Alot happening + secondary school decision

[KKB7714]

Hi!

We moved to the UK at the start of the pandemic with two boys in primary school. Before we could get our heads around the pandemic, the move, no jobs and everything else, we were faced with application for secondary school. Not knowing much, we tried to prepare our elder son for 11+. That did not go down well as the stress got to him and me. I feel like I failed him in supporting him to prepare for it. His attitude towards studies is that it is a chore and that just did not help when we were working to prepare him for the entrance exams.

There is only one good secondary school for us based on our current address – not our first choice. DS wants to go to a another school his buddy has applied for, but it is not one that has impressed us - a few negative reviews read only, ofsted rating of good, boys only. We want to be able to give him the best opportunities we can so we are open to relocating as we are renting. He has not handled the move to UK and settling in during Covid well, and that is no surprise. It has been hard for everyone. An emotional time in the house.

We are looking to relocate. Based on some research we have done, we are looking at areas like Woking, Guildford and Milton Keynes. We want to be able to give the kids a bigger house and some outside space - the boys have too much energy to be cooped up in a flat. We cannot move until this summer, after they finish the current school year. So, with so much in the air, I am struggling with giving my DS any solid input about his secondary school. The move to a new school (again) is stressful. Not knowing where you are going to be for the next few months, fear of losing out on good schools (which is the main reason for the move in the summer), getting our heads around how to approach this with regards to late applications, what to do with the current offer etc…. it all is so overwhelming.

Any advice on the following would be very much appreciated.

• Areas we are considering moving to – secondary and primary schools, how are these areas to live in; what one should consider when making the decision etc.
• Should I accept the current offer in the borough we are in and then put in a late application once we have a new rental property, where ever it may be?
• Advice on how to handle so much change (including transition into secondary school) with a pre-teen who is already behaving like a 16 year old.

If anyone has been in a similar situation of moving in the summer and applying for schools close to start of the new school year, please do share all your wisdom.

Thank you in advance.

First of all accept the offer that has been made. You can’t predict what will happen in the next few months and if you are still in the same place in September at least your son has a place. If you turn the place down your local authority has no further obligation towards you, and although you would be able to apply to go on the waiting list for other schools, or put in an appeal, having turned down a place in the area would not be seen as something in your favour. Accepting the place does not mean he has to turn up there, it is a safety net.

Woking, .Guilford and Milton Keynes are very different places! You need to decide on one and then you can focus your research both for schools and accommodation on one area. You could of course apply to be put on the waiting lists for schools in all three areas, but realistically you will not be offered places from an address far out of catchment , unless of course the school has failed to fill its PAN from first round applications, which is a bit of a signal.

So has your DS been offered the boys school you have read negative reviews on? Or a different school? I would think very carefully about moving for schools. I assume you are looking to identify areas with good schools. As PP said, inevitably the good schools are likely to be full. Is the school you have been allocated really bad enough to move and risk getting whatever place is left, plus uprooting your other DS? You mention also wanting to have more space, so I understand there are other benefits to moving. Can you afford more space where you are?

For now, accept the current school and go on waiting lists for any you like more. That way you will have a place if you don't end up moving.

Can you clarify how old your eldest is? Is he Year 5 (so you are moving in time to apply for secondary school in October) or Year 6 (in which case you will be making a late application, which means that you will be confined to picking schools with places).

I agree with PP that you should accept the offered school. I also suggest that you go and have a look at it, and find out a bit more about it, if you haven't done so already. Pretty much all schools will have negative reviews and an Ofsted rating of "Good" is - well - good! The only thing that you would definitely gain by moving is a co-ed school. or is the relocation prompted by something other than school? In which case, I'm not sure why you are suggesting 3 such varied locations.

I know about Milton Keynes and, whilst the schools are, in the main, perfectly fine, it's not generally somewhere that people list when they are moving for school reasons -so interested to know why that is on your list?

Thank you all for your response.

@BendingSpoons we are currently in Kingston-upon-thames. The school we have been offered has had a few negative reviews. I agree with RTN, nearly every school will have some negative comments. What I have seen mentioned a few times is that the school has improved over the last 2 years. That is positive but I would like to give my son more options. I have visited the school, however, again due to lack of knowledge of schools here, I was not able to compare. I was able to visit only 2 schools due to limited seats for open days.

I do understand that the timing of the move and hence not having a choice of school where we relocate is an issue. I don't know how to get around this...how best to plan our future without too much disruption for my boys. I want them to have more options of good schools, ideally the best possible, but it is nearly impossible to to achieve that with the way the school allocations work. Sorry I am venting here.

Rentals are high in Kingston, so looking for a bigger space is hard.

RTN, Miton Keynes was suggested to us by family who visit the area often for their childrens sports training and have friends there. We were told that access to extra curricular activities for kids is great there and rentals are cheaper. We visited Milton Keynes 2 weeks ago and liked the area. We had also done some online research on schools there and you are right, the schools are ranked by Ofsted as 'good' and not 'outstanding'. For now it is one of the 3 places we are looking at. I would really appreciate any more inputs from you on Milton Keynes - pro's & con's and suggestion for other areas to consider.

thank you once again for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it.

I agree that MK has lots of opportunities for children/teens and is within easy proximity to the M1 and to London, without being as eye wateringly expensive as some of the other areas in the South East!
There is a genuinely comprehensive system in Milton Keynes- the majority of schools adopt a policy of prioritising children in strict catchment areas, hence the majority of children go to their local school and most schools have a very mixed demographic. They tend to get results in line with their intakes, so are thus not stellar results (hence my comments about people often looking at headline figures and not choosing to move to MK for schools). I would not take too much stock of Ofsted - particularly as most reports will be older due to Covid.

Whilst there is a certain amount of snobbery about some schools being perceived to be better than others, I think most of the secondary schools are fairly similar. Many parents tend to avoid MK Academy (which has a more deprived intake) and Stantonbury (which is a bit of a marmite school). As it's an area where there is a lot of new development there are also some new schools recently opened - so they haven't yet had a GCSE year. Some parents like that; some prefer the tried and tested. Newer areas also tend to attract more families (some of the older areas tend to have families with older/grown up children). However, my observation is that the newer builds tend to have less space (particularly outside space).

your main issue will be getting a place for September. Moving into the catchment for your preferred school will put you towards the top of a school's waiting list, and there is often a fair bit of movement over the summer(lots of mobility in MK) so I think you'd have reasonable chance of getting a space, although it might be that you have to compromise for a term or 2 and wait it out. (this is just my opinion; I have no secret knowledge of MK admissions)
If you want to know anything specific, please IM me and I'll try to help.

Allocation profile as at 1st March for secondary schools in Milton Keynes is here:
www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/assets/attach/74859/Allocation-Profile-1-March-2022-AA.pdf

Two schools were under PAN and are already showing as having been allocated to some DC as their nearest undersubscribed school - Stantonbury and Glebe Farm, so it is possible that you would be offered a place at either, even from your current address. Having schools with vacancies on March 1st means that the LA had no more applicants who needed a place, but there may be others living nearer than you who are also looking to move (and the 'vacancies' in each school could be only one place in each).

I live between Guildford and Woking. Generally a nice area, easy to get into London (slightly faster from Woking than Guildford), plenty of lovely countryside around, but also plenty of things to do both sporting & cultural. Guildford is a more attractive city with cobbled High Street and considered more ‘upmarket’. Woking is modern with lots of high rise flats etc. but also has some leafier suburbs/villages. Both are expensive for housing, especially Guildford.
There are some excellent secondary schools in the area but the most desirable are typically over subscribed. This year a good number of my son’s classmates did not get their preferred school and are on waiting lists / considering appeals, so I suspect you would not get a late place at the most popular secondaries (there is an element of snobbery here about secondaries and the less popular are not necessarily ‘worse’ schools)
Feel free to PM me if you want more info about secondaries in this area - I visited a good number of them last year when doing my application!

@KKB7714

Thank you all for your response.

@BendingSpoons we are currently in Kingston-upon-thames. The school we have been offered has had a few negative reviews. I agree with RTN, nearly every school will have some negative comments. What I have seen mentioned a few times is that the school has improved over the last 2 years. That is positive but I would like to give my son more options. I have visited the school, however, again due to lack of knowledge of schools here, I was not able to compare. I was able to visit only 2 schools due to limited seats for open days.

I do understand that the timing of the move and hence not having a choice of school where we relocate is an issue. I don't know how to get around this...how best to plan our future without too much disruption for my boys. I want them to have more options of good schools, ideally the best possible, but it is nearly impossible to to achieve that with the way the school allocations work. Sorry I am venting here.

Rentals are high in Kingston, so looking for a bigger space is hard.

RTN, Miton Keynes was suggested to us by family who visit the area often for their childrens sports training and have friends there. We were told that access to extra curricular activities for kids is great there and rentals are cheaper. We visited Milton Keynes 2 weeks ago and liked the area. We had also done some online research on schools there and you are right, the schools are ranked by Ofsted as 'good' and not 'outstanding'. For now it is one of the 3 places we are looking at. I would really appreciate any more inputs from you on Milton Keynes - pro's & con's and suggestion for other areas to consider.

thank you once again for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it.

I would rather send my child to a "good" school that has been recently inspected than an "outstanding" school that was last inspected 10-15 years ago.

If it was inspected so long ago, then the rating can be taken with a pinch of salt. My dd's so-called outstanding primary school was anything but. It has been left for the past 15 years to basically do what it wants. It's had a complete change in senior management, massive changes to the running of the school plus various other issues including not having policies in place that legally, they should have done for years.

You should accept the school you've been offered until you have proof of new address etc, which means you can then apply for a school in your new area. Obviously, once you have another school accept your son then you can give up their current place.

Given you live in Kingston why aren't you familiar with Woking or Guildford - they're half an hour away?

You could look at schools in those areas now, and their year 7 allocations to work out where you'd need to live then move there over Easter. And continue to travel to their current school.

Leaving moving till the summer, when all the appeals have been heard and there's even less chance of a space in a school of your choosing seems madness.

(Though so does leaving Kingston for MK frankly!)

And what's the school you've been offered? Perhaps some MN can reassure you.

@MarchingFrogs

Allocation profile as at 1st March for secondary schools in Milton Keynes is here: www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/assets/attach/74859/Allocation-Profile-1-March-2022-AA.pdf

Two schools were under PAN and are already showing as having been allocated to some DC as their nearest undersubscribed school - Stantonbury and Glebe Farm, so it is possible that you would be offered a place at either, even from your current address. Having schools with vacancies on March 1st means that the LA had no more applicants who needed a place, but there may be others living nearer than you who are also looking to move (and the 'vacancies' in each school could be only one place in each).

Stantonbury has some "challenges" (people tend to love it or hate it). Glebe Farm is not open yet (scheduled to open in September; still being built). I imagine that is why they are undersubscribed.

Both schools might be great, but would be a risk and probably not the first choice of someone who wants to move for the school.

Have you now got jobs and if so where are they?

It all seems madness to move for better schools when all the perceived "better" schools will have waiting lists.

It's not wise to make a sudden move away from an area when you've been offered a place in a good school just because of a few negative reviews. Honestly, almost every school will have these, there are inevitably going to be some disgruntled parents or ex pupils who want to vent.

You run the risk of not having any definite school place for your DS in September and that surely wouldn't be good for him or you!

Once again thank you everyone for your messages. I am taking everything on board and yes rethinking how we are approaching this.

RedskyThisNight and MarchingFrogs , thank you for all your inputs on MK. It has been very helpful.

suitcaseofdreams , thank you for your inputs and offer to connect.

titchy, we have visited Woking and Guildford a couple of times in the past few months. A friend moved there recently and when we looked up areas with good/outstanding secondary schools (excluding grammar & independent schools), these two areas had a few options, hence we are considering them.
We have considered the option of moving earlier and managing the travel to the current school. Definitely on the list.
We have been offered Hollyfield. I would highly appreciate any inputs from parents whose kids have been to Hollyfield or are there now.

RandomMess , no jobs in hand as yet. Fingers crossed we get something soon and then that will definitely help us to take a decision.

I agree with all of you that waiting till summer to put in a late application is a risk. We are gathering information & advice and weighing it all. So all your inputs are very much appreciated.

@KKB7714 , Hollyfield is regarded as a good school in the area, I can understand moving for a house issue but not for a school that has a recent good Ofsted report etc. The school is 5 mins from Surbiton train station so you can move to anywhere on the SW railways train line and your ds can travel to school by train. I would accept the place asap.