Redbridge vs. Regent Park in Southampton

[felinehk]

Can tell me which secondary school is better? I'm new to Southampton and rent an apartment somewhere in between these two schools which Regent Park is a bit far away from me. Both are ranked as good and so I'm not sure which one I should choose.

Is this for in year admission, or is your child currently in y5? You can't just go from the Ofsted, though it is a starting point (depending how recent they are)

If y5 I would try to go to the open days either next term or in September.
Try to think what is important to you:

• academics for your ability of child
• SEN support
• pastoral care
• extra curricular sport / music / drama
• amount of homework
• ethos of school (strict, relaxed, results, whole child)

If in-year then it may just depend on who has a space, but otherwise the year group v when school starts GCSEs may come into play.

(I'm just outside S'oton, used to work opposite Redbridge).

Thanks, actually I'm planning for a late application for Year 7

In that case I'd politely suggest time is of the essence.
Apply for both ASAP.
Unless one is undersubscribed you'll go on a waiting list for both of them, and you may just be allocated another school e.g. The Oasis Academy.
Once you've been turned down you can look at appealing if you want.

Oasis is that bad?

The Oasis Academy used to be very poor but I have a feeling it has improved in recent years. Southampton schools used to be quite patchy, with people living close enough sometimes choosing to pay bus fairs to the Romsey secondaries. However this was a few years back and I don't know their current state.

I don’t have personal experience of either of those schools, however I know someone who was allocated Redbridge a few years ago having not applied there, but was very happy with how their SEN child was supported and settled in.

In terms of late applications, you just need to be aware that Southampton secondaries have been getting heavily oversubscribed in recent years, even ones that 5 years ago couldn’t fill their PAN now have long waiting lists. Far fewer children can go over the border into Hampshire now as those schools fill from their catchment. There used to be a list of schools showing number of offers/applications against places on the council website, but I can’t find it now so don’t know if that’s still published.

OP. Go right to the end of this page www.southampton.gov.uk/schools-learning/find-school/apply-school/year-7/ and you will find:

www.southampton.gov.uk/media/kkzpkslq/how-places-were-offered-at-oversubscribed-schools-2020-2021-and-2022.pdf
which give previous allocation data.

Neither of your 2 schools were filled on offer day this year.

The equivalent for Hants can be found here www.hants.gov.uk/educationandlearning/admissions/data