Prestwich Manchester Secondaries

[DecentEnough]

Hi- we’re thinking of moving to Manchester from the South East. I’ve read most of the “relocating to Manchester” threads on here and an area that is often mentioned as nice-without-being-too-pricey is Prestwich. I’ve seen some promising looking houses online too. But from what I can tell the secondary schools don’t look great. Does anyone in the area have any insight? Which are the best schools locally? Or should we avoid the area altogether and try to find somewhere in Trafford or wherever?

Bump!

Which schools have you looked at?

Hi - just a bit of light googling and rightmove trawling so far, but from what I can see it’s The Hays or a Catholic school, neither of which have stellar reputations? We’d be state not private.

St Monica's has always been good. If phone the schools and see which have places.

Thanks! Not sure we’d get in as we’re not Catholic. Anyone know anything about The Heys?

You don’t need to be catholic to send your children to a catholic secondary school anymore.
St Monica’s have had a bad Ofsted and have now switched to an academy.

Bury schools seem to have good periods and bad. Reputations come & go. Overall tho I don't think any are awful.

I'm in Trafford and would look there personally. Depends what you think of the grammar system though. High schools (non grammar) generally tend to be good as well.

Other options are to look at areas with good high schools - Lymm is a good option, near Manchester but a little more rural.

OP what other factors do you need to take into account? Work?

Hi - sorry for the pause, life has been happening relentlessly.

We’re both self employed so a workplace isn’t a factor. We’d like to have easy access to the city centre and plenty to do. In terms of our tastes we’re both basically overgrown indie kids in our 40s.

Does anyone have any experience of St Monica’s or The Heys since they became academies? Hard to find anything online, both only have ofsteds from their previous incarnations as far as I can see.