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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Would you move for a better secondary school?

23 replies

Nurseslife · 01/06/2021 20:36

Where we live the high school is ok. Not fantastic but not terrible. There are neighbouring schools which are excellent but we would need to move. My husband does not think it's worth the expense of moving. I want to move get our son to the best school we can but we would need to downsize and probably go from detatched to semi. Can I get your thoughts?

OP posts:
Original poster
Nurseslife · 01/06/2021 22:20

Anyone?

OP posts:
clary · 01/06/2021 22:22

Lots of people do this of course - that's why your budget buys you a smaller house in the desirable catchment.

We moved to an area we liked and we also liked the schools, but when we moved we had no DC and in the time it took to get from that to DS2 starting secondary, the school had gone from Good to RI. So you cannot know.

There is a school in a nearby village to us which is rated as one of the best in the area, so we could have moved to that village (massive downsize) or to the same suburb we live in now and be in catchment (not a downsize, but not such nice houses IMO and certainly a less-nice feel to the area - giant 80s estate rather than pleasant 30s suburbia, plus walk+bus to school = 30 mins). We didn't do that as we like where we live and didn't want to give the DC a long commute.

AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken · 01/06/2021 22:25

I absolutely would

Landlubber2019 · 01/06/2021 22:25

We didn't, we love our house and the neighborhood. We felt that it puts an incredible pressure on our child to adapt to a new school/new area and our quality of life as a family would have suffered particularly if he didn't like the new school. Instead we chose an ok school which we liked having visited. He is doing okay.

clary · 01/06/2021 22:26

Meant to say that even tho the school is RI, the kids did OK according to their abilities. None of them got the MN standard of all 8-9 at GCSE Hmm but ds1 (learning difficulties) passed some GCSes and went to college; DD got really good GCSEs, did less well at A level for various reasons and is now at uni; DS2 also did well at GCSE and is hoping to get AAB and go to uni in Sept.

Landlubber2019 · 01/06/2021 22:28

I would also add that schools change, our primary was outstanding when we started but is now in RI. Whilst the secondary is still in RI we can see it's making improvements and is now oversubscribed, it can only go up!

UserAtRandom · 01/06/2021 22:33

Depends on whether you think the difference between "ok" and "excellent" for your child is worth the expense and stress of moving and how much you would have to sacrifice on housing.
Plus - how old if your child? Schools can change is they are a way off secondary school age.

clary · 01/06/2021 22:41

That's a good point from @UserAtRandom - a school cannot be "ok" or "excellent" in isolation - will it in fact be excellent for your child? I feel that the outstanding secondary in the village would have been a nightmare for not-very-academic DS1. He wasn't a fan of school in general, but a school that pushes and demands high standards of academia would have been a nightmare for him.

LouLou198 · 01/06/2021 22:43

No, personally I wouldn't. Dd will be going to an "okay" school in a couple of years time. There is an excellent school approx 10 miles away but are well out of the catchment area. It hasn't even entered my head to create such upheaval and expense and move closer to get a place. I don't think dd would be happy either, as she wouldn't know anybody at that school. I went to an "okay" school, I did really well and got good GCSE grades. I think the effort a child is willing to put in goes a long way, and their emotional well-being ie being with their friends is important.

Chewbecca · 01/06/2021 22:54

Yup, I would.

MovingHouse21 · 01/06/2021 23:01

100% I would. That’s exactly what I’m currently in the process of doing. We didn’t get any of the choices we originally put as our preferences and instead got the ‘over my dead body’ school. It was not a good fit for DS and he wouldn’t have been happy there. We’ve found a school I think will be perfect for him and he much prefers it to his original choices. It’s 25 miles away so we are moving house to be nearer. DH and I will have a slightly longer commute to work.

Meredusoleil · 02/06/2021 07:11

This was our plan a few years ago. But, like you, we would have either had to downsize to move a few miles up the road or move to a less nice area much further away for the grammar school dc1 got offered a place at.

In the end, despite actually putting our house on the market and even getting a a low offer on it, we decided it was too much sacrifice to make along with taking on a bigger mortgage.

Thankfully, dc1 got a place at a more local school that we were happy with and touch wood is doing well there now. Plus, dh lost his job last year, so we are doubly glad we didn't take on extra debt!

It all has a way of working out in the end ime 👍🏼

Meredusoleil · 02/06/2021 07:13

I will add, if we were renting instead of selling, it may have been a different outcome!

4PawsGood · 02/06/2021 07:15

Yes, but how do you measure ‘good’? The school near us is ‘good’ in terms of results because it has a posh ish catchment area, but we hear awful things about behaviour in and out of class.

LeafBeetle · 02/06/2021 07:16

I would definitely move if the local school was terrible. It's a harder decision is ok / pretty good but not amazing. Are you going by Ofsted ratings alone, or have you visited the schools? Remember that some schools get better results because they have a higher achieving intake for various reasons, rather than due to the actual teaching.

traumatisednoodle · 02/06/2021 07:38

This is a million dollar question. We didn't (and I had thought we had agrees we would). I wish we had, DH is steadfast that we made the right decision. Both DC have over an hour's journey to school with friends a train ride/ lift away. We would have had to downsize I think it would have been worth it DH clearly doesn't !

Africa2go · 02/06/2021 09:49

100% yes.

We did, although we moved before primary, specifically for the secondary schools.

nomorebabiesnow · 02/06/2021 09:52

Yes I probably would.

Disfordarkchocolate · 02/06/2021 09:53

We moved to make sure we got I to a good school, the alternative was very very poor.

I'd stay in a detached house for a good school, some excellent schools are just bloody awful for the mental health of some of their pupils.

Nuggetnugget · 02/06/2021 09:55

I would if it was terrible but it it's OK I would pay for tutoring I think
We are in our lifetime home now and both of our children are in lower primary. So this is what I plan to do if the local school isn't up to scratch.

Golden2021 · 02/06/2021 10:11

Not if your current school is ok, no. We would have moved if our choice of school was dire. I wouldn't want to downgrade our whole standard of living.

Itawapuddytat · 06/06/2021 19:00

We did - but we were meant to move to a bigger house anyway, so we bought one a couple of miles away, in the catchment of a much better secondary school (we're in Scotland). DS got some friends very quickly in the new primary school, is totally happy and enjoying his time at the secondary school, and has managed to stay in touch with some of his friends from his old school. At the time he was not happy he had to move schools, but couple of years later he confessed that he was actually glad we did (better house, better school, better clubs, still has his old friends and made new ones)

Liam436 · 06/06/2021 22:36

Luckily we have reasonably good schools where we live right now.

But realistically, if I had to move, I would. Local schools would have to be very bad indeed, and unsafe, for us to actually move. Just mediocre teaching can usually be remedied with some extra home learning. I wouldn't move just because another area had a slightly better school.

When daughter was younger, I once joked with my wife that we should move to Brook Green next to St. Paul's. Glad we didn't do this as we eventually rejected St. Paul's (and some other indies) for a local state school.

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