Best place to live in Kent for Grammar school

[vik2017]

Hi,
This is my first question on this board....
and I wanted to know which is the best place to live in Kent and falls into Grammar catchment area and also if my son dont get to the Grammar at least will go to a very good comprehensive school.
Any suggestion will be appreciated even suggest to move to another place considering we both work in London.

Many thanks in advance...
Viki

You cannot have a mixture of comprehensives and grammars. The presence of the grammars makes the comprehensives not comprehensive.

That's what I mean about 'not thinking straight' - you are not taking on board the information that people are giving you to modify your preconceptions (I agree that such preconceptions are common, but you have been given the correct information and are not applying it)

Vik
I have taken the advise and thinking better to move to Bexely
Have you ever been to Bexley?
Its just that despite living in Hampshire now, the Dartford to Charing Cross rail corridor was where I grew up.
And nothing, not even good schooling possibilities, would drag me back to that part of the country now.
Just saying.

vik2017 That is why I have taken the advise and thinking better to move to Bexely (mix of comps and grammar)

I thought you had decided Grammar and private as back up .

I don't know why you don't save yourself the hastle of the 11 plus and just opt for private. Is it because you think Grammar schools are better than private?

@Ta1kinPeece: just something from the internet from pupil's personal experienece where difference between two is fairly true.
www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/teens/2003/02/grammar1.shtml

Ta1kinPeece - I've already pointed out that Bexley may not be everyone's cup of tea. Still, who cares about the majority of the time spent outside of school, eh?

@MumTryingHerBest: you are right and this all have (mums giving me advise of home schooling and even suggesting grammars are not better than comps, its all pupils) started coming after I sweeped the comps option...

That is one pupil's perspective from nearly 15 years ago, and you are basing a whole decision about where to live, and where to send your child to school, on it???

I had assumed that you would at least have a piece of statistical evidence or research that shows levels of disruption (high and low level) across all school sectors?

vik2017 and an internet post by a parent with a DC in a grammar school:

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=52455

"Behaviour wise, most are okay but some are very disruptive."

So, from what you are saying, Bexley has the best mixture of grammars and private schools for your child as:

• You would not send your child to a comprehensive even if you lived in a fully comprehensive area and
• You would send your child private if they failed the 11+?

@roundaboutthetown: I dont think everyone's cup of tea is same if it is Basingstoke, Bexley, Kent, Bucks or any other part. This is something you have to decide wheather tea tastes bit different...

Vik Love,
Just move to Hiltingbury and be done with it.
Thornden is darned near a grammar school
Symonds and Barton are both 20 minutes away for A levels
The houses in Hiltingbury are cheaper than Bexley
The Bluestar number 1 bus goes to Winchester and Southampton
The Motorway and train line go to London and the coast
There is a Waitrose and a Costa
and no 11+

You'll recognise me. I talk as bluntly as I type

I don't know Bexley, but i do wonder if it genuinely IS the best area in terms of having the best grammars and the best non-selective private options?

Perhaps start a new thread with 'Where are the best areas to live within commuting distance of London with grammars, and good non-selective or less-selective private schools if my child fails the 11+?'

vik - you are simply ignoring what you don't want to hear. But continue to think that your child will be bullied by children who only carry bags big enough for their make up and mirrors if they go to a comprehensive school if you want to. Your loss. Especially if you have to live in Bexley to achieve your aims. .

@cantkeepawayforever: I have to somehow narrow down the place coz if I hunt for the best place then it will be a never ending thing. This is my plan and remember I have not commited to anything yet so it may be like..
grammar or indi but if by chance, I end up in a catchment of a very nice comp and got the admission (less likely), I have no issue but I am reluctant sending DS to any comp.

vik2017 even suggesting grammars are not better than comps

I think they are right. I dont think that all Grammars are better than all comps. However, I supose it depends on what you consider better to be.

When you compare semi-selectives, which select 10%-25% of their co-hort on academic abiliy (Dame Alice Owens, Watford boys Grammar etc.) with grammars that select 100% of their intake, no I dont think grammar schools are anything special.

Just to Clarify ....
Not sure you'd get that much house for your money in Bexley ....
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49934658.html

@roundaboutthetown: have not thought about bulliing and not an issue either...

i reiterate then. if you want the best of both worlds, villages on the bucks side of bucks/beds border near Leighton Buzzard will give you reasonable options pass or fail. and easy commute.

So you are basing your opinion on an article written by a 16 year old in 2014.

Right.

Wose, Bert - it was written in 2003 and archived in 2014....

No, you're just worried about vacuous children slowing down the lessons and being disruptive in unspecified ways.

vik - can you afford private or can't you? And can you afford private and Bexley house prices? Because the worst of all worlds is to move to a selective area and not be selected. What you are left with are a higher proportion of vacuous, disruptive kids in the schools you didn't want anyway than you would have got otherwise.

Vik
For a Hampshire resident, you have a very weak understanding of catchments
I end up in a catchment of a very nice comp and got the admission (less likely)
Say What ?????
If you buy that house I linked, you WILL get your child into Thornden.
Simples.

What gives the most certainty of a good state education?
It's living on top of a great Comp which does well by all abilities, and living next to that kind of school at the time if application.
I think you can accept that such a school whilst having some disruption will be on it and manage it and your child (who presumably isn't a totally delicate little flower) will be able to cope, learn well and do well,

With Grammars you have no certainty of entry and in a full Grammar area, the risk of the sec modern which may well be less good than a Comp.

There's no absolute certainty. You have to look for the thing which gives you most peace of mind both now and in the years leading up to Secondary and during it. If you live on top of a good Comp which has been historically good, then that is the best you can do.
If you go to a Grammar county you face months or years of not knowing which school your child will get and probably prepping - because Vik will be the kind of parent who will feel the need to do lots of prep if going for a Grammar, especially if she's moved specifically for them.

Of course if you are willing and able to pay as a back-up and can get into an independent you feel is acceptable, then you have a back-up if you don't make the Grammar. You have to decide if you really are willing and able to pay because if you are, it does totally change the situation, because you have a back -up to avoid a school you don't want, which other people who can't or won't pay don't have.

So actually OP, I would think about the independent issue more first. How willing and able are you to pay if it comes to it? This needs to be a driver in your decision making. If you are willing to pay, you can also choose more widely where to live and perhaps save money on house purchase. Again, not socially fair, but a reality for many people and a way that some get the education they want and avoid the Grammar issue.

"What gives the most certainty of a good state education?"
The same things that give most certainty of a good education generally. Being lucky enough to have esucated,aware,involved, interested parents with time and money to spare. Everything else is pretty irrelevant, really.