from Cesare!

Thank you whatever2 that's really helpful.

Do you mind me asking what your main concerns about the secondary school are?

And how bad are the sirens/drug dealing? Houses we liked the look of were mainly south of the high street - between that and the A41 - is that a nice part of town?

Tring is only 5 miles from Aylesbury which is in Bucks, and some children from there travel to the grammar schools there for secondary. My daughter is at Aylesbury High school and has several friends from Tring in her year group. There is a public bus.

(anecodatal info, I have a colleague who lives in Tring).
As PP says, lots of in the area try for the 11+ for Aylesbury grammars. My colleague is going this route (though did say she was impressed by Tring school so wouldn't mind if he failed and ended up there - but that's just from a visit and talking to parents).

Because of the focus on 11+ a lot of people take their children out of state primaries and into private in the latter years (if not all the way through) .

Thanks GRW and redskyatnight useful to know about the 11+/grammar angle, especially about people taking their children out of the state primaries. That's definitely not an option for us! And I had a similar experience at secondary school, which left me feeling quite isolated, so have to admit that does put me off.