I really think it's impossible to choose until you've had a good look round the schools and felt the atmosphere.
My dc's go to local state school which has a very mixed intake, including professional families and local council estate. But it's a good school, in terms of being well managed, working anti-bullying strategies, good behaviour enforced, decent results (if not top notch).
For us, there wasn't much of a choice as we don't have a car and were not prepared to pretend to be Catholics to get into the local faith school. But there have been some unexpected benefits:
lots of friends locally, so they can always pop round and ask someone to come and play on a Saturday afternoon
lots of local friends for me, so I can have somebody round for a coffee at short notice- or ask somebody to help out in an emergency
we are not afraid of the council estate, unlike some of my friends whose dc's attend more select schools. My dc's know that the big scary-looking teens playing football in the street are just so-and-so's big brother
dc's aware at an early stage that different people live differently and have different priorities; it's not going to hit them as a terrible shock in their teens
the walk- healthy, and short enough for them to do on their own once they get to a responsible age. The shortness is a great advantage if I am ill, or one of the kids is ill and doesn't want to get out of the house; I can either leave the sick one in the house for a few minutes or (when dd broke her foot and didn't want to be left)send other child off on their own or in company of children from adjoining streets