Norton St Philip and schooling?

[Citytocountry2022]

Have been looking to move over to Bath/surrounds for a while now. NSP has piqued our interest given its easy (bus) proximity to both Frome and Bath and its community reputation.

However. It has been pointed out to us that NSP is not in the Bath schools catchment and it is far from certain that we would therefore get our 2x children (twins) into one of the better (state) Bath schools.

What is the alternative “middle school” system like, which, I gather, is connected to the Frome schools/colleges.

if anyone here is able to share their experiences that would be great as it’s really giving us pause over whether we should settle in NSP. Esp. since one of the selling points of Bath/surrounds is the schools. Be good to hear some positive tales from the NSP/Frome system.

Many thanks.

I know that area, I'd look to Midsomer Norton, great school called Norton hill there with a primary school attached. Frome has Frome college but I don't know a lot about that school.
You could look towards Wells, the blue school has a good reputation too.
I would avoid radstock & the secondary there, that's not got a great local reputation - or at least it didn't used to.
Norton St Phillip is quite nice but busy, Frome is a lovely town, very quirky & alternative arts scene.

Thank you! You say NSP is “busy”. Are you able to elaborate please. It’s a pretty small community with quite a large older demographic so I assumed it would be quiet (but not too quiet). Frome is presumably a lot busier? (We have been to Frome and I agree with your description. Being so close will be lovely).

Oh. Also. I checked from your recommendation and I gather NSP is not in the Norton Hill catchment. I guess my related question is - how oversubscribed are these other schools and do folks (from NSP) tend to be successful getting places there?

@Nextdoor55Apologies. Thank you for your earlier response. Just wondered what you meant by “busy” in relation to NSP?

Traffic, it's a through village & whilst it's pretty, it's definitely busy with cars, depending on where you live in the village, you have people going to bath, Frome & Trowbridge there, I'd definitely go & have a look before you commit.
Frome is nicer I think.

Try somewhere like Holcombe? No shop but really nice if you like a village. Off the beaten track but not far from Bath or Frome.

Thank you @Nextdoor55. That makes a lot of sense. Re Holcombe. It does sound lovely, but we are also after somewhere reasonably connected by public transport - which NSP is - so I guess it’s all about where the compromises are.

Likewise, having a village shop is something we place value on. We are coming from urban life so hopefully it will all be relative!

There's plenty of really rubbish places around there that are well connected with transport, nsp is probably one of the nicest areas

I should add. We know Frome as we have friends there. Being honest - the type of house we’re looking for comes with a premium in Frome which we can’t really afford. NSP is close to both Frome and Bath and connected by bus so…

Norton St Philip is pretty but not much going on there. It’s a rat run for commuters to Bath. I’d also look towards Midsomer Norton and Wells too like a pp said. Schooling in Frome is ok. I think Avanti and St Louis go through to Year 8 and then most kids go to Frome College. The others operate the three tier system. Parents spend a lot of time fretting over getting into the right primary school, only then to be faced with two choices for middle school and then the majority of kids all end up at Frome College. If you want to be between Bath and Frome I’d consider looking closer to Midsomer Norton or possibly Beckington.

Thanks @bowchicawowwow. But isn’t the main route from Frome to Bath the A36? The road through NSP is a B road isn’t it? Re Midsomer N and Wells. Back to the original theme of my post - I understand there is a reasonable chance of getting to Bath schools if in NSP? Whereas I would doubt that if we went further west. No?

@Citytocountry2022The A36 is the main road but it depends which side of Bath you want to get to. Sometimes people head off down Branch Lane off the a36 and into Hinton Charterhouse, cutting out Norton St Philip completely but if I was coming from Frome direction it’s usually the same time to go through Norton St Philip. Norton St Philip is also used as a through way from people heading from Radstock to Trowbridge, cutting across between the two pubs and onto the a36 at Farleigh Hungerford.

Some kids from Frome go to school in Bath, if you are out of catchment you obviously pay for transport. My friends son (Frome) had a conditional 6th form place at Beechen Cliff but didn’t get the GCSEs he needed. I personally wouldn’t send my kids to school in Bath living as far out as NSP, I think the only bus route is the d2/d2x and it stops at the central bus station in Bath, so quite a quick hike onwards as it arrives about 8.20am

Look at other surrounding villages. Chilcompton is nice, local shop, garages and pubs. Kids although catchment to wells blue mostly go to Norton hill and a few do go to Bath. Easy access to frome, bath and Bristol and wells. Can then get trains from bath, frome and Bristol and be in London in a couple of hours.
all the secondaries local here and primary’s are good, there’s none that don’t perform well. Agree with previous posters. Norton st Philip is mostly a cut through.
Chicompton has that little village feel, great community. Lots going on in the local football club and pubs and hall.

Oh yes I agree, chilcompton is nice & very accessible on bus routes, not that fat from Frome either

@Vickim03i thought Chilcompton too but I don’t think there is a direct bus to Frome.

Not directly. You can go to Norton then get the bus to frome from there.

While NSP does have lots of through traffic, I think some replies are a bit unfair on it - it’s a lovely village with a great pub, kids’ playground, pretty houses, and the D2 route. You could also look at Beckington, Rode and Hinton Charterhouse if you want access to Bath and Frome in a nice village. I think the general impression of the Frome system is that the first schools are good but the middle schools/Frome College less so, and three tiers doesn’t appeal to us. A lot of people like Freshford, which is a normal primary going up to Y6 - think you could get into there from Hinton Charterhouse and potentially NSP (Freshford itself is very nice but very expensive). For Bath secondaries, Beechen Cliff and Hayesfield (single sex) have quite complicated admissions policies with some aptitude places and a reserved number of places for families outside the BANES council area, so they are sometimes possible for that area. When I’ve got the D2 from Beckington in the morning I’ve seen kids commuting in to them (and to Ralph Allen, but I don’t know how as their admission policy is more straightforwardly distance-based).