Milton Keynes secondary schools and areas to stay

[Mamanij]

We are soon moving into Milton Keynes and wondering which are the good areas if we are looking for good schools- academics and good behavior are important to us. Catholic school if its good is also desireable. Kids are age 11, 6 and 2 Hubby has been looking at the western side and has mentioned shenley areas and Loughton areas. Any tips to consider? He works in london so an area that isn’t too far from the station.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/find-a-school-in-england

You can find out the academic stuff on here

Your main issue will be school places for the school age DC. There are 3 good secondary school on the west side of MK (Denbigh, Shenley Brook End and Hazeley) but for a year 7 place they are all oversubscribed and I would expect them to have hefty waiting lists. In fact (unsurprisingly) I think you'll struggle to find a Y7 place at any of the "better regarded" secondary schools in MK. You will be left with either taking what you can get (and some of these schools are perfectly fine!) or appealing.

Your 6 year old is presumably moving moving into Year 2, so subject to infant class size rules and again it's likely that all the better infants places are already taken.

Depending on when you are moving it might be worth a pre-emptive call to the council to find out what schools have places (though I'd wait until a couple of weeks into term so that places have settled down).

@redskylastnight thank you so much- that is very helpful. We are likely to move in October on the 14th.

Thank you @Jojosm2

And Ousedale - best results in Mk

"Best results" depends what measure you look at - there will be a few schools claiming this honour when we get to secondary school open day season (all claiming they are best in different ways).

And Ousedale is neither in West MK, or logistically a school I'd choose to go to if I lived in West MK. And I imagine it's also oversubscribed in Year 7?

HI All
We are looking at relocating from South Africa. Son will be going into year 8 or 9, depending when we go. I am very concerned about getting into an MK secondary but then again if we did Aylesbury as another option, its probably impossible to get into a grammar anyway. If we have to do an independent school would you suggest MK or looking at Bedford?

There are no independent secondary schools in Milton Keynes. So if you moved there your child would be travelling to (e.g.) Bedford or Northampton.

What about Webber Independent in MK? Why is not that considered an independent secondary school?
How bad would the travel time to Bedford be or is it then better to live there?

Ah ok, I thought Webber was just a primary, but you're correct, it does take up to age 16. It's a tiny school though (which of course might be what you are looking for).

If you leave in East Milton Keynes then travel time to Bedford is about 30 minutes in moderate traffic. I imagine it's longer in the rush hour. I think the independent schools in Bedford also have school buses that go to Milton Keynes.
If I wanted to send my child to school in Bedford, I personally wouldn't live in MK, though you may of course have other reasons for wanting to live there.

Akeley Wood and Thornton College are independent schools on the Stony Stratford side of MK

Grammar school in Buckingham. Stony Stratford has always been in catchment for this school but double check it still is.

I think lisawdb will struggle to get a grammar place for a Year 8 or Year 9 child. And if she was set on grammar, I would actually move to Bucks, not Milton Keynes to give maximum possibility.

RedskyAtnight if I did want to do Bedford independent schools do you think better to live in Bedford or nearby? What is that area like? Could I realistically try for Newport Pagnell and commute? or is that traffic just as bad?

I would say near Bedford (there are lots of nice smaller places round about) would be nicer than in Bedford. Though there are nice bits of Bedford too. Personal preference really. Plenty of people do commute to the Bedford independents, it's just not what I'd want for my child.

Don't know about traffic from Newport Pagnell. It's the right side of the M1 to get to Bedford, so that might make it better.

You might get more local knowledge if you post on the MN Local forum for Bedford?

That would be awesome, I will try thanks so much :)

Souls Coaches run a service from MK to the Harpur Trust schools (BMS, BS, BSG).
BS01 Willen > Newport Pagnell, Red House > Newport Pagnell, Market Hill > Sherington > Chicheley, The Chester Arms > BMS/BS/BGS
Travel time with no traffic is 30 mins, longer in the mornings (but not as long as it is now as the current A428 road closure to rebuild the railway bridge is due to complete in spring).