Areas of UK with less pressure on secondary school places

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Does anyone know if there is any easy way to find areas of the UK that have plenty of (good or better!) school spaces available.

We are considering a move to a cheaper part of the uk (currently home counties) and schools are an important factor. I have one child currently yr 8 in a 'good' school and one child yr 6 who I have just applied for the same school.

We are looking to move before the next academic yr (probably spring) so I am worried my youngest wont get a school place as all the yr 7 places will of already been allocated.

So I am interested in pockets of the uk where there are plenty of good schools and I could be confident of getting them into a decent school.

I looked at Dorset and was told the county council consider a reasonable travelling distance 1 hr so they could dump you in a rubbish school absolutely miles away. Don't know if this is the same for all county councils.

So those of you in the know, where would you head for school places (and houses costing less than half a million for a 3 bed semi!!)

Thanks in advance.

Sorry Karrie- you just said that about prices!

Brecon, Abergavenny and Crickhowell all equidistant from Bristol and Cardiff within one hour.

Thanks Antonia! I have never been to bristol (just driven past) but I really like the sound of it. It sounds like an up and coming city for work opportunities and small businesses. I looked at some areas south of Bristol but it sounded like cost of living is high in comparison to wages and massive drug problems in some areas. I love brecon area for holidays so will look at that some more.

Just looked at brecon to bristol and it's nearly 2hrs drive and 2 1/2hr train which would be too far. I will look at places further south in wales though.

Sorry, I should have said precisely. Its Crickhowell/abergavenny thats an hour. I have done it myself .

North Wiltshire, eg Malmesbury & Chippenham. Both have good schools, I’m pretty sure Malmesbury isn’t over-subscribed.
Both areas are within easy commute for Bristol and Reading.

North somerset.
Clevedon, Portishead, chew valley

Northumberland within easy reach of Newcastle. Places like Ponteland (although materialism rife there too!), Hexham, Morpeth have great High schools. Having said that middle schools are being phased out so all a bit up in the air at the moment (and a great loss imho). A great area to live though.

If you are ok with spreadsheets, take a look at www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/617837/SFR24-2017_Apps_Offers_UD.csv. These are the national statistics on school applications and offers for 2017. You need to filter column H to get just secondary school applications - or you could just ignore rows 2-163 as they are about primary school applications. Column J tells you the number of places available in the LA and column K tells you how many children were looking for places. Rutland looks to be the place with least pressure on places - they seem to have 62% more places than applicants. Of course, a surplus of places doesn't mean you'll get the school you want but the bigger the surplus, the better the chance.

Ooh Rutland as in Rutland Water..lovely. Where do you have family OP? That could be a consideration. We are stuck in the south as our families are here.

My friend just moved to the Fleet/Hook area of Hampshire and got her daughter straight into year 8 (good comp apparently).
About an hour to Waterloo from there.

Thanks so much for all your replies. The spreadsheet is brilliant, I will have a good look at it today. It will give me a good idea of areas with less pressure on schools.

Family is spread all over and we are not very close to any of them so location wouldn't really matter from that point of view.

Look at York & villages. Close enough to York & Leeds for employment.

It's funny York villages where one of the first places we considered. I was put off because it seemed like everyone was scrabbling for school places like here so we thought we wouldn't get in to a decent school. Looking at that spreadsheet though it might not be as bad as it first looked. Any advice on schools worth looking at or to avoid? I can see the ofsteds but nothing beats local knowledge.

If you go for a market town there should be just one secondary school to which all the children go, apart from those in private schools. No rat race, no pressure, no failure to get a place.

Another one for North Lancashire /South Cumbria. Gre at schools Lancaster/Kirkby Lonsdale/Milnthorpe. BUT IT DOES RAIN A LOT!! You are commutable to Manchester but agree with other poster about lack of well paid jobs locally...

Edinburgh/East Lothian has some good schools and your youngest would still be a year away from secondary age as ours don't start there until they're between 11.5-12.5.

Somerset. Most schools are fairly good and you usually get your first choice, even if you live a distance away. House prices aren't the lowest, but very good value for money compared with the Home Counties.

Cheshire towards the Wirral end and Chester/over the welsh border down towards malpas, congleton.

You will always have materialistic parents but you get a lot of families in Cheshire who just don't care. I drive around in a 10+ year old Renault estate and while I don't live here I grew up and visit on a regular basis to care for my dad. The vast majority are normal down to earth people getting on with life. If you look like you need help they will ask if you need it rather than leave you struggling. I don't tutor my children but I do extra activities with them.

Oh God, I'd think very carefully about anywhere in Wales. Not only does Wales have a generally pretty weak education system, but they are about to bring in a new curriculum. Cue tons of disruption. Plus, it's a fluffy-looking curriculum modeled on Scotland's (which has a pisspoor track record).

I agree with pp, look at market towns with just one comp. I live in a village just outside an Oxfordshire market town, all the kids who don't go private go to the local school. A quick look at Rightmove says your budget will easily buy a 3bed semi, there are 4bed detached new builds for £500k.

Crickhowell High is a very good school, doubt if there are places though (with all the kids coming in from Blaenau Gwent and Abergavenny) .

East Dunbartonshire. Near to Glasgow. Every school is good around me. House prices much cheaper than quoted here.
The weather is dreadful.

Come and look at Alton in Hampshire, all the schools are good/better and prices are cheaper than some of the surrounding areas. We consider ourselves so lucky with our schools - no angst about school places here. House prices are cheaper because we are on a branch line instead of the main line.

Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Loads of amazing schools.