Moving to york area - state primary then private secondary - where would that work?!

[Chopplepop]

Hi

Currently living in West Yorkshire but ready for a change and want to move before our dc start school - we have settled on either Harrogate or York.
Know harrogate fairly well but don't really know where to start with York!

School is a priority - ideally we would like a good state primary either in South york itself or one of the villages on south side (work in leeds). Then potentially St. Peter's or Bootham for secondary.

Any ideas of schools/ villages to aim for? We would have budget of £500/£600k and looking for a house with character (and garden). And is it realistic to live in a village south of York and use local primaries, and then use the central private secondaries (does anyone know if there are buses from the villages into the centre to these schools as wouldn't fancy commuting into York then back out again).

Would appreciate any local knowledge from York mumsnetters! Thank you!

There are certainly buses from the villages south of York to the centre. It would probably be worth choosing somewhere with a frequent service, like the Selby - York service (415?) which goes through Riccall, Escrick and Deighton. There are children at those schools on those buses but they do have to walk through the city centre to get to school.

However, the traffic is bad and the buses are expensive. Personally I would look to live within the outer ring road which would make transport much easier (it's a different bus company in York from the one that operates in North Yorkshire - children can get cheaper travel). If you lived in Fulford there are good buses and the children could possibly cycle to school/town when they are older.

Do you have a daughter? The Mount runs bus services into York.