Anyone with information on York schools?

[lookingforaschool]

I've name changed for this and am hoping to get some info on schools in York. We're moving up there in september and our oldest will be going into year 9, next going into year 7 and one going into year 3. We understand that without a post code until later in the year it will be very hard to get places and we are willing to go private if we don't get a school the DCs like. So far we've looked around Bootham and St Peter's for private and Fulford, Huntington and Manor state wise. We haven't looked at any primaries yet. I was wondering if anyone has any experience of the schools listed above or if there are any others to consider? Also what primaries are thought of as being desirable?

I have a dc at Fulford and have been really pleased so far( only in yr 7) - I don't have any direct experience of the other schools but do have friends with dcs at Manor and Bootham who are very happy with them, Primary-wise it would depend on which part of the city or surrounding villages you are looking at.

Also which areas are nice (within the outer ring road)? From looking at rightmove we like the look of this, this, this and this but don't know if they are in nice areas with good schools. Also didn't realise nice houses were so expensive!

Have namechanged for this. My DCs either go to or have been to Manor. It's been great for all of them, although at times I think they are pushed very hard to get the grades. My oldest son had to do 14 GCSEs including PE which is compulsory. They only thing is it's got a shrinking catchment, we live on the other side of town but are CofE otherwise we wouldn't have got in. It also only goes up to 16. That brings me onto my next point. I have twin DSs and next year one's going to St Peter's and one to Bootham. This is because one is very sporty and the other artistic and sciency (Bootham v. strong on science). IMO my boys wouldn't both have been happy at either school as they are so different; Bootham suits the quiter character whilst St Peter's the more outgoing.
House wise none of them are in catchment for the best schools and Canon Lee and Burnholme are two of the least desirably schools in York. However both Huntington and All Saints are easy to get into. Friend's of my DS got into All Saints from the other side of town without being catholic. Don't know much about primaries. Mine went to Heworth Primary. It wasn't great as very small building but fine none the less (one of the houses you've listed is just around the corner from there). Other good schools in the area are St Aelred's and Park Grove.

Ok

First house is opposie the chocolate factory (yum) and up road from the hospital. It is on a very, very busy road and has the Scarborough railway running behind it. The area the other side of the railway isn't great and your walk in to town will start off alongside a very busy road. Not ideal tbh

Second house is in a much quieter street and decent area. Just up the road from the football ground but a) thats supposed to move and b) you have residents parking on the street. When we lived nearby we didn't which made match days interesting. Nice walk in to town and very handy for the private schools. Not sure which primary catchment that will be. I suspect it's Clifton Green. Now years ago - when we were first looking so about 10 years ago - it had failed it's Ofsted. It then had a new head and a lot of money etc put in to it. You would need to take a look at it but I think it's fine now. Tbh there are very few primaries in York that aren't ok. It will be drawing kids from a pretty big social mix but that's the case with most state city primary schools.

The third house is pretty close to the second. Bit further away from football ground and closer to station and river. I really like that street. Possibly more residents parking on the other one though. About 5 minutes walk closer to town.

4th house is in a nice bit of Heworth. Moderately busy road but fine. Decent primaries near by - Heworth Primary is nice. You could consider Park Grove which is a bit further away but has a good reputation. Hempland is also highly sought after - you'd need to see what places had spaces in year. The problem with Heworth is secondary catchment. The catchment school is probably Burnholme which is crap quite frankly. A lot of Heworth kids go to Huntington which is good, Archbishop Holgates which is also pretty decent or Joseph Rowntrees which is ok but wouldn't be my choice. Again easy walk in to town and some nice local shops there - far more so than your other choices. I would definately look at Heworth/Stockton Road if secondary catchment is less of an issue.

yorkmum - I see we are of one mind

Thanks for the replies. We are neither catholic or CofE, does that rule out All Saints and Manor? And are York schools over subscribed, what are our chances of getting a place through late entry to year 7 and at other entry points? Any experience of the private schools?

My dd is going in to Year 7 this year. I would say you have no chance of getting in to Fulford without a catchment application. I suspect Huntington will fill all their places - they usually do but didn't last year - so a definate maybe . Jo Ro always has spaces and I think Archbishops may do. Canon Lee and Burnholme definately would. Manor - I don't know. I would say though I would not choose it for my child - again it's anecodatal but I wasn't impressed with what I've heard.

No idea about private schools. If you've got girls then the Mount would be closest to Bishothorpe Rd. It's also a quaker school.

Right if you want your DCs to go to Fulford (I went there) you need to be looking at the villages that go to that school. They are not within the outer ring road, but do have regular transport to and from the city centre. There is Dunnington, Wheldrake, Heslington, Fulford, Elvington and a few others. I was brought up in Dunnington. There is a bus (the no 10) every 30 mins (or poss 20) to the city centre which takes about 20 mins to get there. There are also other bus companies which run through as well so buses are very regular if that is something you are worried about. Also the outer ring road is a 5 min drive away.

With Huntington School there is Huntington (thats within the ringroad) Strensall (just the other side of the ring road) Both have got goot transport to the city centre.

Is there a reason why you want to live within the ring road? As York is a relatively small city these villages out of York are not that far out. Also houses are VERY expensive in York.

The number 10 goes every 30 minutes :) Or drive to the park and ride. Or cycle :)

I think the ring road is a bit of a mental barrier tbh. I also would sometimes like to be able to just stroll into York rather than need to organise myself.

DH will be commuting by train so doesn't really want to add a bus journey to his commute. We also don't particularly want to live in a village.

If commuting by train I would agree with not living outside the ring road. Station is on the west side of York - if you were in Heworth he'd need to either get a bus or cycle - think it's about 1.5 miles or so.

Buses to station are awful but cycling is very quick and easy.

Have you looked in the South Bank area? Similar style of houses, and fairly easy access to the station down Nunnery Lane and into the centre of town via Bishopthorpe Road. It also has a lovely little shopping area, with Pig and Pastry, fab butcher, grocer etc. I think catchment primary school is Scarcroft which I believe is a reasonable school. Not sure about catchment state secondary though.

I did have a friend who lived on Queen Anne's Road, and it was a lovely house but parking was a real issue.

I have a friend who went to The Mount and loved it. Also several friends with children at St Peters, none with any complaints.

We live in a village on the west side of York. It would take us about 25 - 30 minutes to cycle to the station. Would that be too far? Whereabouts would your DH be commuting to? There is a fairly reasonable bus service to Leeds that runs through York, which might be worth considering?

I have a child going into year 7 in Sept 2012. We were told categorically that unless we moved into Fulford catchment before 1 March 2011 we wouldn't get a place - they refused catchment children who moved into zone after the March deadline last year and already have more children living in catchment than they have places at the school. However, you may have more luck with an in year place - we've discovered that it's worth speaking to the head and getting an offer from the head directly than going through the council ...

I get the impression that it's quite hard to get into Archbishops too but we were very impressed with it and have applied.

There are lots of beautiful houses within the outer ring road for sale; we've probably seen most of them. Depends on whether or not you want a garden. Estate agents are being terribly helpful this weather though!

Fair enough OP, just curious so I didnt try to tell you to look outside. In that case I think you need to forget about Fulford School in all honesty.

So you want something walking distance to the station? Id walk from Heworth to the station without even thinking about it, prob will take about 30 mins. Definately do-able. Other than that you will have to look at city centre like Queen Annes Road or similar.

I think somewhere which would be around a 15 minute cycle to the station would be okay. Commute is to Huddersfield so it's a longish and expensive train journey so don't really want to be living somewhere were we have to pay for more transport that necessary. Under this criteria would Fulford be out then? And what school catchment is the Knavesmire in?

Think that primary wise Knavesmire and secondary would be Millthorpe but not 100% sure.

No one seems to have much to say abour Millthorpe, what is it like?

Yup that's right - and that's your issue because on paper Millthorpe and York High School have around 400 places and there are around 600+ kids living in those areas - now obviously there is also All Saints and Manor and other schools which have space plus the privates to take some - so it should work out but personally I'm glad I live North of the city centre where things are definately less frantic.

Millthorpe is increasing in popularity. It's results are not as good as Huntington/Fulford atm but it's on the way up I think. It used to be that the very aspirational parents on that side of York sent their bright, motivated and middle class kids () to All Saints but that became harder to get in to (supposedly because of increased Polish - catholic population) so Millthorpe became more the school to use.

Will definitely take a look. And if state places aren't avaliable, what do you think of the private options?

If I could afford it which I can't - I would go for Bootham or The Mount if I thought a single sex environment best for the dd.

Not St Peter's? Any reason why you would go for Bootham or The Mount?

Well Fulford School is out because the closest to town you could get and be in the catchment area would be Fulford itself and while most areas are ok, I remember from school that the 'rough' kids tended to come from Fulford, though there are worse areas of York than Fulford and they're not that rough just rougher than say others from the villages such as Wheldrake, Dunnington etc.

Also I think that would still take 20 mins or so at least to walk to the station.

Sorry I cant comment on private schools as I didnt go (as I went to Fulford) and dont really know many who did, one person I know went to St Peters, the other to Bootham and from what I could see there wasnt much differences between the two people. One of them was a teacher the last I heard, the other was in HR the last I heard again.

I really like the Quaker ethos this is why. (The ethos - not the possible presence of Obama offspring!)