Advice on schools in Southampton please

[rosebetweentwothorns]

Hello, I live in Southampton and looking to move house in the next year or so. DD is still only 16 months so school is a way off yet but it is a strong consideration in where we move to as don't want to be moving again straight away! Looking for any advice / reviews of areas and schools to help with my search. I know a little about some of the primaries but don't even know the names of any secondaries apart from Bitterne Park! TIA

I'm not a Southampton local but understand most Southampton kids go to the comp in Romsey if they can, as the Southampton secondaries are fairly crap. Although there is an all girls one - St Anne's, I think it might be called - which is v gd.

Take a look at the schools to the north of Southampton, especially Thornden. The BBC league tables are useful too.

chandlers ford has good schools

senior schools; mountbatten school in romsey and wildern school in hedge end are supposed to be good

OP
If you live IN Southampton, with the house building going on, you will be stuck with the Southampton schools
BUT
many, many of the primaries are really good so for now look at provision up to year 3 : eg ocean village is well served by cuddly little St Johns
or head up to Highfield and Portswood
by the time your DD is secondary my old buddy Cllr Letts will have got a secondary school back into the centre of town : and the demographics of the new comers mean it will be good.

trust me that there will be NO places for Southampton residents in the Romsey / Chandlers Ford / FAir Oak schools within 3 years
(I read planning permissions for a living)

St Anne's and Bitterne Park have the best results, with Sholing Technology College not far behind; Sholing has a very good record for pastoral care.

All the children I know at these three are doing well and are happy at school. Going to school in Southampton doesn't have to be a disaster.

But they do get oversubscribed as some of the other schools are the kind that parents try to avoid.

Demographics isn't everything: a good head and supportive staff are important too. And it is actually possible to be working class or lower middle class and still care about your children's education.