Which secondary school?

[sallyqt]

We are moving to Bristol and can relocate to any area. My son is in yr5 and my daughter in yr3. In an ideal world which are the best state schools - secondary and junior? My husband works from home so we can live in Bristol or on the outskirts.

Try Thornbury area. Secondary is the Castle school Thornbury. Great primaries too in the area.

Best state schools in and around Bristol are, Redland Green(very small catchment) , Cotham School, Bristol Cathedral School (lottery entry system), Winterbourne International Academy, Castle School in Thornbury, John Cabot, Wellsway School in Keynsham, St. Mary Redcliffe (C of E). You'd definitely do best to concentrate on the secondary school as there are far more good primaries all over the city. If you want to know more about any of the areas let us know.

Thank you so much for all the replies - this has been a huge help.

Primary is Bishop Road and Secondary is probably Redland Green. You could buy a house which will get you into both. Victorian terrace will cost you c£340k

I am not sure that Bishop Road is THE best primary, it may be one of the best but it depends what you are looking for (it has been massively expanded so now has over 700 children, so that may well but some parents off).

Redland School is also not the best, but one of the best- others listed above by Lovinglapland, I would also add Colston's Girls in for your DD, and St Bedes, but that is only if you are RC. The trouble with Redland Green is that you have to live within a catchment of about 0.7 miles of the school, which means the house prices are shockingly expensive. A quick trawl on RightMove showed nothing in catchment coming up for £340k.

Personally I would look to the outskirts as suggested- Thornbury is a good one, or North Somerset on the other side.

Actually the furthest child to get a place this year for RGS based solely on catchment was about 1.1km, since they have brought in the rule which only counts siblings if you still live within catchment it has grown, and no doubt hacked off a lot of parents who thought they could move to a cheaper area after getting their eldest child in.

You're right, neither of them is THE best, and that definition depends on what you want from a school, but by Bristol standards they are great :)

I agree Colston Girls is amazing, as is Bristol Cathedral, however as they are both lottery admission across a wide area it might be that none of your children's friends will live locally which at that age can be a pain.

My DD1 is at Colston's Girls' School and I would agree that it is amazing! Luckily DD2 will follow next year under the sibling rule and we won't have to go through all of that stress again It is true that some girls do travel quite a distance, but also many are local. I think 9 got in from her 2 form primary school, and there are plenty of others from the other local primary schools too.

Regarding primary schools, I would also add that Bishop Road is rumoured to "teach to the test" and would include other smaller primaries on your list e.g. Ashley Down, Sefton Park, The Dolphin School and Henleaze - all very good and possibly more nurturing.