Maidenbower(Crawley) vs Horsham?

[minitigs]

I know there have been many, many threads on here about Horsham. And I've sifted through many of them.
Here is our predicament -
We have lived for over ten years in a 2 bedroom flat in the Gossops Green area of Crawley. Our daughter who is 8 years old attends the local primary.
We attempted to move two and a half years ago, but it all fell through. It was also around the time of the hike in interest rates and cost of living crisis.
We have managed to sell again, to a very keen first time buyer - brilliant!
What we have noted in our 10 years, is how much the town and the immediate area we live in has deteriorated. In an ideal world, we should have moved before our daughter started primary school.
We are considering properties in the Maidenbower area of Crawley. Our daughter could still stay at her school, though we are concerned that when it comes to Secondary she may end up on her own, as the nearest would Oriel. Most likely her friends will be going to the Secondaries close to Gossops Green.
Our other option is to move to Horsham.
My brother in law and his family live there, and my daughter is very close to her cousins. This would involve a primary school change - my brother in law's children attend Kingslea. We would ideally want our daughter to go to Kingslea in this scenario. But I have read a lot about catchment areas - we'd probably be looking at property in the Littlehaven area. Is that in the catchment area for Kingslea?!
We are so very torn. This comes down unfortunately, a lot to me and my own experience as a child. My parents split when I was 9, and me and my sister had to change primary schools, and again I went to Secondary School by myself. This was a hugely traumatic experience for me. I still remember so vividly being incredibly lonely in both instances and taking years to settle. I always swore, I would never let this happen to my own children.
I am however, very keen that we can move to an area where we will be much happier than we are now. We're very much 'square pegs in round holes' living where we do now.
Any advice, similar experiences would be greatly appreciated!

You'd have to use the West Sussex catchment area finder tool to find which school a particular property is in, and check every property individually. Both my sons live near Littlehaven station, about half a mile apart, but are in different catchment areas. Even if you find a property in a preferred catchment area there is no guarantee there will be a place for your child.

Horsham very much depends on whether you have the budget tbh! You could be lucky, but Kingslea is one of the more oversubscribed schools (along with Arunside, Leechpool nas Heron Way). Not sure about in year admissions, though! Lots of good primaries and secondaries, though (worth joining Horham Parents and the other one I can't recall on FB if you need to get hyperlocal knowledge).

One thing worth noting with secondaries is that kids from east of the station normally goto Forest or Millais (soon to become xo-ed) and from east of the station go to Tanbridge. Not actually sure about Bohunt, as it's relatively new, but is closer to Littlehaven.

Why are you so set on Kingslea? I’d move to Horsham in your scenario before dc starts secondary - particularily if they may end up on their own anyway.

Interestingly my daughter (we are in Roffey) goes to Millais with a number of 'Crawley girls'

Primary wise catchment are a bit weird around Littlehaven and places tend to follow them it will be Littlehaven Infant, Kingslea or Leechpool.

Area wise Littlehaven is nice but more budget friendly than other bits of Horsham

Thank you all for your responses, much appreciated.
Givemethesun - Kingslea because of my daughter's cousins being there. For this reason it would be our preferred choice.
I know I'm projecting, from my own experience. My daughter isn't me, and has been good for the most part in new situations and never had a problem making friends. She is very sensitive and soft hearted though, so I would like to avoid giving her any unnecessary upset.