Should I move from Manchester to Bristol?

[Ceebeejay]

I have a 9 year old daughter and we moved to South Manchester three years ago. She is in her second school and seems to like it although I think it is full of pushy parents with tutors! I haven't really clicked with anyone here and am thinking of moving to Bristol - Redland sort of area
Does anyone have any idea of what it is like to live there? schools, social life etc? any comments would be welcomed - thanks!!

[SwedishEdith]

I think the OP mght have decided by now - she asked 2 years ago

[InNeedOfBrandy]

SouthGlos is good for schooling, Hanham has a decent secondry school most Bristol schools are shite tbh (and I love bristol it hurts to say it) but yes knives drugs yadayada very much available and in use.

SouthGlos is a lot better and still Bristol/on main bus routes.

[exexpat]

Zombie thread alert - the OP is from two years ago. Not sure why CraigF resurrected it but he's been deleted anyway...

[mam29]

rudolph not as simple as that.

only redland/cotham are any good state comps within bristol itself and small cathment costs small fortune.

colston girls/bristol cathedral lottory schools.

st mary redclife have to be coe go church regular-no catchment
st bedes -rc-wide catchemnt as no rc secondry in neigbouring counties.

The rest are mostly sink schools turned academies with appalling results.

most dont even get 50% a-c passrate at gcse.

It also has a huge shortage of primary places around 300without any of 3choices and soon will be low on secondry places.

south glos on suburbs bristol-where I am

john cabot academy-limited places
ridings academy

outside of that theres bradley stokke community but you really need to live close to get in or castle thornury a whole diffrent town.

Keynsham a town between bath and bristol has one good school wells way but they come under bath and north east somerset.

[Rudolphstolemycarrots]

Can you just look at all the bristol secondary ofsteds/results and then work out which catchment you need to be in. After that choose a secondary school.

[givemeaclue]

We just moved out of bristol to north Somerset for schools. Very good and outstanding primaries and secondaries. I do find it a bit dull where we are but its 25 mins to central bristol and has saved up £250k for private schools.

In conclusion op, areas around bristol better than bristol itself for schools. Bristol one of the worst performing education authorities in the country despite throwing money at the e. That said many Of the brightest children travel to outside the area or go private which needs to be taken into account when looking at the data.

[Mandy21]

I live in South Manchester and there are lots of pushy parents in the state primary schools - but in their my defence, there are lots of parents that want to send their children to the schools in this particular area so there is a huge amount of competition. If parents outside of the area sent their children to their local schools, there would probably be enough places for local children. I know that's not necessarily the answer to your issues!!

[flowergirlbelle]

We live in Bradley Stoke, which is North Bristol and comes under South Glos. The schools here are really good (7 primary schools), 1 secondary school which has just had an outstanding ofsted. Alot of the children here also go to the secondary schools in Thornbury. I know there are problems with schools in other parts of Bristol. I have lived here for nearly 13 years and like the fact you are 7 miles from the centre of Bristol, 2 miles from Cribbs Causeway and right on the M5/M4 motorways. I made my move to Bristol without knowing anyone and it was the best thing I ever did. Good Luck.

[RinaandOllie]

Secondary schools in Bristol are either private (expensive and rather exclusive), not very good, or oversubscribed (state schools like Cotham and Cathedral). Two of the best state schools in North Somerset close to Bristol are Nailsea and Backwell, only about 15 mins drive south of Bristol, in easy reach of town - you'd need to live in the catchment of Backwell School (either in Backwell or Nailsea) to be sure of a place though as it's a very popular school.

[crazymum53]

Bristol is a good place to live there is plenty for families to do with visitor attractions such as the zoo, theatres, At Bristol science centre and an impressive history including the suspension bridge and waterside developments. There is also good access to the seaside and surrounding countryside.

There are some good state secondary schools as listed above. There are also 2 former independent schools Bristol Cathedral school and Colstons Girls school which are now academies and take children from across the city. St Mary Redcliffe also has a good reputation and is an option if you are a church-goer.

Travelling around Bristol can be difficult as there are congestion and parking problems in some areas and bus fares are expensive compared to other cities.

[sarahfreck]

I agree that not all tutors are bad uns! I've not met a "pushy" parent yet either and I live in Manchester. Although not the South!
tutors can be very helpful and useful - honest - particularly when a child has lost confidence for some reason or other or where there is a specific learning difficulty.

[beeline]

Can anyone recommend anywhere where there is a general lack of pushy parents - our part of the south east is a pp magnet and I am starting to hate it. We are just normal parents who want our daughter to enjoy an all round education, not be pushed by parental insecurity.

[schoolsecretary]

Having lived in both Trafford and Redlands. i think you would be better living out of Bristol itself more towards Keynsham, in BANES (Bath and North East Somerset Council) Keynsham is a decent enough place to live and the local schools to there are/well were much better than the local ones in Redland, unless you can afford to pay to go private.

[ShoshanaBlue]

I live in Manchester and I would quite happily settle for a secondary modern in Trafford.

[crikeybadger]

JenaiM- that's a great list- thanks.

Our budget is at the lower end as we are currently in one of the cheapest areas in Somerset. DH would need to go to work in Bristol so I'll have a scout around at Weston.

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

crikeybadger outskirts of Bath.

Weston, Batheaston, Bathford, Bathampton - all have very good schools. Obviously I don't know your budget, but there are ex-council properties around that are well built, in nice enough areas, that don't cost too much (comparitively).

I'd probably go for Weston as the bus into town is faster (congestion getting into town from the east side can be dire) and it's the right side of the city for quick (ish) travel into Bristol.

[gladis]

Don't you think that the Grammar schools create the problem in Trafford?

If a child is obviously academic then naturally you would encourage them to do well in 11+ to get into a grammar school. If they are obviously more practical/creative/whatever and not so academically inclined, then they would almost certainly be happiest in a non-Grammar environment.

The problem seems to me that many children fall into the middle ground, bright but if they get into a Grammar school they will be in the lower performing percentiles, however if they opt for a non-Grammar, parents feel they haven't given their children the best start in life (not my personal opinion) or that others will look down on their child as 'not clever'.

When we arrived here we thought - 'great, good schools' and we love the primary our daughter goes to, but I can see how it can all go a bit pear-shaped later on.

[emptyshell]

Used to work at an independent just over the border into North Somerset... let's put it this way, the staff used to visibly shudder at the thought of a lot of the Bristol schools.

And oi! Not all of us tutors are bad-uns! (Most of the tutoring I do isn't pushy parents at all - I try to screen those out - but kids who are really struggling but capable and who just need a little confidence leg-up).

North Somerset's gorgeous - I'd move back there in a heartbeat if I could afford to live around there :(

[selby]

I lived in Hale for a few years and ime, the affluence of the area has a direct correlation to the high expectations of parents and you will certainly face this to a certain degree in Clifton/Redland - the most expensive areas for housing in Bristol.

[selby]

We lived in both Bristol and South Manchester in the last 5 years (recently relocated again to the SE) but my eldest is 7 and only started school in Manchester. If you're talking about the state schools in Trafford, they are more academic than the state schools in Bristol imo. If I lived in Bristol again, I would aim to live pretty near Redland Green School otherwise look into commuter areas of North Somerset and South Gloucestershire for better state schooling (still a lot less academically vigorous than Trafford but Bristol does not have the 11+ torture that Trafford has which must exacerbate the more 'pushy' environment). We have friends who live just outside the present catchment area for Redland Green. They have already decided to go down the independent route (as oppose to moving house and joining the bunfight to get into that school).

[Fennel]

I think it's just the very specific bit of S Manchester you're in. We lived in S Manchester til recently and there were no pushy parents or tutors at our school, that I knew of. It was a great school too. But I have friends in a nearby part of S Manchester - could be your bit - and they're all getting tutors.

In the end every city will have some areas with lots of pushy parents, if you choose to live in those particular areas you'll be surrounded by pushy parents and tutors in any city.

[crikeybadger]

Thanks for your thoughts runoutofideas .

[Runoutofideas]

We live in Westbury on Trym, which is great for primary schools but difficult for secondary. Oasis Westbury school used to be St Ursula's - it is still fee paying for this year, but the idea is that is will be an academy or a free school from next year. They also haven't specified yet whether it will be primary, secondary or all through, but I should think it'll be pretty popular. Not sure about the new academy near Bishopston?
Friends have just moved to Almondsbury area, which has a lovely primary school and they would hope to get into one of the Thornbury secondaries - Castle and Marlwood are both well regarded. Any villages which feed into Backwell school are popular. Other people recommend the South Glos side of Bristol for better schools, Downend, Mangotsfield, Staple Hill area - but I don't know much about it I'm afraid.