would you buy a house if it was absolutely a dream house if it was not in a dead cert catchment area (London)

[Levantine]

me again

The estate agent rang again to tell me that our buyers want to be in MY flat within seven weeks

We saw a dream house on Saturday, but due to baby boom and the building of a block of flats, even though it is 0.3 miles from local primary we may well not get in (plus have to transfer DS1 who is already in reception)

It is enormous, room to let an annexe if we ever needed to, so no financial strain, close to shops, park, good transport, near friends etc etc

DS1 could be taken door to door to current primary by bus while we wait for a space for him

Should we? Would it be mad, and impossible to resell?

I wouldn't but then don't talk to me about school admissions in this area atm .

I think a bit far from everything is pretty bad actually - not in catchment for anything, I don't think

It seems unbelieveable right now, but lots of secondary age children travel for about an hour to and from their school. DD's school is 10 mins in the car, at least half an hour on the bus, but the travel to and from is part of the socialising time. Some boys (and girls) go to Surrey grammars from here - that may be a possibility for your DS.

I would warn against pinning all your hopes on getting your DC into a certain school and buy a house because of that when they are only tiny - you have no idea where their interests and abilities will lie when they are 11, and there are no end of schools that don't have catchments.....

Bibbity, I am looking forward to hearing that your DD has got a place in one of the schools you would be happy with. Despite all. Fingers crossed

Okay - yes it would be bad to buy a house and then not get in somewhere wouldn't it. Or to find that it's not right for dcs

Bibbity, I know what you are talking about - are your dc still primary age? Thought you had done secondary transfer

Exactly Levantine. And anyways, nowhere is perfect. Not even the podded one

I would be happy with S, but dd would really love to go to TCS and as she doesn't ask for much, I would so very much have loved for her to be able to go there. As it is she doesn't quite understand how it can be that she is very unlikely to get a place at this school which is a walk away but will have to get a bus to another borough ... but hey! thats oversubscription for you.

K doesn't even feature in our thinking tbh, we just don't feel LUCKY enough .

Levantine - dd goes this year, 2012. I've got a ds 3 school years after.

they are buggers aren't they

Look, you never know what will happen. A friend's DD had her heart set on K. She got S (friend was distraught at first because they had their hearts set on K) Her DD loves it and she is really happy with it too.

Ah. I feel like a bit of an arse for even thinking about it with such young dcs, but I don't want to be panicking in five years time - it's not that long.

My eldest only started school two minutes ago, and she's off to secondary school next year. It really does go fast. And it is worth thinking about it in advance - although obviously schools, and their catchment areas, can change. You're not a bit of an arse

I think Tilly has a point about things being better than they seem - although everyone wanted K or TCS or P or what have you, and some of them got their choice and some didn't, all DD's friends of both sexes seem to have settled well, though having said that I don't know anyone at HGAED, which is what we moved to get away from.

Bibbity, fingers crossed something good comes up for your DD on 1 March. But even if not, there's a long time for things to change from 1 March to September.

Levantine there's nothing wrong with planning ahead, though of course the admissions systems can change a lot. When DD was 5 I had my heart set on Aske's - over the intervening years the system completely changed at least twice and by the time it was her turn we had bascially no chance (so we put it 1st in case of a miracle )

Levantine, nothing wrong with thinking ahead!

All I was saying is that things can change, and there may be possibilities for schools that you had never even thought about by the time they are old enough

There is absolutely definitely going to have to be a new secondary school built soon, surely? ALL of our local primaries have had bulge classes in the last 3 years.

Yes I would have thought so

There are proposals for a new one where I am moving from (far north Lambeth)

Thanks Levantine and Ladywellian for PMs. I feel very much in the know about future secondaries for DD now!
I hope they do build a decent secondary soon - we got DD in to her (fabulous, I think) school in a bulge class, otherwise we were doomed!