Moving to Brighton - help please !

[Duritzfan]

Hi we are returning to Brighton next month and I have to find schools for my two children - secondary schools..

Can anyone help me with any opinions on the schools in the Hove area particularly ..Have found Dorothy Stringer, Hove Park and Blatchington but obviously we don't know what they are like .. anyone any ideas ?

Thank you x

My ds is at Dorothy Stringer it is great you need to live near it to get in and so house prices are a bit over priced here but it has been worth it for us as ds has been so happy there and is off to college next month and says he has loved every minute HTH

I think Blatch and Dorothy Stringer are in demand, Hove Park less so. You should also consider Varndean, which is next door to Dorothy Stringer and shares some sports facilities.

Stringer isn't in Hove Duritzfan...it's very firmly in Brighton!

thanks all..
the house we are moving to is in the catchment between Blatch and Stringer - am going to start properly looking next week but wondered if there was any insider info here on MN

If Stringer is Brighton school, and presumably Brighton council - does that mean its not an option with a Hove address ?

Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

You wouldn't get into Stringer from Hove

So then my choices are Hove Park and Blatch ?
I'm assuming that if we wouldn't get into Stringer then we wouldn't get into Varndean either ?

Thanks all..

You've got more of a chance to get into Varndean as they increased the amount of places available last year.

Anyone got any thoughts on the independant schools ? Brighton College and BHHS ?

Just trying to cover all my bases ..

Have a very academic will be yr 7 dd and a not so bothered ( well - bloody disinterested really ! )14 yr old ds....

yes, expensive!!

LOL....! That bit I know !!

whay do you want to know about the indeps? I know quite a bit

are they worth the money I guess ?

and which ones have the best reputations ..?
any help gratefully received... x

imo yes, but pretty expensive. Brighton College, Lancing College, Hurst College are all great. My 2 are at one of them. For girls, the high school is a more cost effective option.

Blatch Mill has a good reputation, but i heard the 6th form not so great.
Any specific questions, fee free to cat me

Thanks MABS .. will probably do that

please ask whatever you want

Hi, the catchment for hove is dual, ie there are two secondaries. at the moment west blatch is oversubscribed which means that your name goes into a hat and you get either hove park or west blatch in what they refer to as teh lottery system. our house backs onto west blatch school but our neighbour's daughter got sent to hove park because of the lottery.

same situation with the stringer/varndean catchment area.

lottery system only applies if either of the two possible schools are oversubscribed.

blatch has good reputation but not as good as dorothy but if you move to hove you have no hope of either dorothy or stringer unless exceptional circs.

hope that helps!

what would exceptional circs be ?

DD has medical needs - are Dorthy Stringer good with kids with medical needs ? As I think that 'd be my only grounds.....