Farnham or Winchester - which better for schools and living?

[vanloadtovenice]

So, we need to relocate further south. We've narrowed it down to Farnham or Winchester - I know both pretty well as grew up nearby.

Would love any feedback on schools in South Farnham and near the station in Winchester. Also how friendly you find it - open or closed?

Coming from Oxford, which we love, but the state secondary schools are not very good really. Three children, so would need infant, junior and senior schools - help!

Thank you for any words of wisdom, am really stuck!

What about coming a bit further out to Romsey, good primaries like halterworth and secondaries like Mountbatten and v easy to get to winchester if you need to commute

Some very odd comments on here! I moved (back) to the Winchester area a couple of years ago - now living in Kings Worthy. I am a SAHM, and have mainly made friends through toddler groups etc. I haven't encountered any horrible stuck up types or smug SAHMs - actually not that many full time SAHMs at all, most mums working part time at least. Generally I've found folks to be very friendly. Re schools - the opening of the new Westgate through school eased pressure on city centre places, so, as pp said, St Faiths had places available last year and St Bedes took everyone in catchment who applied. Tbh, most of the primary schools are pretty good - Stanmore has some great teachers and just a bit of a branding problem, according to our local head! Winnall regarded as the 'worst' but definitely improving. Some catchments have a greater socio economic mix than others but the schools well by all kids who attend, even if the KS2 sats results aren't as stellar as the very mc St Faiths.

Haha, not horsey at all! To be fair I lived in central Winchester for years, but that was pre kids. When we moved back to the area we picked Kings Worthy for the slightly more sensible house prices, and almost all our neighbours are families with young children in a similar position. KW obviously doesn't have the same demographic as central Winch, but all the groups I go to with my youngest are in town and I just haven't met vast numbers of horrible women! Maybe I have just been lucky so far (unless I am, of course, one of the awful ones and just don't realise it... feck...).

Wow. Quite a lot of strong feelings in Winch! Thank you for all the advice.

The positive with winchester seems to be that the system is easier to break in to. My concern in Farnham is that we would never get our dc's into the best schools because of the closed feeder system. It's very tricky. If you think Oxford state schools are good, it's probably due to a level results at a few. It's not the same story 11-16, mainly due to a mass exodus to private schools. This is not an option for us with 3 dc's so we just want to move where the best state schools are within a reasonable distance of husband's work. It's a very hard decision. Thanks for your help.

Just bear in mind that the school with the best results on paper may not be the best school for your child. My children are at a 'requires improvement' school and thriving. Just a thought!

Well I know parents in Farnham who don't think the best schools are the best for their children. Also lots of children do go on to Independent schools, especially as the schools don't have sixth forms.
But neither Farhahm or Winchester are as diverse as Oxford. Couldn't you move into the catchment of one of the best Oxford schools? (Most Academics send their children to the state schools.)

You could try Fleet instead of Farnham - cheaper to live and all the schools are decent, both primary and secondary.

Or Salisbury as it has grammar schools, if your kids are bright enough to be likely to get in.

Hi I hope you don't mind me messaging you so long after you wrote this post. We are currently planning a move to Farnham and I'll need to find school spaces in yr 1 and reception. I wondered if you could offer any advice? thanks