Relocating to Milton Keynes or surrounding areas

[MairyDilk]

I'm after suggestions of best areas to live in and around Milton Keynes for my little family.

• Would be looking at houses around the 400k mark,
• Ideally 4 bed but would settle for 3 in a nicer area,
• Have 2 DC so would prefer to be in a catchment for grammar schools if possible (have heard some from Aylesbury or Bucks take MK students?!).

Any help would be much appreciated. Overall, I want a friendly, non-deprived area with good primary schools and in the future good secondary too.
Thank you 😊

Try Buckingham. Really good primary schools and a grammar school in the town. Lots going on.

There are no grammar schools in MK but there are a few well rated state schools Newport Pagnell is just outside the MK boundary and has an excellent state school

Stony Stratford is nice and you could access
Akley Wood Private School from there.

olney is also nice and reasonably close to Bedford and Northampton.

There is one private school in MK. It is utter shite :)

Ampthill. Lovely town with great schools and a huge park.

here are some areas to look into that fit the bill with good schools and non deprived area but no clue about grammar schools, sorry.

in MK:
Woburn Sands
Stony Stratford
Newport Pagnell

around MK:
Buckingham
Ampthill
Leighton Buzzard

Bedford is lovely, very diverse and massive range of different homes. Train station etc..
We don't have Grammar schools but there are some private schools of various quality. My DC have managed to thrive at bog standard state primary & now Secondary!
As a price example, we are actually moving today (why am I on MN when removal mean are due in an hour?!) 3 bed large 1930s semi with garage & decent garden plus driveway- 330k so definitely within your budget!
Give Bedfordshire a chance!!

Bedford is lovely, very diverse and massive range of different homes. Train station etc..
We don't have Grammar schools but there are some private schools of various quality. My DC have managed to thrive at bog standard state primary & now Secondary!
As a price example, we are actually moving today (why am I on MN when removal mean are due in an hour?!) 3 bed large 1930s semi with garage & decent garden plus driveway- 330k so definitely within your budget!
Give Bedfordshire a chance!!

Thanks all, some great places to think about here. We're currently living in Bedfordshire.
Also, I should have mentioned state grammar school not the ones you pay for (cannot afford that!!).
Rather than surrounding, I think we would prefer MK (dependent on a house we like) - what are the better neighbourhoods/areas within MK? I'll look into all the areas mentioned nevertheless.

@MairyDilk I would avoid the most central areas of MK near shopping centre and Bletchley. Woughton on the green, Woolstone and Oakgrove are nice. If I were to live there I would want to live in Stony Stratford - it’s close enough to cinema, shopping centre etc but also has its own lovely high street with independent shops and cafes and only a mile from Wolverton station which goes to London Euston

@MairyDilk

I'm originally from North Bucks. No grammar in Bucks has MK in its catchment area. As a result, you cannot say a DC from MK will get into a Bucks grammar. Some years they will and other years it's far fewer.

Therefore if you do want a Bucks grammar, live in catchment. You could easily live in Buckingham with RLS. Easy commute to MK. No station at Buckingham though. However, Winslow is getting a station (Varsity line) and that's in catchment for RLS. Both towns have plenty going on. Winslow doesn't have a decent supermarket though! Town council took against Tesco so it's got only a tiny co op in the town that's very basic. Buckingham has Tesco and Aldi and small Waitrose in centre. Plus a sports centre too.

Failing those, look at Wing. This is catchment for Aylesbury Grammar/High and SHF grammar. The Cottesloe school in the village is also liked by parents. I'm not up to date on house prices but towns tend to be cheaper than villages. It also depends whether you value a railway station and trains to London. Happy to answer any questions on this area.

Forgot to say: Wing has Leighton Buzzard station about 10 mins drive away and Cheddington.

A rule of thumb is to avoid the estates with straight roads (mostly those around the city centre). Otherwise it depends a lot what you are looking for - older estate or newer estate; modern or not; close to M1 or station or don't care etc.

Since you asked about schools, I'd suggest checking the MK Schools' website which has information about estate and secondary school catchments - in general most schools only take children in catchment, and some also require feeder school attendance, so where you live will have a huge impact on schools a available to you . Whilst I think most secondary schools are fine; there are some that historically people avoid (Leon, MK Academy) and some that are a bit marmite (Stantonbury). There are also some comparatively new schools, which have thus far not had a year go through GCSE, which may be a plus or a minus for you.

Stantonbury is RI and Sir Herbert Leon (to fine it its full name ) is Inadequate and MK Academy is RI. Not great. Shenley is Good.

Just noticed the primary school in Wing is RI. I'm surprised at that!

I think the primary in Wing is on its way back up after a poor spell. I think it and several other primaries will be going into a MAT with Cottesloe. Stewkley is a lovely Bucks village on the MK side with a good primary and in Aylesbury catchment (in so far as there are catchments for the grammars: there is no free school transport in Bucks other than to your geographically nearest school).

There are catchments for the grammars. They have them on their web sites. Pass rate and birth rate alter the distance dc come from and Bucks CC publish this too. Catchments are very much part of the admissions procedure for the grammars.

Thank you so much everyone! I'll be busy on Maps and googling while up at all hours breastfeeding tonight! I really appreciate your insights.
My next question would be what Aylesbury is like as a place in general? I have no idea about it just know about the state grammar there. Feel very clueless and out of my depth. Such a big decision buying a house in a new place!

A very close friend lives just outside Aylesbury in a village called Haddenham. It's lovely, it has its only infant & junior school then it's Stone of Aylesbury itself for Secondary. They filmed some 'Midsummer Murder' episodes there so very quaint! It has an amazing bakery, cafe & duck pond!

Towcester

Thame is lovely

most estates to the left of the A5 in MK are fine. Furzton is lovely, the Shenleys are all nice, Loughton, lovely but expensive. I lived on Oxley Park for a while and liked it, though the parking could be an issue. Parts of Great Holm were nice when I lived there and I also really liked Shenley lodge. You probably just need to go for a drive round and get a feel, the nice and not so nice parts are dead obvious. Stony Stratford is lovely. Towcester is very nice but a bit further way.

On the other side of the A5, Middleton, Wavendon and Woughton if you want to stay fairly central. I've no idea about school catchments though

I personally wouldn't want to live in Aylesbury, I understand it's pretty much gridlocked during school dropoff/pick up time. Haddenham and surrounds are lovely. Wing and Winslow are very nice. Buckingham is great and has the advantage of Stowe landscape gardens right on the doorstep.

@TizerorFizz the catchments for the grammars don’t really work in the same way as in non-selective areas though because children living closer won’t get a place unless they achieve the required 11+ score. The areas the grammars draw from are far wider than the secondaries as a result, with out of county children getting in on the basis of 11+ scores in spite of living a long way from the school. And no child who qualifies for free school transport (by virtue of being more than 3 miles from a school) will get it to a grammar school unless it happens to be nearer than any secondary school alternative.

@partystress

Essentially they do. Obviously the grammars have the pass score but every grammar publishes a catchment area that's part of its admissions policy. This is a legal document. The reason the secondaries don't get out of county DC is because out of county has comprehensives! Why would you turn down Lord William's in favour of Mandeville? You just would not. So the secondary schools are not getting the applicants in the first place. The grammars do. Therefore they take dc from their catchment and sometimes beyond. It does vary though.

The attached was the Bucks allocation to grammars in March 2023 for starting in Sept 23. As you can see, catchments are mentioned in every case. If Bucks had a massive housing expansion, the distances for offers would shrink.

Aylesbury and North Bucks have always had dc travelling further than the south. It's been the case for a long time that Bucks say all schools are all ability. So if you go past a secondary to go to a grammar, you haven't gone to the nearest school.

Also, the furthest distance was 14 miles. Thats a fairly reasonable travelling distance for a mostly rural area.

@TizerorFizz I’m not really sure what point you’re making? If the OP is moving from a non-selective area, it is useful to know that catchment is not the key criterion for admission to a grammar school. With bus costs of £700-900 pa it is useful to know that if your child gets into a grammar but there is a secondary nearer to your home, you’ll have to pay for the bus (was not always the case, and I think is still not the case in all selective counties). And it is useful to know that the cut off point for the 11+ is set at a level which means there are too few children within what would normally be considered a catchment area to fill the places and so children come from a much wider area; this impacts on friendships outside school.

@partystress

The point is that I'm sure the OP knows what a grammar school is and reading admissions data matters. Not tales of what you might get on MN. If she doesn't want grammar, live in Olney or Stony Stratford. The comps in MK are better in some areas than others.

Look at the distances admitted into some grammars. It's minuscule. Where I live, parents drive dc to see friends further away. They accept that as part of having dc at a grammar. Everyone knows this but what child makes friends based on geography? Parents make it happen.

Plus, in Bucks, it's clear what the deal is for travel. The grammars have had the same pass mark for decades. It's well known what it is. Aylesbury Vale gets around half the passes Chiltern does so the schools take from a wider area. The schools all expanded after AWPU was brought in. Per pupil funding. It's in their interests to keep numbers high and the same standard of pass. Cannot see that changing.

Anyone moving to Bucks does have to accept there's a cost associated with going to a grammar. Those from outside Bucks have to as well and it's all explained on the web site.