advice on Kidlington and North Oxford

[njf24]

We are moving with our two boys to either Kidlington or Oxford from Leamington Spa. I work in central Oxford and my husband will cycle to the Oxford railway station (or occasionally drive) to get to work in Banbury. My eldest son will be starting school in the 2016 intake.

If anyone can help give advice on the following I'd be really grateful.

1. Kidlington: are the three non-religious schools alright (North Kidlington, Edward Feild, West Kidlington). By that, I mean are they reasonably good on the education front and good, supportive environment for boys (who need lots of exercise), ideally with some male teachers/role models. I have read all the Ofsteds, seems like Edward Feild had a dip but is on the way back up, other two sound OK but would appreciate a parent perspective! Do most people send their kids to Gosford Hill for secondary?

2. North Oxford - looks a minefield. Cutteslowe school which sounds like it's getting better, is right next to the dual carriageway, does this bother parents of kids at the school or not - is it as noisy in the playground as it looks from the bridge? Looks like we will have no chance of getting into Wolvercote unless we live in upper or lower Wolvercote themselves as I think they've reduced the catchment area, so I'm feeling that living north of the ring road (e.g Linkside avenue area) will give us a really long walk to school if it's Cutteslowe.

Am thinking it might be safer to live in Kidlington with a hopefully guaranteed primary place at the nearest primary, rather than risk having miles to walk them to a primary school in north Oxford if they don't get into the nearest one (plus houses are cheaper in Kidlington!)

We're also considering Marston but it looks a bit flood-prone from the environment agency maps. Not sure we can afford Old Marston which looks less floody, even if our dream house ever came up for sale! I'm also trying to work out how valuable it is to live in the Cherwell catchment compared to Gosford Hill in Kidlington.

All advice welcome, thanks!!

There's not that much of Marston that is genuinely flood-prone; also the ditching work done over the flood meadows has improved their function significantly in recent years. The last really really high floods I don't think affected more than 2 or 3 properties at the cycle path end of Ferry Rd, though I think alerts may have gone out more widely, including for example the field side of Fairfax Ave. They were the highest I've seen in nearly 15 years living in the area. The cycle path is really great for access to town.

Good luck getting the info that you need to be able to make sensible decisions!

Any particular reason for Kidlington or North Oxford? Would you consider Botley? Matthew Arnold school seems v well regarded.

Noise from the dual carriageway extremely unlikely to bother children in the playground - have you heard a playground at break time recently?!

I've just noticed this post and I'm in a similar situation - we will be moving to Kidlington area and wondering about local primary schools. Did you find out much in response njf24?

In addition to the main ones in Kidlington, I wonder if anyone offer advice on St Thomas More, and further afield Dr South's Islip and Bletchingdon primary?

We've also got the option of Oxford High Girls Junior as that's near OH's work. We've got this as a backup because we're applying out of area so slightly up against getting our first choice state school. But the school run into North Oxford doesn't sound fun!