Best state secondary schools in Hampshire and can we afford to live in catchment?

[NellyJames]

We are relocating to Hampshire. DH needs to get back into London just 3 times a fortnight so commute not really an issue.
Our eldest will be finishing GCSEs when next DC moves into Y6. Youngest will move into Y4. So we’d like to be in catchment for an excellent senior school for the younger 2 and where older one can do Alevels. I understand there’s far less pressure on 6th form places.

2 snags: we need 5 bed as it’s very likely that infirm MIL will move in within a couple of years max (she has no property so can’t contribute)
We have a max budget of 700k which I know will limit choice in very expensive SE.
DH has suffered a mini breakdown and whilst work have been phenomenal with regards working from home on a permanent basis (he’s quite senior) he’s very keen to be near the coast. Not to live on the coast but to be able to access it within an hour or so.
But schools will really determine where we end up.

Cut to the end, here. Thornden School, in Chandlers Ford; consistently pretty much the best state comp in Hants for years, academically, (but took my DS2 from 'average' to 1 A star, 6 x As and 2 Bs at GCSE); thence onto Peter Symonds 6th form in Winchester which competes with Hills Rd, Cambridge for top spot, academically, in England.

Yeah but Chandlers ford is not near the sea or rural
which is what the OP needs for her DH's mental health

Chandlers Ford is suburban as hell

On the edge of Eastleigh, and it’s all about large detached houses with 100k kitchens (or maybe that’s just the people I know)

@TeenPlusTwenties

If it’s the same one I’m thinking of. Girls school in Southampton

It’s known as being a school with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. Not one I’d send my kids too! Ha

Hoggle
It’s known as being a school with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. Not one I’d send my kids too!

St Annes - does NOT have a high pregnancy rate

it gets excellent results
and is not very Catholic

no other girls schools in Southampton

Mudeford. Barton on sea. New Milton would be a good one. Cheaper and near the sea

You’ve got lepe. Beaulieu (though there’s houses there for 2.5 mil). So pricey. Lymington. You’d want the cheaper areas. Calshot is also by the sea. Fawley can have nice houses. But you’ve got the refinery

I know prople are saying about Thornton. But I haven’t heard great stuff. Every single one of my friends have pulled their kids out due to drug issues. I’ve known 7 pulled out now

But that’s just my opinion.

You CAN buy in Winchester. For your price

Brassey Road, Fulflood, Winchester, SO22
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70691136.html

Look at the smaller towns around Winchester. Some are stunning!

@Flishflingers

We don’t live there anymore

But we lived in Lyndhurst. Right by hounds down!

Wonder if we knew each other. Lols

The New Forest is much more expensive that Stubbington
and more congested
and there is less choice of schools

Every single one of my friends have pulled their kids out due to drug issues. I’ve known 7 pulled out now

[quote NellyJames]@itsgettingweird, your walks sound idyllic. Where would we start? Just thinking it may be worth a walk in a couple of weeks when we come down. [/quote]
Look up the Deviation line. If you walk down that you can go anywhere across fields etc. There is a car park there so that's why I'd start there.

I actually start at the Funtly link path and end in deviation line but that works for me as it's walking distance from my house!

Quartz sadly we aren't Crofton catchment but ds went there and was very lucky to have. Well not the reasons he ended up there but to have had the opportunity to attend such a good school

Thanks. @Miljea, I don’t think Chandlers Ford is for us. I don’t think it offers anything different from what we have here. This is a screenshot of our local school exam results. Not sure how that compares to Thornden but I’m happy to be in catchment of a school without the best results as long as it’s a good school and the area offers what we, especially my DH, need. But thank you.

@itsgettingweird, you, along with a few other posters have offered me such great advice on here. I am very grateful. The walk sounds lovely and we’ll definitely try it at the end of the month. You are right, it’s got to be the coast.

You too @ListeningQuietly. Thank you for all your superb advice!

Ach, everyone knows Thornden is a hot bed of sex, drugs and rock and roll, and everyone knows at least 20 pupils who have been 'withdrawn' from there .

Must be why people scramble to get into catchment...

There's a lot of jealousy, and yes, snobbery about Thornden. It is very MC. But it takes academic pupils, and sends them on their way with a slew of A*s to PS, thence RG uni, if that's what you want.

It perhaps doesn't tolerate poor behaviour thus might not be welcoming of such pupils, hence maybe DC are advised to leave? I don't know, because both my DS's Y7 class photo and Y11 class photo deviated by one pupil apiece. Both additions to their classes!

See, where I grew up, Hounsdown had an appalling reputation!

You need to visit the schools and maybe ask about specific ones on here from parents whose kids are actually there or have left recently.

Yes, Ch Fd isn't 'by the sea', but you'd struggle to find a) an under £700,000 5 bedroom house that is b) in the catchment of an excellent school, and c) actually close to the seaside, not warehouses and docks.

@Hoggleludo, thanks but I don’t see the point in us moving to a terraced house with no garden in Winchester; albeit beautifully done. I’m not sure that Winchester offers anything more than we have here other than being closer to the South coast. I think we need to be coastal for DH to get strong again. And I think we definitely need a garden and maybe to get a dog! 🤔

Please note, the houses on Brassey Rd, Winchester are very sweet but the rooms tend to be tiny.

It's a road that many moved out from when expecting their second.

I know that from personal experience.

Thanks @Miljea. I think it’s the sea that’s the pull for him. It’s really why we’re moving. We live in MC Cheshire suburbia. Lots of money around here (not ours ) Kids so we’ll because on the whole the catchment is affluent. Our house is definitely Cheapside compared to lots 😔 but the plus of that it will sell quickly. DH has suffered from a mini breakdown so we need to escape the suburban rat run. He has set his mind on living by the coast and I’d like to support him with it.

Sorry that should say, kids do well

We could up the budget a little but with DH being unwell and the country about to suffer post C19 and post Brexit, I just would rather tuck a bit away, especially with 3 to possibly put through university.

@Numbersarefun - me too and parents still there.

I found the NE bit of Portmouth really stultifyingly suburban though and couldn't wait to get out. Problem with Portsmouth is that the state schools aren't great until 6th form college. If you could afford private then the Grammar School in Portsmouth is great and the High School is still good although not what it was since the Grammar went co-ed (back in the day it was the top school in the country the first year league tables were published).

Having said that OP if you can afford private then I'd be looking at Southsea near the boating lake or Old Portsmouth rather than Cosham/Drayton/Farlington which are really dull suburbansville...

Would you consider 6th Form Colleges - somewhere like Stubbington/Lee on Solent gives you good schools and seafront and then train from Fareham gives you Barton Peveril and Peter Symonds (and also has a college itself).

It is certainly commutable to Blackfriars on the basis you want as I did it for a bit to Aldgate East

I think the Fareham area is probably the closest to what you want for your budget. Chandlers Ford is anyway ridiculously expensive (because of Thorden). If you are happy with a less brilliant school there are plenty. I chose a house in the Mountbatten catchment over Thorden. Having said that, everyone I know who lives in CF loves it and says it's a lovely community.

I have never heard that about St Anne's and pregnancy. It apparently has a brilliant mix of music, arts and science. Not sure about sport or where they play (city school).

Ref the east side of the New Forest towards Fawley, I think the refinery is being made into a huge development and the old trainline being opened.

See, I am a bit concerned that you are building a dream rather than the reality of being here. I love it where we live but I think it might be more similar to where you currently live than you'd think. We do have woods on the doorstep, which is great, but it is very middle class suburbia. Moving halfway across the country to Petersfield could get you a similar vibe to your current town, with a lake. When people say a town is "lovely", bluntly there is an element that it means the town centre has some pretty buildings, there are lots of coffee shops and a Waitrose. A beach would be a lovely bonus but if you could put a beach into your current town would it really solve everything? To such an extent that it is worth moving away from your friends, your husband's friends, your children's friends?

I hope I'm wrong, and I hope you appreciate that I'm saying this kindly as a devil's advocate, and not to run you down. It's a nice place to live but where you currently live also sounds nice. (Also I have swung dramatically from hating our house and being desperate to move, to being very happy here. The difference wasn't that I moved. It was that I started taking antidepressants.)

@Murmurur Your post is interesting. I really love Hampshire but it isn't where I am from and I spend a reasonable amount of time on rightmove dreaming of moving back. Also have felt similarly about my house I was also ambivalent about Winchester when I lived there although it is "lovely".