Beautiful house in catchment for secondary with wildly fluctuating GCSE pass rates etc

[deraila]

Ive posted loads on here but appreciate the advice.

Dream/forever house in a popular area (now that I realise that Im fine with it being 1.5 miles / 35 min walk from town), everything we want etc except for a consistently strong performing secondary school. Wondering if thats why its been on market since october 2014- ish

Ours DCs are 4 and nearly 1, so not an issue yet but as we'd be pouring every last pound into this house and wouldn't be moving again.

Im not so bothered about about primary school but the secondary the house is in catchment for has very fluctuating gcse results. In the last few years, one year 60% of pupils get 5 A*-C gsce, the next its a very low 50% (also below the national average) and in 2013, it was 70%.

Given that we definitely wouldn't be moving again and there are no plans that I know of for any new housing developments in our town that Im aware of, is it too early to be concerned?

DH isn't worried as he would like the DCs to attend a state grammar in the towns either 12 miles up the road or 6 miles away in another town. Seems so early to be worrying but its the only catch i can see to the property.

We've been to see a couple of houses in the "best" catchment area for schools and they are cramped plots with shared drive/access issues that I dont feel i could be relaxed about. Stunning/dream houses are 100k above our budget and we couldn't borrow anywhere near even half that much from our families.

We would like to complete before september so feels like time is running out given that we've been looking off/on since august. We would like to buy now as worried wont be able to afford in a few more years when prices will rise.

What would also happen if our child was offered place in the primary school we are 5 minutes away from now and we moved to the big house in a different catchment area before september? Would DC1 keep their place and what would happen with DC2s place? Would they go to a different primary+

would you keep waiting and watching rightmove?

I don't know how primary school admissions work in England as I am in N Ireland so can't help with that part of your question.

However, cohorts in a secondary school can vary from one year to the next so fluctuation should be expected within reason. This schools results will also be affected by the nearby grammar which will have creamed off a good proportion of the brightest or most motivated pupils.

Finally your children are a long way away from secondary school yet and all the comps you mention could have changed hugely by then- a change in head can make a massive difference for good or ill.

So that was a very long winded way of saying I'd go for the house!!

I am considering moving to a cramped house for an excellent secondary school, so I think that's very important. Having said that, your kids are still tiny and it is a pure gamble to know how the school will be performing in over 10 years from now. You also don't know if it is going to be suitable for your child. If you really like the house, buy it. Perhaps you the school will improve, or your kids will go to grammars, or you could let it out and rent yourself for several years, for the benefit of a suitable school.

Is that the only bad thing about the house? Someone on MN wrote once: if house has 1-2 drawbacks, that's a compromise. If it has 3 or more, don't buy it.

Yes, so hard to know really. Gut tells me to keep looking as i think the school issue would always be at the back of my mind.

Presumably you've already done your primary school application for your current address - your child will be offered a place based on that and they could well check again nearer the start date that you are resident there. If you move you would be a late applicant for closer schools.

It could come down to whether other parents are annoyed you are 'taking a place' and report you.

On the secondary school front, so much can change in 6 years I would really go with the dream house. With parental support bright kids will excel anywhere.

Secondary schools are very important to me. I remember 7 or 8 years of uncertainty when we were each coming up to secondary school age as my parents live in the catchment of a poor school. We ended up applying for secondaries that we weren't in the catchment for - as it happened we were all lucky and got into a good school but it was just that - luck. It was quite a stressful time.

I disagree that bright kids with excel anywhere with support at home. Some kids are more affected by the culture of a school than others, and if the culture is lazy or slapdash then some kids will buy into that!

That said we don't have grammar schools round here so it's perhaps more of an issue. Also I wouldn't consider average results of c. 60% over the past 5 years particulary poor, especially if the grammar school is creaming off the most academically able kids.

Thanks for replies. I think the one year great and next year below national average results doesn't sit well with me but then i went to a school where about 90% of pupils got 5 a*-c, year after year etc, so i just expect that. I went to a state grammar in an area where there were at least 2 state grammars in each town. Looking at my old school now, 96% get 7 gsces above a grade C. Its staggering.

Onecurrant, thats the thing, I want my DCs to be in school where there is a culture of excelling as its default, not just to be celebrated if they did particularly well one year.

Possibly still over thinking this.

It's going to be at least 6 years before your eldest starts secondary school, so much can change in that time. There will be at least 2 changes of government in that time. The school could gain an amazing head and cohort of teachers and become outstanding equally it could do the opposite, both have happened. Also at 4 you have no way of knowing if this secondary school is the right fit for your child.

If you want the house go for, I think it's too early to base a house buy on secondary schools.

I wouldn't be letting secondary school bother me when your DC are so small we moved when DS was 4 and DD 1 the local secondary was an awful place. But in the 6 years DS was in primary school it failed its ofsted got a super head to drag it kicking and screaming into the outstanding category and now both my dcs are there and it's the best school for them. My DS is on target for 10 gcses a* and b. So much can change, if you love the house you'd be silly to let it go based on something which won't affect you for such a long time.