We planing to leave Spain and move to Wirral . Please I need some help to understand have to get my boys in the school.

[regina11]

Hello, We are planning to live Spain and move to Wirral or Chester. Is Wirral better than Ellemere Port? Sorry I have so many questions ... My son is 12 in January what year will he be going in Uk? In Spain he is in private school starting year 6. When do I have to apply for a place. I would be very happy if I cud get him in to a catholic school or a good state school. Any recommendations on areas and schools? I’m scared to get in to a problematic area o schools 😑. Sorry for chaotic questions, I’m very confused.

When are you moving? It's probably too late now to get him in school for this September, you really need about a 3 month lead time for most schools (obviously there may be exceptions to this).

If he is 11 now and going to be 12 in January then he should be starting UK year 7 in September.

Firstly you need to understand that the Wirral is an Local Authority in its own right but that Ellesmere Port and Neston, whilst on the Wirral are in Cheshire West and Chester LA. You can go to schools in either LA no matter where you live but the method for getting school places will differ depending on where you are going to live and the schools involved
A further complication is that Wirral still have grammar schools, whereas CWAC does not. You have to pass a test to have any possibility of getting a place at a grammar school. So there is one catholic grammar school for boys on the Wirral, which is St Anselms. What is not immediately apparent on the website is that when Ofsted inspected the school in 2016 it was deemed to required improvement even though it is a grammar school.
The "go to" catholic school on the Wirral is Sir John Plessington but it is very popular and there would be issues in being able to get a place at the school.
Catholic schools in Cheshire West near to the Wirral are Ellesmere Port Catholic High and Chester Catholic High.
There are good state schools that are not catholic in the area but there are also some not so good secondary schools. Generally the good schools are over-subscribed, so not easy to get into when you are moving into the area but I do think you need to think more about where about you will live as this will define what might or might not be possible about secondary schools.

Also worth bearing in mind that the Catholic schools in the area, while fine are not the best secondary schools locally.

However, you have missed the application dates for children going into year 7, so you will probably have to take whatever school still has places available.

Thank you so much for your answer! Really helpful 😊 it’s confusing where to buy a house Chester it’s a bit more expensive with our budget we can get a better house in Wirral . Is Chester a better place to buy with young children...? Or Wirral it’s just as good? Most important things for me it’s not to be near problematic areas so the boy are safe to go out as thay get older. Hopefully they would get a place in a good school 🙏. Regards.

Chester is the better place by a long long way.

Read this, search for school or education
wirralleaks.wordpress.com/

When you move in and apply to your Local Authority, they are required to offer you a place. If none of your preferred schools have a place, you will be offered the nearest school which does have a place. You can go into a waiting list for any school which does not currently have places. Different local authorities have different rules about what stage you can apply at, e.g. whether you need to have moved in and be living there, or whether completion date is acceptable.

Hi, I don’t know the area v well but just wanted to say that some friends live in west Kirby and it’s absolutely lovely, a real hidden gem. Their children are a bit younger so I can’t really comment on secondary schools, think there are some grammars but don’t know how you feel about that or how easy it would be for your lad to get in without following the normal 11+ route, but it seems a wonderful place to bring up kids, with lovely beach, countryside, nice town and Liverpool in reasonable proximity. Good luck with whatever you decide.

There are areas in both the Wirral and in Chester area that you might consider not to be very desirable. It is also true that in some areas which are classed as middle class or better there is a drugs problem. Currently one of the grammar schools is trying to deal with a drugs problem, leading to discipline issues, which you might not expect.

You mentioned your son is currently attending private school in Spain so If you do choose to live in the Wirral area I would suggest you can look into Birkenhead School. It is a private school with a good reputation.

Hoylake
Thurstaston
West Kirby
Meols

The above areas of the Wirral are lovely and as a previous poster has mentioned, real hidden gems. A family member also went to Kingsmead School (Private) which is based in Hoylake. Worth looking into.

Hi OP, Wirral mum here, both Wirral and Chester have nice and not so nice areas. As people have previously stated Wirral is a grammar school area.

The go to Catholic school is St John Plessington (rated outstanding) located in Bebington, this school is oversubscribed so it is likely that if you wanted an in year transfer you will probably have to appeal to get a place as they are currently over their published admission number for the new year 7 that will start in September. The executive headteacher is also mentoring in another catholic school on the Wirral called ST Mary's Catholic College (reqires improvement) located in Wallasey but it will a few years until that school is at the current standard of SJP.

Wirral Grammar School for Boys (rated outstanding) located in Bebington, is currently under subscribed for the new year 7's and the school has put out a message asking prospective parents who's sons have not taken the 11+ to get in touch with the school to see if they can arrange them to sit the test.

Calday Grange Grammar (rated good) located in West Kirby, is in a beautiful and affluent area of the Wirral and has a huge "catchment" and they currently provide school transport for boys for North Wales and Chester. I believe they also have available places but you would have to phone the school directly to confirmand. The school has a friendly feel and after an after a few issues 5 years ago the school seems to be going from strength to strength.

St Anselms (rated requires improvement 2016)located in Oxton, is the only Catholic grammar school for boys on the Wirral. Despite the Ofsted this still appears to be a popular school and still has people appealing to get in each year.

Birkenhead Independant School - Is a popular private school located in Oxton. It is co educational and has a good local reputation.

Hi, both my boys have gone to wirral grammar. DS1 has just done his a levels and DS2 is going into year 9. They've loved it! Feel free to ask me any questions