Left London For Better Schools ?

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Hi DH and I were talking and wondering whether ut anyone had left London for schools but found it hasnt been as they expected.? Just interested if anyone would like to share stories.

I haven't - indeed, we decided to stay in London for educational reasons when it would have made more sense for other reasons to leave. At secondary level there is more choice (as opposed to selection by postcode)in state education in London than in the area that we might have moved to.

We are also wondering whether to make the move. The choice of secondary schools around here is truly awful (once you've excluded the ones my boys can't go to on the basis of their sex or religion). I would particularly be interested in areas commutable to London with grammar schools (assuming of course that my boys could get in).

Where are you, Azure? (Don't answer if you don't want to, but if you do someone may know something useful )

Yes we did last september. It has probably cost us about £130,000 in whole buying and selling at 'wrong' time etc. We would have educated privately in London Zone 2 and are still educating privately in London subburb. But the schools in London I was prepared to use were full. I called for propectus when DD was 2.5 yrs old and everyone else had registered their kid when they were age 6 months old. I am glad we moved as school is better than I could have hoped for in every respect. My commute to work is an hour more per day so I have an hour less to make packed lunch, empty dish washer etc.

We left not just for schools - bigger house, nicer area etc - and haven't regretted it. We moved 250 miles away btw! DS1's primary school just got an outstanding Ofsted inspection and it's just our local state primary. There's more space, almost no crime, free town centre parking! I could go on.

We've thought about it and investigated it in quite a bit of depth. We were thinking of moving to Chichester from south west London. When I looked at it in detail, the local state options around here are much better with both the local primary and secondary having received an outstanding Ofsted. Our local secondary is eye-wateringly hard to get into and the other state options are crap, but even on the private side, there's a walkable private day school that is miles more affordable than any of the private options I could see around Chichester, which were all boarding. There was a great sounding CofE secondary in Chichester that sounded good, but the Ofsted wasn't in the same league as our local one.

We may still move down there in the next 5 years or so for the quality of life, but it won't be the schools that attract us.

Ofsted is not everything. My DS and DD both went/ still go to the C of E school in Chichester (previously in infant and junior schools in Havant). My DS is the kind of boy who might have been bullied (very bright and a bit socially inept) but wasn't. My DD is in the 6th form and although less academic than her brother is loving it.

Sorry for the late reply Hallgerda, hectic day (sports day). I'm in west London (Chiswick environs).

we are in Suffolk & the state primaries are fantastic, there is just no comparison to the state priamries in London.
We are in a cluster of maybe eight primaries & I would say 6 of those are great schools, not only by ofsted reconing but are smallish village/small town schools with great facilities & teachers.
Secondaries however are far more spaced out, there is a choice of two with the better one being a 20 min bus ride along country lanes!

Ah, Azure, I've had one of those today too. Both DS2 and DS3 managed to complete their races without a major upset, which counts as sporting success for us . I wondered whether you were near me given the sex or religion point, as there is a significant imbalance that way here in LB Lambeth, though matters are improving here (new schools opening, girls' secondary going mixed). Maybe someone else with local knowledge of Chiswick and where you (or, rather, your children) could go from there may come along.