Great primary schools in Withington/Didsbury and Why

[Teajunky]

We're currently searching for a house in withington and I wanted to know of people who have experience with any primary schools around that area, and whether I can get any good reccomendations.

The specific area of withington is just on the outskirts of didsbury, so along parrswood rd-ish, if that makes sense.

Thanks in advance.

Bump!

Bump?!

Green End was dire when DS went there. Is it any better now? They took a year to accept DS was deaf, the poor thing was going to sleep at 4pm, as he was exhausted from lip reading all day. They had massive discipline and behaviour problems.
If I were you, I'd find some religion to get into the decent schools.

Trafford schools are great (even the "sink" schools are better than Burnage). That's probably why so many families move to Trafford.

Depends where you go, Gorse hill is super cheap, gets a bit pricey down towards Alty though.

Oh second, it will be in beaver rd catchment, is it good?

How do religious schools work though? I'm not christian, I'm Muslim. Would DD still be able to get into one of the better schools?

Oh, and green end is in special measures it's abit far out from where we are looking anyway.

Second, I agree my op was abit waffly the simple question I guess was can anyone recommend a good school in that area....

Beaver road is highly thought of and a large school, very middle class catchment area. St Pauls (nominally c of e but it's not an admission criteria, there are plenty of muslim families with children there) and Mauldeth Road are also both very well regarded but smaller schools and you would need to live very close to get in. Both have more socially diverse catchments than Beaver Road. Ladybarn had an outstanding ofstead but has a socially more 'challenging' catchment which puts some people off.
st catherines, didsbury cofe and st cuthberts are faith schools which select on that basis.

I would recommend having a look around Beaver rd, St Pauls and Mauldeth rd and see what you feel. Bear in mind you will get a lot more house for your money if you are happy with St Pauls or Mauldeth road and buy nearer these schools than Beaver Rd!

I took my son out of Mauldeth Road. Not great at all.

yes TSC has a point there, my dd is only in yr one and I am blindly hoping things will improve by the time she gets to secondary age...

I have friends with children at beaver rd and St pauls and have only heard good reports about both schools. Secondary Schools in the area not great though - it seems that a lot of people move out to Trafford when their kids get towards secondary age (which is where we are). Good luck

Consistently good feedback for St Pauls and Beaver rd then...I will definitely go and visit both to get a feel for the place, caughtintheact.

Secondary schools...I am hoping that by the time DD is 11, I will have won the lottery or such like and can place her in one of the girls independents...Apart from that, don't really have a plan. On the contrary, I'm quite proud of myself for thinking as far ahead as primaries

*TheSecondComing: I dare not in case some posh fucker pulls me up on it one day and says "Well ACTUALLY, you're in Withington, not Didsbury".

Does anyone know the catchment area for Beaver Rd and St Paul? Are they based on postcode (M20), distance in metres or that straight line thingy?
The house we've seen is around 0.8 miles from Beaver rd and 0.5 miles from St pauls and 0.9 miles from Beaver rd..

Catchment areas for schools are based on straight line distance for non-faith, and the parish boundaries for faith schools.
You also need to factor in the numbers of younger siblings and statemented children in the year group, as these groups are "ahead" of catchment calculations.
When you visit the schools, ask where the usual catchment reaches to, the school secretary will know.

Yes as IMPT says, they are based on straight line distance and priority is given to siblings so the actual catchment will vary from year to year. To give you some idea, in 2009 Beaver road furthest distance offered was 0.455 miles, and in 2012 was 0.8 miles whereas St Pauls was 0.459 miles in 2009 and 0.55 miles in 2012 (2012 data from the pdf here: www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/download/4604/primary_school_admissions_2012 )

So caught, is that 0.5 for September for at pauls 2012 starts?

sorry only just seen this again.
It is from the admissions booklet for people applying for a place in September 2012, so will actually be the distance for the reception class that started in September 2011.

Thanks caught...Ive just been to see St Pauls.

Im absolutely gutted because although I LOVED it, the distance for this year is 0.2 and our new house is 0.5 miles away. The head said we wouldnt be able to get in (shes a lovely lady but was just being realistic as I asked), but could get in via the waiting list.

What can I do, anyone?

I was just coming to say St Pauls is amazing. I trained there and if I still live in Manchester when I have children then I will move mountains to make sure my DC's get a place. Do try the waiting list people do come and go around Withington a fair bit. Also the faith schools will take non faith children so have a look at St Catherines and St Cuthberts (I suspect you're too far away for St Catherines though.)

A teacher told me recently that Beaver Rd is used as a national example of outstanding school . SHe teaches in the south so it must be for her to have heard of it, iykwim. In MY day you could be as far up Withington borders as Christie Hospital & get in/Burnage borders as the train station, not sure how far away that is in miles mind you, just thinking of where friends lived.