Info on Marlow, Henley, Thame, Chalfonts

[Spanielmad]

Hello, we are thinking of moving into South Buckinghamshire for DH's work. Been looking at the impossible school situation already and earmarked a few areas with good (but oversubscribed) secondary schools.
Before I drive over to visit the area (we are a few hours away) I need to narrow down which towns we might like, as I can't visit them all in a day or two.

We like to be near or on the outskirts of a small town with stuff for my kids (young teen boys) such as a leisure centre, sports clubs, we like hiking in the hills/woods, I'd like a nice town with boutique shops, cafes, art galleries, art clubs etc. Low crime and peaceful would be good too- goes without saying.

Can anyone tell me anything about these towns? What are they like? I already know most of them are pricey- but would like to know more about atmosphere, crime, shops etc....
I have only done online research so far.

Henley,
Shiplake,
Marlow (my fav at the moment but hard to find a house),
Chalfont St Peter,
Chesham,
Thame.

Any thoughts very welcome!! Thank you

Yes sure! I don't really know Windsor (or the plane noise!) but do know the Chalfonts, Gerrards Cross etc and surrounding area and their schools pretty well. Will PM you shortly.

Also forgot to add FWIW the Windsor schools moving to combined 6th form...
whatintheworld had a chuckle at that...

You got to be kidding me!
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68495735.html
That tiny time warp of a house is 3/4 of a million pounds. Wow.

Omfg! Proximity to the Botanist and chi chi shoe shops is not worth that!

Welcome to Marlow - I've clearly been here too long as my first thought was "what a good price" - great location- St Peters Street leads to the river (slipway). Are you not loving the avocado

I think I might pass on that one... LOL

Marlow really is oscenely expensive and there are a few less than desirable areas. I've never understood it myself because the train commute to London is really rubbish. It is a lovely town but so busy.

I remember those houses being built in the 1980s. It is all about location for that one again.

I rather like the £2m one at the end of the High St myself...

Crossrail from Maidenhead soon though. That will be a much quicker commute. I was wondering how you would get a wow 4 bed detached for your budget in uber expensive Marlow.

Well just out of Marlow would be even better...with a bit of a garden as long as its in catchment to stand a chance at waiting lists.....

But it might be wiser to move to Thame/Amersham/Chorleywood (bit sleepy that last one it seems) for more house and perhaps shorter school waiting lists.....

Thame is very nice and you can jump on the train into London easily. It wouldn't be a huge commute for your DHbut I'm sure it would be pushing the hour in the mornings. Seems crazy to move closer to work but still quite far away when you have the choice of anywhere!

I agree, it does seem crazy. But.... That’s just it. Do we have the choice of anywhere? I’d love to live right next to work but there needs to be a good school with a chance of places available.....
Would it be easier to get into Great Marlow School than into Lord Williams? I don’t know, but imagine GMS has a longer waiting list.
And then the question is where do my kids go to school while they await a place? And how long is the wait?

Ideally there is no work commute but the schools might well push us further out.....

You really need to visit these schools. It's so hard if you aren't used to the grammar school system. You can't compare Lord Bills with GM. GM has had the top % of their children creamed off for starters. LW is for everyone. Nobody chooses for their child to go to GM as a first choice as they want them to pass and go to a grammar school. Although parents do opt out of the 11+ and send straight to GM I suppose.

Basically everyone that I know that fails their 11+ in this area then wants GM. I don't know if it's a snobbery thing because it has Marlow in its name and isn't in Wycombe! I'm trying to be brutally honest.

You could get into the social side of things too of course. Children from higher socio economic backgrounds are more likely to pass therefore the intake of a grammar vs GM are vastly vastly different socially. There are always anomalies of course.

Lord Bills of course takes everyone that doesn't go private and is therefore an entirely different school and intake.

Actually I know quite a lot of people with very bright children who didn't take the 11+ and put GMS as first choice. GMS and SWBGS have very similar catchment areas - neither go OOC so they are both pulling from same pool of children.

I don't think you can compare GMS with many of the other Uppers.

Press releases re GCSEs

www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/15494681.GCSE_RESULTS___Outstanding__success_for_Marlow_and_Bourne_End_schools/

www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/15492854.GCSE_RESULTS_DAY_2017__All_the_news__reaction_and_pictures_as_it_happened_across_south_Bucks/

On the 2nd link scroll down to see GMS info

I don’t know the system, I only know comprehensives.
But surely, correct me if I am wrong, the uppers (as I understand it they are like comprehensives except they are missing some of the top students who go to grammars) can be good or bad.
Surely not all clever kids pass the test, get a place, or even want to go to a grammar? They would end up at an upper.
So although an upper will have less bright children, surely there are still plenty bright kids around?
So a comp would probably have a higher GCSE A*-C percentage (I think a good comp usually has around 70%) and an upper perhaps a bit less as a percentage of the bright kids are in grammars. But the uppers I have looked at such as GM have excellent GCSE results so clever kids to seem to do well there.
I would imagine with the house prices in South Bucks being what they are, there is already a social class separation going on. So would you notice much of a difference?
do tell me, as I said, I have no experience of this system (in fact I have little experience of the whole school system as I did not go to school in the UK), if I am wrong.
Am I wrong to aim for Marlow BECAUSE it has two schools to aim for?
I cannot possibly aim for a grammar - not knowing if my kids would pass. I must have a plan B.
Would a comp in oxfordshire really be that much difference from an upper in Bucks?

Its a bit ironic that our local comp actually did better than Borlase...ahem.

Essentially would Gilllotts or Lord Bills be different from GMS? No it wouldn't- I doubt anyone would notice any difference

More then 92% A* / B? I'd stay where you are then!

And 30% Level 9 in Maths? That's some school! Whereabouts are you?

Plenty of bright kids chose to go to Henley College. Their results as a whole are average but I don't think there is anything stopping the bright motivated kids from doing well. My DC were accepted into Bolaise 6th form and attended the open days etc but didn't like it. I genuinely think they did as well or even better than they would have if they had gone to Bolaise. It really depends on the child.

oh uh, dunno, I just read the "At Borlase’s, more than 74 per cent of pupils achieved A*-A” he he

oh actually I am all wrong, it actually says A*-A ! LOL. IGNORE me!! I am moving over!!

So my catchment areas to move into are Gillots, GMS, Borlase’s, Sir william, CHorleywood and maybe Amersham School.

Still need to list the ‘while on the waiting’ list options in those areas though.

I'm not saying that there aren't bright children that do well at GMS. Of course not. I know a lot. Including family that got better gcse results than I did at my grammar. But Borlase and GM are incomparable. The only people who I know that opted out of 11+ are those whose children were never going to pass.

I haven't got the time to look now but I imagine that entitlement to free school meals or pupil premium for instance are very different.

I'm just trying to explain that it shouldn't be a case of 'choosing' GMS as a first choice, because it's not the first choice for most local children. It's the first choice if you don't pass.

mmm something to think about. I am not sure I understand. If it is not the first choice for the locals, then it can be for me, can't it? my kids would get a good education at either, wouldn't they. And (assuming we like borlase and will try) if they don't get into borlase we can try GMS....

This sort of choice is only repeated in Amersham where we can try Chesham Grammar and if no pass, try Amersham School.

Elsewhere in Oxfordshire there is usually only one option. If we can't get into Sir William (because of lack of space) I am not sure where the next decent school is. Same for Gillots.