should we move to oxford

[brezzo]

We both (sort of) have job offers from Oxford employers and are wondering if we should turn our backs on London and take boys ( aged 7 and 8) to start fresh life. we have had enough of London street life and worry about teenage years. But we can't find any decent schools in Oxford! Can anyone help?

We can only afford state schools and quite fancy Cherwell as a secondary, but all of the primaries look pretty poor. Is there somewhere we have overlooked? Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks!

I'd love to get back to Oxford one day. Love the area from Wytham through Wolvercote to Summertown. Bet the bluebells are spectacular.
My sister is there and says that the school situation is a nightmare to the extent that she has decided to go private with her DD. She is desperately trying to get out in fact because of the schools.

Where was she at school ruty? I thought there were fairly good round here.

We lived in central Oxford for 3 yrs, then in Woodstock for 5. Loved it in many ways, but it is very pricey.

I miss the Oxford bookshops
But I don't miss shopping in Oxford and Oxford traffic.

Primary schools we came across were quite poor in many respects.

I'd also second the comment about asthma sufferers. My dh has been so healthy since we moved here (SW Cumbria - near the sea), and the boys' "query asthma" diagnosis from their pre-school years of continual ear/throat/chest infections has completely disappeared and they are very rarely ill. In 5 years here ds1 (9) hasn't been to the GP a single time, and ds2 has been just twice I think.

Of course those arguments may not apply against a move from London

earlgrey sorry i don't know if you are talking to me or have mistaken me for someone else?
My asthma is much better here than in London, though i do avoid the city centre, which is very congested.

I didn't know you were here, ruty? Whereabouts are you, if that's not too personal? In fact apart from OM (hope you're fine!) I didn't think there were many of us here at all!

Blimey do you know who I am???

I'd love to know who you are! Do you frequent places like Costa, M&S, Coop? How old are your lo's?

They're all mad in Oxford, mad I tell you!

Try living on the SW fringes of Oxford - then you can enjoy Oxford and still be in the Abingdon Waitrose in 10 minutes! Both Matthew Arnold School (secondary, on Cumnor Hill) and the secondary in Eynsham have improved dramatically in recent years. Matthew Arnold's results are similar to Cherwell's now.

Actually, Abingdon itself is worth considering - easy to get into and out of, a quick commute to Oxford and the shops are slowly improving. The primary schools are OK, though the secondary schools are not good.

What happened to brezzo?

Hi Earlgrey, yes it's Pruni, now in Scotland - quite missing Ox actually.

just in case anyone was wondering i asked for one of my posts to be pulled as i thought in hindsight it contained too much personal info.

Brezzo is still here Earlgrey, looking at league tables and waiting for OFSTED pdfs to download.

Thanks for all the great advice, we have widened search to south oxford. Matthew Arnold looks like a good secondary, but still struggling with primaries.

PS Is Kennington as suburban as it looks?

Yes, Kennington is. Which primaries are you struggling with?

Do you want us to give you the low down on your future prospective employer too?

I would second Jobekal's health review of Oxford - I was at college there and found it miserably damp. My knees always hurt! My sister and I both managed to have bizarre medieaval illnesses there which no doctor anywhere else in the UK would have recognised ... but this probably only applies to central Oxford and if you were on the outskirts or in one of the villages I doubt you would notice.

Muminbrum, what did you have, The plague? Scrofula?? The mind boggles!

We lived in Thame and my doc told me that the general area had the highest incidence of Asthma and chronic chest complaints of antwhere in England.

Not sure about the 'damp' comment. When I went to university I was astonished that it would rain and then after an hour stop. Having grown up in the welsh valleys I had never considered this an option.

Oxford is nice, but not terribly practical IME. Very expensive. Insane oneway system re traffic.

a friend's nursery had a case of scarlet fever recently!

come on then tell us where is a nice, not damp, good for chest complaints, not so expensive, family friendly place to live???? but do want to know...

Nah, it was scurvy. She didn't do her five a day and is blaming it on Oxford

OK real story about the diet of Oxford Medics.

When I was a graduate student I used to teach Medical practicals to undergrads to earn some extra dosh.

One practical involved giving them a very large dose of Vitamin C. Vit C cannot be stored in the body, but is metabolised and excreted in the urine. The students would take the Vit C and then give a urine sample every hour. They would analyse how much of the metabolite there was, and plot this as a graph. Riveting stuff!

At the start of term it would work beautifully. By the end of term the little buggeres were deprived of Vit C having not eaten a bit of fruit since they left the tender loving care of their Mummies.

Happened every year, without fail!

after witnessing the binge drinking drug snorting lifestyles of oxford medic students at close hand i am more than a little nervous of ever needing medical attention...

I had quinsy, she had pleurisy. Perhaps I exaggerate slightly about the medievalness of these ailments but I've never met anyone else who's had either of them! I think the damp thing is not so much about rain but about the being in a bowl with a river at the bottom - everything just seems damp all the time - it was the first time I ever saw slugs inside houses (shudder).

lol at daivd gest on this htread