Knaresborough, Boston Spa, Wetherby and area secondary schools

[MovingToYorshire]

Hello,

I think this question has been answered already, but I'd love some more info from anyone with personal/local experience, please.

We are planning to move back to Yorkshire. We both grew up there and would like to move back. Our families are dotted around Ripon, York and Harrogate areas.

We've found a house we really like near to Wetherby however after reading a few posts, I am nervous about the secondary schools.

The house is in the catchment for King James in Knaresborough, although it's actually closer to Boston Spa Academy and Wetherby High. I think it's also close enough to get into Tadcaster Grammer based on distance.

When I look at the rankings, Boston Spa Academy shows as "Well Above Average" while the others are all lower. That said, reading through other comments, people seem to prefer Tad Grammar or King James.

All of these schools are Ofsted Good and I know that if we move back to York or Harrogate, we could get Outstanding schools. However, this is the first house we both REALLY like!

From what I've read, the Boston Spa Academy has really improved since joining a trust. Is this just wishful thinking?!

Please could I have some honest opinions? The school is really important to us, so I want to make sure we make the right choice.

Sorry for a long message and thank you so much for reading.

I would prefer King James or Tad Grammar based on reputation. I do know that Wetherby High is much improved and Ive heard very good feedback about it and the coaching system in particular. At one point they were trying to amalgamate Boston and Wetherby due to low numbers in both schools but think this plan has gone quiet. With all of the new housing developments around Wetherby and Harrogate I think more local children will be going to the local schools, rather than Wetherby kids going to Harrogate and Leeds kids going to Wetherby, iykwim.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your reply!

Unhelpful but I suppose I tend to think that Harrogate [especially HGS or St Aidans] is a lot better for schools than the surrounding smaller places.

Thank you, it is helpful.

Agree with rattus rattus, Harrogate schools first, followed by Tad grammar and King James’s. Boston Spa and Wetherby remain schools to avoid if you have the choice

Oh and the Boston Spa / Wetherby amalgamation which would have been sensible as both schools are massively undersubscribed ( Boston Spa by so much they actually took a 1/3 of their pan to make the figures look better!) won’t happen now BS are an academy.

Thank you.

Would you be happy with Tad Grammar? Looking at the admissions data, that does seem to be the one we have the most likely chance to get in (apart from BS and WH).

Yes I would, kid/parental satisfaction seems good. Don’t know anyone who works there though.

Thank you, appreciate it.

Come to Boston Spa 😊. We’ve just moved up from London with primary aged children. Boston Spa gets a bad rep on here (perhaps deservedly so) but I have chatted to two (professional) mums recently whose children are very happy there. We banked on Tadcaster when we moved but will see how the land lies in a few years time.

Thank you, that's good to hear! Are you enjoying the area?

Very much - very early days but it’s a lovely place to live so far. Also met a couple of other ‘Londoner’s’ which has been nice.

And when I say ‘met’ obviously outside at a distance!

Awesome, thanks so much for your reply.

"From what I've read, the Boston Spa Academy has really improved since joining a trust. Is this just wishful thinking?"

Yes it has...was ok anyway. The story was that Leeds City Council wanted to merge Wetherby High and Boston Spa due to low pupil numbers due to the majority of Wetherby parents not using Wetherby High school due to years of poor performance. They wanted to build on the Boston Spa site and build a new Wetherby school as it is falling down.

Boston Spa then applied to academise which resulted in a huge fight with LCC. The school won and joined an academy....reputation for ruthlessly improving performance and I have heard really good reports.

Tad Grammar and St James are all good schools. The best are the Harrogate ones such as Aidans, Fishers and Harrogate Grammar. Aidans and Fishers are faith schools. Aidans is ruthless and there is little chance of joining if not in catchment, attend church very regularly and usually need to be a church volunteer as well at times. Fishers is more open in that they prioritise christened catholics but will take non catholic's as well.

Wetherby High used to be a really good school when I was younger. It went downhill because Leeds Council decided to bus kids out from the centre of leeds, many of which fell into the category of troublesome, hardened criminals in some cases and disruptive to try and give them a better environment to be educated in. The grand theory being that they would be influenced by the well behaved local kids and behave . Guess what...behaviour in class went off the cliff, teaching quality dropped dramatically and guess what...parents all voted with this feet a d moved their kids to Harrogate schools, Boston or Tad most of which are over subscribed. Teachers take a demotion to leave Wetherby and teach at the surrounding schools

Wetherby is improving but is still a long way to go...but I believe they have stopped the policy of shipping disruptive kids out now which helps.

I'm a long time local and love living in the vicinity....so come and move here

Thanks for the detailed reply. Really helpful.

This... "reputation for ruthlessly improving performance and I have heard really good reports"... is what I'd read, so it's good to have that reinforced.

It also seems like the recent exam results were really good which does back this up.

Thanks, really appreciate your taking the time to reply.