We are moving 1 1/2 miles to get into the catchment of a better secondary. We've been toying since early Jan, bar a few weeks out and have been rather disappointed with what's available- tiny or overpriced. Also been trying to avoid 'renting it cos I can't sell' merchants as they tend to be a bit amateurish in their handling of what is, after all, now a business.
We have to be 'in' by Oct 23rd this year.
Yesterday we found a place which is the opposite of where we are now -ie we're in an old bungalow with a big but badly laid out garden with views of a horse-field and ancient oaks. The new place is a 3 storey townhouse on an estate with a garden you'd concuss a cat in...! There ARE no 'green and leafy' renters 'in' if you discount the blardy great houses, 6 bedrooms on half an acre in the middle of the catchment!
Now, I'm fretting. We are renting cos we couldn't find a house to buy that we liked and felt was sensibly priced. We think the sales market has a ways to go yet, so we're in for 6 months and wait and see... admittedly the 'nearly' homes we DID view went in 10 days flat! NO credit crunch HERE!
Thing is, the new primary is 250 metres away. It would seem obvious to move the DSs nowish (summer hols?) so DS1 can have a year with his future school mates, but he's loving his current school and is doing well- oh, and the new school doesn't have room for DS2 yet (Y3). So making The Wrong Decision THERE will be traumatic! And I'm nervous of living so close to so many other people! WILL it feel like Stepford Wives??!
On top of that my mother is very sniffy about it all. She can't be doing with all this catchment business BUT I and my DB feel his life chances were blighted by his attending the local rubbish SM (I 'passed'...)- And as DH says, the effects of a bad school can stay with you for life whereas the effects of a good school isn't necessarily so important.
SO now I'm frantically ebaying all the crap we've amassed in the 5 years we've been in the UK that we don't need (in preparation for the spectacularly badly timed arrival of 13m3 of our crap arriving from overseas in 4 weeks time...!).