Bristol Grammar School and Clifton High School - where to live?

[nononsencemum]

Hi it seems like the decision to move from London to Bristol has been sealed. We will be moving in summer in time for September and have three children: dd will start Y7, ds Y5 and ds Y3. We have absolutely fallen in love with both Bristol Grammar and Clifton High (don't ask which one are we going to choose, no idea!) but not quite sure whether we can afford the private schooling for all three just yet.
So the plan is for dd go independent and the boys will hopefully join her at 11+.
And so what is the best place to live within an easy max 25-30 min commute from any of the above secondaries AND has a good primary our sons could go into as well?
We don't have any preferences as to south, west, north etc as have hardly any idea about the locality I am afraid.
Also if there are any parents from the above two secondaries - where do you live and where would you recommend to live? The usual criteria like easy commute balanced with a good sense of community and easy access to town would be our main criteria. The house budget is around £600K. Thank you so much for all your help!

Have you actually rang Elmlea school and asked about places? My sister tells me there are several places available in the Junior school, there is a large number who move to private in Y4-6 to avoid the entrance exam.

Thanks JeremyCorbyn (is it really you?! ;-)) that's an encouraging news. I wanted to wait with calling the primaries until we have the actual moving in date. At this stage my husband is still waiting for the final confirmation (and it will most probably be December/ January 2017).

I could hardly confirm that, now could I?

Elmlea is a very high performing school, around half go to private secondaries. Quite a few go early due to house moves, avoiding the entrance exam and various other reasons. The sibling rule is very useful as well, you only need to get one DC in and then the others will jump to top of any waiting lists.