Primary state schools in Oxford help!!

[paucol]

Hi! We´ve recently moved from Denmark to London, Ealing, only 3 months ago and we will have to move again to Oxford for work and school reasons.
We have two girls, one is 5 years old currently in Reception, and one 3 year old. We will be both working in Headington.
In two weeks time I will need to send in the application for an Year 1 vacancy for my 5 years old daughter (and later on, in january for a reception place for the little one). We are looking for state schools, and we are not religious so we would not get priority in any catholic school.
We are not familiar with the Oxford area at all, and would like to live relatively close to the city. I´ve been looking at Windmill primary school in Headington and it looks good, but we get the impression that the Headington area is a bit boring, in the sense of not being very "pretty"?? We liked Summertown a lot but I hear it is extremely hard to get school vacancies.
Other schools I´ve been checking are West Oxford Primary school, Botley (although is a bit far away), and Windmill. I heard Wolvercote is also very hard to get in (and again, perhaps it´d be too far from Headington?).
My biggest worry is that I really want to get a vacancy in a good school, since we are very unhappy with the one we got here in Ealing; and I fear that we will make this huge effort to move again but perhaps we get into a school that we don´t like again :-(
Any tips or recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated!

There is huge pressure on state primary school places in Oxford city, because of the increasing population, so you may find that there isn't much choice of schools. I'd look in Headington first (Windmill and St Andrews), and then maybe at some of the village school on the Headington side (Horspath, Garsington, Wheatley). I've never lived in Headington so I'm not sure if it's boring or not (!) but it might be useful for you both to be relatively close to work to avoid commuting in Oxford traffic. Ask about after-school provision too - sounds like you might need it if you're both working. Oxford primaries seem to be going through a bit of turmoil at the moment - two schools that have generally been considered 'good' have gone into special measures recently and lots of primaries are likely to convert to academies.

We got my DD into year 1 at Windmill Primary a couple of years ago without any trouble - sinking is right, there's a huge amount of pressure on school places. But Oxford is also fairly transient with people moving around so you may well get lucky but I'm not sure you'll be able to apply for the schools you want without an Oxford address?

Windmill is fab - the head is amazing and hugely inspiring. There are loads of activities and the school is very involved with the community. I would totally recommend it.

Headington is a lovely place to live - actually I think it's quite similar to Ealing in lots of ways. Bury Knowle park is great and there are some gorgeous areas (Old Headington is about as pretty as you can get). It's not as close to the city as other places and because of the hill it's not an easy walk but this does mean it's a more self contained and quite well served community with nice restaurants and cafes (and a great view of the 'dreaming spires' from the top of South Park).

Wolvercote is more of a village on the egde of the city but is very pretty.
Summertown is pretty, quite posh and, IME a bit pretentious. Most people chose private which is why the primary, Cutteslowe, is in special measures. Phil and Jims on the Jericho/Summertown border is very highly thought of but has a faily limited catchment area.

Before making a decision I'd visit and try to get a feel for what areas appeal to you. Traffic in Oxford is a nightmare so I'm not sure you'll want to consier West/South Oxford as the one way system can mean it's a pain to get round to Headington for work.

Happy to answer more specific Headington/Windmill questions if you PM me.

I am the wrong side of Oxford to Headington to be of much help as you really wouldn't be wanting to do the daily commute to work from this side, when I have an early hospital appointment in Headington I always need to leave at least an hour before I need to be there, more if the appointment is 8.30 -9am! (I have been late before now by leaving the house the wrong side of 8am!)
I would rule out Botley as that is our side (I live in a village further out on that side) and to be honest, and I could get shot down here, I don't really rate Botley school all that much, too big for me although the children centre there is very good. Also, if you are thinking Headington is a bit 'boring' or 'un pretty' then really, don't go for Botley, Headington is lovely and from what you say you want from an area, a good option for you. I have no idea of the schools in that area though.
If you want more into about the area to the north west or west of Oxford give me a PM. Also just to say I think you will like the Oxford life, I know a Swedish family who came here and settled in like they had always been here, they loved it, one of them was a doctor so worked a bit in Headington and to be fair I never heard complaint about the commute although it must have been hellish at times, more complaints about the system that although he was a very well respected consultant in Sweden he had to go down to SHO and the lack of flexibility that brought lol! The children settled into school well even with limited to no English to start with and they were a range of primary ages, they have moved back to Sweden now but have continued the strong links with the area and will always be friends and villagers!

Agree that you don't want to commute from Botley! If Headington itself doesn't work then there are plenty of villages to choose from on the Headington side of town and the traffic is much less. I used to take my daughter to a village school six miles away, which was a 12 minute drive. Quicker than struggling through traffic within Oxford. You would need a car though.

All the schools are under pressure at the moment, and some people can't even get both of their children into the same school. But there is so much movement in Oxford that if you are willing and able to wait you have a good chance of getting into a school which suits, via the waiting list. If you are in a position to home educate for a while then you can avoid the whole scenario of having two kids at different schools or putting up with a school you really dislike. There are plenty of other people home educating in the area, so no shortage of activities and friends. www.ohed.org.uk/

Thanks a lot for your comments. Very helpful! It looks like the best would be to settle in Headington :-)