Moving to Wetherby area - advice needed on schools

[LAKE18]

We're moving to the Wetherby area (Wetherby itself, Boston Spa, Clifford, Collingham) with a 4 yr old and 9 yr old and are wondering about schools in the area. Any suggestions about schools and / or areas to live would be greatly appreciated as we are moving back to the UK from overseas and have never lived in Yorkshire.

Hi Lake18

I live in Bardsey and my 5 year old DS goes to Bardsey Primary School and I can highly recommend it. It depends exactly where you're moving to as to which school I'd recommend. For example; I'd recommend Crossley Street Primary (Excellent/Outstanding OFSTED results!), Lady Elizabeth Hastings in Collingham (CofE so you'd need to attend church to get in as it's highly subscribed!), Lady Elizabeth Hastings in Thorp Arch and Thorner are just as good as Collingham (CofE again).

There are lots of fantastic schools in the area (and some OK ones) but they don't always match with their OFSTED reports. The schools I've mentioned are all amazing but I would recommend them in this order:

Lady Elizabeth Hastings, Collingham
Crossley Street, Wetherby
Lady Elizabeth Hastings, Thorpe Arch
Lady Elizabeth Hastings, Thorner
Bardsey Primary, Bardsey

I hope this helps. If you need any further info please let me know and I'd be happy to help. It really is a fantastic area to being children up - you never know I may bump into you one day without realising :) lol

Good luck with your move.

Hi AddictedtoRadley and thanks for all your advice. I've spent the last couple of days ringing schools as per your suggestions. It looks like the difficulty is going to be with getting a place for the 4 yr old DS as he's going into Reception and a lot of reception places have been fully allocated. The 9 yr old DS seems to be a bit easier to place as there's a lot of flux in the later years but obviously we want them in the same school. Bardsey is somewhere we hadn't considered until your message and we're now looking to see if we can find a property there as it looks like they could place both boys (we might now bump into each other). We're also still keen on Wetherby itself though Crossley Street Primary doesn't have any places at all. Do you know anything about the other schools in Wetherby (Deighton Gates & St James')? Thanks again for all your help. It really kick started things for us. Have a great weekend!

Aww bless you I'm pleased my advice was of help to you. Bardsey is a fantastic school since the new head came in a couple of years ago. Before that there was a bad period and not great OFSTED reports as they had a few temporary heads that weren't in situ enough to make a difference. So if I didn't know the area and purely based on OFSTED I'd never have sent DS there! However, as I know the area and a lot of children from the school I knew the 'real school'.

I don't personally know of the two schools but all I can say is that I've heard some shocking things about St James' Primary, Wetherby from friends whose children went there. Apparently there was plenty of unresolved bullying and even though they help children with educational needs, they tend to ignore the bright children. My problem is that my DS is pretty clever and when not stimulated he plays up so St James' wasn't an option. Deighton Gates is pretty much an 'average' school from what I've heard. Neither good nor bad. Your children will do 'OK' there but don't expect then to reach their personal bests. I've always had an issue with Deighton Gates though after having to help a friend through high school as she didn't know how to punctuate and even spelt things like 'before' as 'befour'! She couldn't help it as she'd never been corrected but I had to do my work quickly so I could check hers before it was handed in! :D Of course, that was many a moon ago (more than I'd wish to remember!) and I'm sure they've changed now but I still worry....

I will ask around some friends about those two schools and see if I get any different answers and if so I'll update this for you.

Sadly, the schools I mentioned tend to be very over subscribed and places were awarded in January so that'll make it harder. However, try contacting Leeds City Council and explain that you want both children in the same school and with having the 9 year old you may get them both in after all. The trouble is that it usually only happens once your eldest is in situ. The only other alternative is to start your 4 year old at a different school then transfer as soon as there's space (usually within a year). I know it's not ideal but the nursery at St James' is actually ok it's when they get further up that it's a problem.

You should definitely get in at Bardsey though with it being a small village school. Also, the poor OFSTED report from a couple of years ago will help as it puts most people off that don't actually know the school! :D If you wanted Bardsey then you could move to Bardsey, Scarcroft, Thorner, Collingham, Wike, Shadwell areas as they all feed into the school (Bardsey, Scacroft and Wike get priority though as the other areas have schools but these 3 are purely covered by Bardsey Primary). Also in Bardsey there's the Bingley Arms Pub which is the oldest pub in England dating from 953AD.

If you want to check out individual streets please let me know and I'll tell you what they're like and what's nearby etc. The only place to avoid in the above villages is the Darkwood estate in Shadwell (Darkwood Way and Darkwood ?Avenue/Road/Place? Anyway it's the Darkwoods - that's a bad area I believe!). If you like walking there's even a nature reserve in Bardsey and plenty of fields/countryside yet it's an easy commute to Leeds/York/Harrogate :)