Moving to Maidenhead

[settleforgood]

Hello All,

I need some guidance. I am currently in Southampton and moving to Maidenhead area so that I can buy house and settle somewhere near to good primary and secondary schools as well as near to grammar schools catchment.

I will be required to travel few days in week to
Southampton for work and few days in month to Paddington.
My wife will be working few days out of windsor.

While my daughter is still in Year 1, I would like to consider a place to buy and settle considering good primary secondary and in future grammar schools like Sir Williams in Marlow .

Request inputs from all of you for the place to settle and buy house in Maidenhead considering the schools situation above as well as safety and good community for families.

Borlase has a very small catchment - you are highly unlikely to get in living in Maidenhead. Might want to consider cookham or Marlow itself if that’s the school you want. There is also Wycombe high which girls from Maidenhead do usually get in to.

Thankyou. Thats quiet helpful. Will Wycombe high school also have smaller catchment or anywhere in Maidenhead would work ?
Also if I leave aside grammar school, which areas in Maidenhead are considered best for primary and secondary.. Some locations I am considering for catchments are Furz platt, Boyne Hill, Holyport, Cox green .

Hi there. You need to live north of the A4 in Maidenhead if you want to be in catchment for the Bucks Grammars. I don’t know the catchments for the Slough Grammars. Distance allocations vary by year but you can look this up on the Bucks Council education page easily. Last few years SWBGS allocation was between 1.7 to 3 ish miles. Wycombe High usually 7-10 miles which may then include just south of the A4. Hope that helps. There are some good primaries in these areas but there is mostly an Infant/Junior system.

Most of the primary schools in Maidenhead are very good. The problem you will have is there will be limited spaces in Y1 and even if you move into catchment no guarantee you would get a place. Highly likely you’ll just be give nearest school with a space.

As others have said if you want Borlase you need to live in Marlow itself. Frankly if you are really set on grammar I would say buy in Bucks.

I agree with that. Buy in Bucks.

You will get allocated a primary school with a place for y1. Lots of schools are full big people do move. If you have a local junior school (from y3 in Bucks) then usually catchment comes into play again. However some have links with infant schools so read every admission policy.

Maidenhead to Southampton would be a long drive. I’d look at Ascot and get yourself in Charters catchment, easy drive for your wife, close to M3 for you and for London train goes into Waterloo. (Or drive up to pick up the train to Paddington.)

Do we have good primary and secondary schools in ascot ? And how about catchment to any grammar ?

I'd suggest Twyford, cheaper than Maidenhead or Marlow, fast train (on Elizabeth Line soon) to Paddington, excellent primaries, in Piggott catchment for secondary (if you bought in Charvil which is just west of Twyford and can get into Charvil Piggott then it's a through school to Piggott secondary), should be in catchment Kendrick for Grammar in Reading (on bus or train, short walk). It's a short drive to the motorway to head west on M4 and then south to Southampton, and although quick to Windsor on M4, in rush hour it's far quicker and much more scenic to cut across country to Windsor.

Kendrick Grammar is super selective though. It’s easier to get into a Bucks grammar. Berkshire is very different and the grammars are more selective.

@TizerorFizz

Kendrick Grammar is super selective though. It’s easier to get into a Bucks grammar. Berkshire is very different and the grammars are more selective.

True, but IMHO the Wokingham schools (both primary and secondary, so including those in the Twyford Wargrave Charvil area) are extremely good.

Holyport collage is non selective but very popular, if you considering holyport maybe have a look at how close you need to be to get in there. I think it’s also worth considering what non grammar or private schools there are in the areas you are looking at, as I don’t think you can be certain your current y1 child will definitely pass the 11+, no matter how bright the currently appear. In slough in particular for example, the grammars are good but the comprehensives not so much. Kendrick in Reading, as above, is EXTREMELY selective.

There is a brilliant girls comprehensive in Maidenhead, Newlands. They get very good results and a lot of parents do grammar for boys and newland for girls.

Holyport college has a tiny catchment area.

Gosh I was at Borlase in the 90s - from over the county line in Oxfordshire! How things have changed (!)

Sorry I know not useful

@settleforgood

Do we have good primary and secondary schools in ascot ? And how about catchment to any grammar ?

Ascot has Charters school for secondary - a very oversubscribed comprehensive. I’d personally forget about the grammars and buy a decent house in the catchment of an excellent comprehensive and avoid the stress of 11 plus. There are some excellent schools around that people choose over driving to grammar schools. Other areas to look at would be Twyford with Piggott although the drive to Southampton would be awful, or potentially somewhere like Arborfield and make sure you are in Bohunt catchment. Or even Crowthorne and aim for Edgbarrow catchment.

I disagree @Ionacat, the commute to Southampton is fine as largely you're going the opposite way to the traffic, I used to live in Charvil and commute to Eastleigh every now and then, I've commuted far, far worse!

Thankyou all for the interesting inputs. I am still thinking on right location to settle in Maidenhead. Possibly would rent out initially .
Does anybody know about Holyport area schools ? My wife works near windsor castle and holyport seems to be best located for the commute .

Also considering Langley. Anybody has any thoughts ?

Stoke Poges, Woburn Green and Taplow are nicer in my view. Holyport is certainly pretty. Don’t know about schools but there is a new secondary.

Ok. Any thoughts about Langley schools ?

Holyport primary used to be very popular, was then rated inadequate (my understanding on the basis they had a very middle class catchment, so results were fine, but they weren’t progressing kids). It’s gone out of favour and they were applying to go from 2 form to 1.

However they got a new head. I have a friend with kids there and they are very happy.

Other options tend to be Braywick, oldfield (but you will struggle to get a y 1 place in either they are hugely oversubscribed).

In Langley, there is Langley Grammar school, I believe now a certain number of places are kept for those in Sl3 8 postcode (depending on 11+ scores), Upton Grammar and St Bernard's are on the Langley/Slough border. Secondary schools are Langley Academy and Ditton Academy.

Langley Academy Primary and Langley Heritage Primary are feeder schools for Langley Academy and pupils have priority for a space over other schools. I think you would have to live quite close to Ditton Academy to have a good chance of getting a place.

There are many Primary schools in Langley, Foxborough, Marish, Ryvers, Langley Hall and Castleview. There is also Holy Family (a Catholic School) and children tend to go on to St Joseph's Catholic Secondary School in Slough.

There is also Churchmead CofE Secondary in Datchet, and most Langley Schools are feeder schools. There is the option of a school bus from Langley. It has improved over the years and is a nice school. This is now oversubscribed so the closer you live the better. Areas you could consider for Primary schools in this case would be Old Windsor, Wraysbury and Datchet.

The situation in Langley is that there is a shortage of Secondary school places and a lot of children are being offered a place in Wexham Secondary School, in Slough. This school is a couple of miles away and tricky to get to by public transport, need 2 buses. There are no school buses as far as I know.

The problem now is that Slough Borough Council have financial issues and are bankrupt. They are cutting budgets and I don't know what they will do to sort this problem. Langley needs a whole new Secondary School to cope. I think at the moment unless you can get a place in Langley Academy Primary or Langley Heritage it's a bit of a gamble for a secondary place if your daughter does not get into a Grammar School. There is a lot of competition for Grammar places and most children seem to be tutored for a couple of years.

Sorry this was a bit long!

I know people who moved to Datchet. Primary there was full. Check for vacancies before you set your heart on anything!

As a child my family lives in Holyport briefly and I went to Highfield
School on Castle Hill in Maidenhead. I absolutely loved it.