what would you do?? please help me decide!

[needmoresleepplease]

Hello,

We are looking to move in the next month or so (before rental market dries up) and have been looking at properties nearest the local desired school. We apply from November this year for Sept 10 entry.

The school we like is a 1 form entry of 30 children, here are the stats from the last 3 years on catchment and sibling entry:

2008 - 620 m - 10 sibling
2007 - 549 - 17 siblings
2006 - 575m - 14 siblings

The property we have seen which is pretty decent and like is 278m from school, I've checked this with the LEA.

However, there's another property directly opposite the school but it's grim, but livable...

Unfortunately other than that school there are no other options that we would like. (church schools nearby very oversubsribed and impossible to get into, last year 28 where siblings!)

What would you do? move into the property opposite even though it's grim or risk it at 278m at nicer property??

Thanks so much for your thoughts!

Is the grim property improvable? If it's a case of gradually doing things over a couple of years, I'd go grim. If it's irredeemably a bad house, don't do it.

Feel for you on the school thing. We are in a similar position and may well live too far away from the school

Oh just realised it's rental. Hmmm I still think I'd go grim if it were livable. Depends what's wrong with it.

Bearing in mind you have to live there I'd go with the less grim one.

less grim

go for the decent house - they would have to halve (more than halve - I can't work out the maths today) their catchment area for you not to get in, which seems seriously unlikely.

You could ask the school off-the-record how many siblings they are expecting - they must know?

Go for the nicer house. Out of interest, how did you find out the previous years' catchment and sibling entry statistics please?

thanks all! had a second look at nicer house and has it's downs too... grim house not that bad really 3 good sized double bedrooms, garden, double reception etc... it's just the kitchen, bit studenty, has one of those stand alone gas stoves with the grillpan on top... brings back my uni days making toast!! estate agent said he'd spruce things up (& put new lino in kitchen!) but not paint over the mustard yellow reception room but maybe the red hallway! anyway, our drive to move is to be in catchment so i guess the closer the better really!

pasturesnew i called up my LEA and asked them how i can work out distance and they gave me a number to call where they work out the distance (on their computerized system that is mentioned on the schools brochures!) from your address to schools...

stealthsquiggle i asked them about siblings and they said they didn't know but i guess the school would, shame it's summer holidays though!

thanks again all..

I'd have thought you'd be fine with the nicer one, although if the one opposite has been up for rent for a while the landlord may be willing to tart it up a bit more?

can you wait till september and find out how many siblings there are likelyto be?

Or maybe you can draw a circle on a map 278 metres from the school, and spend the summer looking in the front windows of every house for obvious signs of children