Moving / Schools in West Oxfordshire

[sendchocolateorwine]

Will be moving to West Oxfordshire in the autumn with family. DD will be starting secondary the year after. What are the secondary schools like in the area. We would like to live in a market town or in a village on the edge of a town. We have a budget of around 600k and need 4/5 bedrooms. Where is the best place to live for a family? All updates of the area and school are very much appreciated. Thank you :)

Your first action should be to find out which schools actually have spaces. Great schools can be full! Same with secondary schools. Oxfordshire CC might have a list of schools with current vacancies but you might be in the lap of the Gods when it comes to your moving date. Ofsted reports are available and you should narrow your search down to around 10 towns and villages to start with.

Woodstock, Charlbury, Burford and Witney are all lovely.

Woodstock? the nearest secondary school would be gosford hill (I think) and its a market town.

Marlborough school is the Woodstock state secondary and is generally preferred to Gosford. It's a bit smaller as well. Bartholomew school in Eynsham is very good and eynsham is a nice village. Probably worth contacting ox cc first.

Where are you going to be working? Witney - oxford is not a great journey and there is a sad lack of cycle paths. Long hanborough is very good if you need a London train route.

Thank you all for your thoughts. Yes contacting Ox is on my list. She’s starting in 2021 so a bit of time. Just really wanted to get a feel from personal opinion. Will be working from home so location in that sense isn’t so important. Thanks all

What secondary does Charlbury feed to? Also does anyone have thoughts on Faringdon, Burford?

Charlbury feeds into Chipping Norton School. Burford School is extremely well thought of at the moment but the catchment has shrunk to a fraction of its former size as it’s so popular - check with Oxford council to make sure of being close enough.