Schools in Caversham, Tadley and Wokingham area

[Ingesw]

It’s quite a big area I know, but we need to move and it will be to one of those areas.

What do I need to know about schools? Are there any to avoid? and which ones are hard to get into? (I also need to look for a secondary so please feel free to post about that too).

I’ve already seen that in what seems a fairly small area there are about 3 school LEA’s (Reading,Wokingham BC and Bracknell).

TIA

Hi there
am in same position. We will move summertime and am applying to primaries in Wokingham Borough. Alot have waiting lists already... seems there is competition for places. Bracknell dont know about. Am now today applying to Reading Borough council as well. I can tell you most schools in W'ham area are good or very good, apart from that Im in the dark as well ! Good luck

Caversham has good or outstanding primaries, you can't really go wrong. Depends on what your focus is- academic is caversham primary, whole child approach go for The Heights (which will move sites at some point). The Hill, I think, has space in the same. Hope that helps.

Highdown secondary in Caversham was very oversubscribed this year. Dont assume if you move to Caversham you will get in.

Pretty much all primary and secondary schools are full so until you know where has spaces, I wouldn't bother doing that much research. Sorry to give you bad news but that's the case.

Sorry I read the Op wrong. Yes Mrsjamin is right find out where the spaces are first. I would start with the secondary places first.

Tadley is Hampshire council I think. Look at West Berkshire council schools as well. Some of the school in Reading urban area are actually in West Berkshire.

Where do you need to commute to?

Tadley is Basingstoke and Deane.
The west side of Reading is actually West Berkshire. Theale Green, The Willink, Little Heath and Denefield are all actually in West Berks.

Yeah you need to find a map to look at the boundaries of the councils as its not predictable. Where are you needing to commute to? You're looking at a large area. Are you just looking at state schools?

The commute is to Reading, state schools, I have downloaded the maps, but yes it is a huge area. Any area is a possibility so the schools were really going to be the deciding factor.

The difficulty is that we are moving from an area with good schools, and each child will get into the next school due to the sibling rule. The sibling rule tends to works here due to house distance and the schools not being ridiculous oversubscribed, I am sensing that this may not be the same close to Reading.

Thank you for your comments so far.

If Reading is the commute you could look at Newbury and Thatcham as well.
West Berkshire schools mostly have catchment higher than siblings in it's over subscription category so this is something you need to watch too.

For Reading its often quicker to get to the town centre by train than drive in. So Newbury and Thatcham would work. What year are you looking for for secondary?

I would contact ALL the councils to find out the secondary places available.
Dont forgot oxfordshire, the Oxfordshire border is only a couple of miles from Reading town centre.

It's current year 7 for secondary. I joined a couple of local community boards and found out pretty quickly that getting a sibling in wouldn't mean you would get younger ones in.

I had looked at Newbury, but that pushes us a little further away from family that I would probably be happy with. The house prices seem good though.

Partly looking into the move has made me realise how lucky we are for schools in our current area, not somthing to be taken for granted IMO. We can pretty much walk to all 3 schools that we need.

I'm in Mortimer/burghfield which is west berks. My 6 local primaries are all rated good or above DD is at mortimet. Willink high school is also good I think? Lovely large villages with lots of community events and easy commute to reading. Plus surrounded by lovely woodland.

Also look at Twyford & Woodley & Earley/Lower Earley they have good schools and are in Wokingham borough. All very child friendly areas. Reading Buses run into Woodley & Earley (cheap and reliable compared to other towns). Twyford has a train station.
Downside for Tadley - I used to live there many years ago - is that there are plans afoot for a new town at Grazeley which is on the commute by car from Tadley to M4 J 11.
Depends where in Reading you're going to work though!

It depends too what kind of area you like and want for your family in the coming years. My DS is Y6 and we live close to town so for his independence that's going to be great being near buses and walking distance of lots of things. I sometimes idealise being in the countryside but I'd hate to be taxi driver to them for years to come. So what do you like, OP - countryside, suburbia, close to amenities, quiet, villages, you have a full range within commuting distance to Reading. I also would recommend being by a train station to avoid the traffic and parking chaos in Reading. Reading has a brilliant central train station covering the local area so good advice to be near one.