Moving to Sale with a three year old

[daphine2004]

Hi all, we are looking to move to Sale towards the end of the year so that we hit the deadline for school applications. My query is really about catchment areas for primary and secondary, albeit my son is only three!

So, would you buy a house near a fantastic primary but then move again for secondary, or would you buy a house which would see you through until secondary? If it is the latter are there any parts of Sale which would be best for this?

Thank you.

I think that, along with Stretford Grammar and Altrincham Grammar, Sale Grammar is one of the schools that the 11+ allows entry to. This may help with secondary schools. I am afraid that I do not know anything about primary schools in Sale.

Thanks for that, Adriansnewnotebook.

All of the primary schools are good however some prioritise 11+ prep and some do not. That said if the primary school doesn’t prioritise 11+ there are lots of tutors in the area. In terms of secondary schools (aside from the Grammar schools), you will have to live in catchment to have a realistic chance of getting in. Trafford council post their school catchment boundaries each year but they do change and don’t guarantee entry. There’s only three secondary schools in Sale; Ashton on Mersey high school, Sale grammar, Sale high school so it covers a wide area in terms of buying a house.

Happy for you to pm me. DS starts in September and ds2 in 2 yeas!

Thanks for that StorminaBcup. I have also been speaking to friends from the area too this weekend, so I think we just need to move and then sort it. I am unsure about the 11+, but happy to pay for a tutor if required, should the school not be that way inclined. I’ll likely PM
when we start putting down roots so I am much clearer about where we are applying to etc.

I would say buy for primary.

You can buy a house in Sale and be well within the ‘catchment’ for a primary school, but actually not have a realistic chance of getting in. The best thing to do is speak to the schools you are interested in applying for and find out how far away they have allocated places in recent years. It is often a much smaller radius than the actual catchement area. Then buy within that radius from the school.

I know people who have been 100m from some schools (well within the catchment) and not got in (although that has eased a bit now they have expanded lots of the schools).

It maybe that you can buy a house that covers both areas, but there is a risk if you buy in ‘catchment’ for both a primary and secondary school that it realistically isn’t within place offering distance for the primary. Mine are primary age so I haven’t thought very hard about the secondary catchment areas yet 🙈. When we bought in catchment for one of the good primaries we nearly got caught out by the above. It was only the expansion that got us a place.

I have heard on one of the Sale Facebook pages that spaces for secondary schools are tight this year too with children in Sale being offered places in Carrington and Partington, so much further afield than Sale.

No problem, OP! The latest primary school allocations for Trafford are due 19th April so the latest catchment information will be available after if that helps you at all.