Sheffield secondary catchments - chance of it changing - whether to spend more to buy in catchment

[MrsSneeze]

We are moving to Sheffield and trying to work out whether to buy a house in the catchment area of our preferred secondary or not. Sheffield has fixed defined catchment areas.

Our eldest is entering Y2 now so secondary school is several years away, and we are worried if the Council changes the catchment areas by then our child wouldn't get in, and also the price of our house would drop significantly!

I can see that lots of secondaries were over-subscribed this year, and that Mercia school has opened with a very large catchment overlapping that of other schools.

Just wondering how likely it is that the catchment areas will change in the next few years?

OP, Mercia School didn't exist when I lived in Sheffield - but I would that buying anywhere with an S11, S10 or S17 postcode is a completely safe bet in terms of the value of a potential house. Those postcodes are very popular with people who want to be within the catchment areas for King Ecgbert and Silverdale schools (S10 is, or was, in the catchment for Tapton, which is also good) - but they are also the absolutely solid 'middle class' areas favoured by families with children at the independents (all of which are in S10, apart from Mylnhurst Prep, which is S11).

If you bought in any of those areas, you would still be close to a decent school, whatever the catchment areas are at the moment. Mercia seems to be a valuable addition (and says it has no catchment area...)