Bedford mums - what are the state schools like?

[Number52]

Bedford mums - After much research we've decided that Bedford is where we'd like to be. Great parks, a beautiful river, commutable to London, gorgeous Victorian houses and a busy town centre - what's not to love. BUT we are nervous about taking the plunge as all the local schools are private and the state secondaries seem to be a bit poor. Is this fair? Please tell me I've got this wrong. Does anyone have any positive experiences of the local secondaries? Our boys are still toddlers, but I don't intend to move again so I'm planning for the future!

For sure, it's a great place to live and bring up kids. The Harpur Trust schools are fantastic if you can afford them and its probably reasonable to say that their "creaming off" effect suppresses the results of the Bedford state schools unfairly.

I went to one of the girls schools -loved it. Due to my work, I visit a lot of the state schools in Bedford and my favourite schools are Shortstown Primary and Hazeldene.