Your Experience of Moving for School

[RaggieDolls]

Looking to hear from people who have moved house to secure a better secondary school. My DD is going into yr4 (DS in Yr2) and the secondary school we are in catchment for has an under average progress 8, a 'requires improvement' ofsted and an underwhelming reputation.

The school 1.5 miles away is above average P8, a recent good ofsted and an excellent reputation.

If we applied from our current address we might get a place but siblings come after catchment to there is no guarantee DS would get a place if DD did. We love our house and neighbours but moving seems like the sensible option despite the expense.

Looking to hear from others who have done the same. Are you pleased with your decision?

Yes, moved earlier this year to a borough with lots of good schools. Offered our first choice so really happy. It has meant leaving a house we were happy in and essentially doubling our outgoings.

Yes. We moved 20 miles to a better school when our local comprehensive suddenly went from good into special measures and the sixth form was shut down. It was higher rent but do not regret it at all as it had major impact on my eldest DDs gcse achievement and place at a good sixth form. Also better support as my kids are also SN. SN has been cut so much that that is also something to research before moving.
I would advise finding out if the school you have in mind has any places for the upcoming Years you need for your kids. There were closer schools to our old home, but they were oversubscribed. The last thing you want to do is move and not get a place. Your kid can actually miss an entire year of school. My local authority publishes the schools and places by year on the council website. You could see if yours does too.

Thanks @The2Ateam, that's good to hear. Pleased it has worked out for you.

I don't think our outgoings would double but we'd definitely need a bigger mortgage plus the cost of moving.

@RaggeddeeAnn, they are still in primary school but we'd need to get the house on the market in the next year or so. The local authority publish statistics and in the past children in catchment have always got a place. Frustratingly my address would give my DCs a place about 50% of the time but that is a big gamble.

Have you actually been to see the schools? I wouldn't base a house move solely on hearsay and Ofsted reports! Plus if your oldest is only just going into Year 4, there are 3 years for the local school situation to change.

We decided not to move for a 380 intake. Our street is often the last street in terms of distance applicants to gain a place. We missed it by 40 metres, so our gamble did not pay off. I thought we'd just get in. Then I thought we'd be high on wait list but lots moved up quickly to move up wait list. We are now 12th. I wonder if I made right decision every day but we all love where we live. Got place at very good 2nd choice but it's 3.5 miles away. I made sure it was pretty certain we'd gain a place there or I would not have gambled. Now we have to do it all again for a younger child in October. This time we have no very good 2nd choice. Oh dear.

We moved 8 miles to be in catchment of a good school. Son has just sat GCSEs and hoping for good results in August. The school has been great and given our sporty son loads of opportunities he didn’t have if we had stayed where we were, eg his school has cricket team and athletics squad, he lives for these sports and has played in school teams and other competitions throughout secondary, the school he would have gone to does not play cricket and does not enter athletes to any inter school or county competitions. It’s much better academically with more subject options too (as it’s larger) and pastoral care has been fine. It was a good decision.

We moved to secure a place at a better school. We visited first and did a lot of research into the school and the local area. It was the best thing we ever did.

I too would pop along to this year's open evening in Sept / early Oct to get a feel for your catchment schools. If there is change of leadership (HT and/or SLT and/or Governors) then 3 years is ample time for a school to turn around.

Also bare in mind that 'reputations' take a good 10+ years to improve (if our town is anything to go buy) so really try to make sure you get up to date views, not based on when next door neighbour's niece went there in 2005.

Some really interesting experiences and perspectives on this. Thank you. Luckily we'd only need to move about 1-2 miles so not as difficult as some of the moves outlined here. We actually live a lot closer to the school we think we'd like than the one we think we won't like but we are not in catchment.

@RedSkyLastNight no, I haven't visited but I do intend to as I take your point on forming my own view. It isn't just Ofsted and reputation though. The progress 8 score is negative.

Do you really think 3 years is enough for a school to turn around? It's a shame because it used to be a decent school about 12 years ago.

I think 3 years is ample to turn a school around if the leadership and plan is right. If it is the same leadership that were in charge when the 'requires improvement' was given then I would be more dubious as to whether improvement will happen.

Progress 8 being negative (how negative? Is this a trend over years or just one off? Is there a reason why it might be negative?) again needs examining to understand why. And you need to drill down into the figures to understand if it is negative across the board or, for example, high achievers do phenomenally well, but low achievers do really badly.

And the flip side of Teen's comment above, is that the school that is doing well now, might not be doing so well in 3 years' time. Can you see sustained progress/improvement in this school?

When was the good school last inspected? If you think the Ofsted rating is important - this could change very quickly! A local school recently went from outstanding to requires improvement, lots of shocked parents all around!

We moved into catchment of an outstanding school as we really didn’t like our original catchment school. It was the right move for us.

If they get a good head 3 years should be sufficient and your child will not be doing gcses for another what 10 years.. it's a tricky dilemma.

Remember by the time your dd starts by high school, this ‘good’ school may now be the one requiring improvement, and the ‘requiring improvement’ one, may be good.

You can’t bank on anything, as things happen.

I think you're right @TeenTimesTwo. I am surprised there haven't been any changes in the senior management team or governing body since the poor Ofsted. That makes me think it is unlikely anything will change quickly.

@RedSkyLastNight it's an average of -0.29 with high achievers performing worst with -0.37. DD got greater depth in maths, reading and writing in yr2 so if she continues on a similar trajectory she will be a high achiever. They are slightly improving having gone from well below average to below average.

The other school is a 0.35 above average with high achievers doing better at 0.47. The Ofsted reports were both done this year with the better school moving down from 'outstanding' to 'good' under the new criteria.

@MrPickles73 you make a good point and I'm not sure we'd be up for this if if meant moving out of our town... in reality it just means moving to the other side of town.

@IsobelRae23, you are right. There are no guarantees at all with any of this which is why I'm interesting in the general experiences people on here have had.

We sort of did. We got DD into the school whilst living out of catchment, but moved in her first year. Due to the lie of the catchment zones we are actually closer now to the old catchment school but firmly in our school of choice, so no issues getting ds in.

We have just moved dd2 for yr3.

The catchment school for our previous house is a good school on paper but the negatives with the school seriously outweighed the positives.

What would be the cost of moving?
The lesser school doesn’t sound completely bad so if you love where you live you could stay put. Some of the money not spent on the move could be used for extra curriculars/tuition etc.

Yes we did. The three school we could put down were all outstanding schools. He got into his first choice. The bonus was we love living here so instead of moving on when he has left we are staying forever. Best thing we ever did.

We moved to be in catchment for Gordons School in West End, Woking - didn't want to take a chance of not getting in, so bought a house within 500 meters of the school. This was a few years ago when the catchment was very small. We haven't regretted it for a minute as our kids have done really well and it was affordable compared to the private school option. We are both working parents so the after-school care till 7.30pm supported our needs and the kids got their homework and extra-curricular activities done. It's a long day but honestly with all the challenges of parenting teenagers bring, I'm grateful for the option to have them in school and being supported regardless of their academic ability. It's a state school with fees of £8k but worth the money. Housing is expensive compared to surrounding areas but if you are motivated parents, you compromise and you may not be buying your dream home, but it will do for the secondary school years.