Is it worth moving to Reading for Reading girls School selective stream place

[CDEY]

hello everyone,
We are parents living in Ealing and we would consider moving to other part of London in the coming year.My DD had taken the selective stream exam in Reading Girl’s School for Y7. She is through it and the school would consider if we move to Reading; however few of our friends are suggesting moving to Sutton for great state schools and overall good academic environment. We are not very keen to move to Reading unless we hear positive reviews about the schools.I find not having a sixth form is a disadvantage and the gcse result also is similar to many state schools.Anyone having experience / idea about if it will be worth moving to Reading to avail the place she’s been offered?

I'm afraid I don't fully understand your post.
Has your daughter already in Yr6? And are you looking at state schools? Haven't you already submitted her school application? The deadline was 31st October.
Or is she in Yr5 and you're looking ahead to next year.
Many of the areas around London offer some sort of state selective education. Kent has super selective grammar schools so fewer children get in and many of them travel long distances to get there. Berkshire has a few grammar schools around Slough and, as you say, Reading and other areas with no grammar provision. Buckinghamshire has grammar schools throughout the county and about a third of children go to those schools. Then there are places like Tiffin.
What else is driving your decision to move? Just your DD's school? What about work? How much can you afford to spend on housing? These areas vary massively in house prices

I really wouldn't move specifically for her to attend Reading Girls' School.

I wouldn't reading girls hasn't got a great reputation in the local area and no one locally really even bother sitting the exam, Kendrick is the grammar people want

It's in a really awful rough area of reading and a lot of there pupils are kids that left other local state school for whatever reason (bullying, poor attendance etc) and they get placed at reading girls

Um, as spider says - the application date for secondary for next year is past. Have you applied for any schools anywhere?

If she's in the top 42 for Reading, she will get a place regardless of your current address if you have applied. However, as others have said, it's not a school worth spending a lot of money relocating for.

But you have missed the deadlines for doing the exams for grammar entrance in year 7 for sutton etc.

Hello Mums, thanks a lot for your responses and taking time time out to do it. To clarify, my daughter is in Y6 and we have already submitted the CAF with local state schools of our choices.However Reading school came up with a revised result just 3 days ago and hence the post.They shared result before 31st where my DD didi not succeed but then again an email now says that they have revised their entry criteria.I figured may be we can do a change in the CAF if we share the email from the school with the local council and request them to add reading girls school there (by removing the last choice school in the CAF) , however, it will be worth the effort only if we think of moving to Reading.And for that we need to know whether only for Reading girls school selective stream, it is worth moving to Reading. I have a younger daughter (reception) and have to think about her options also later on, and looks like many people suggested sutton.
I believe I can make an informed decision now, however if you have anything to add, let me know please

Are you wanting to move for other reasons? I can't imagine any school is worth uprooting your whole family (including finding a new school for your youngest) unless there are other compelling reasons to do so. Though I'm not sure why your daughter sat an exam for a school so far away either.

Don't understand the comment about moving to Sutton - you are presumably too late to apply for schools there? Really this feels like a decision you should have been making this time last year!

You are too late to go for the Sutton selective schools unless you are thinking private and even then it may be tight. You have no guarantee of a place at Reading even if your dd "qualifies" now as still it depends how many are eligible, apply and score higher. Your address would be as currently which would probably rule you out on distance for a non selective place. If you moved it would mean joining a waiting list and accepting a random place in the interim.

It would be at the discretion of your local authority as to whether they allowed you to alter your CAF now and still have your application regarded as on time. If making the change would mean that your whole application was regarded as late, then I would forget Reading and leave your CAF as it is.

As for moving to Reading, since the selective stream places are allocated on ranked score alone, if you are allowed to amend your CAF without penalty and the school really is your first preference, it would make sense to name it as such, but then wait until March 1st to see whether your DD is actually offered a place there. (If she isn't, you will be offered a place either at a school you ranked lower down on your CAF, or, if none of your preferences can be met, the nearest sxhool with spaces remaining). If she is, you've got six months to organise your move; if she isn't, you have to decide whether it's really worth hanging on on the waiting list, or to go with what you've been offered locally.

Don’t do it. I know a family who did just this as they were fed a line by the school and they thought it would be a good alternative to Kendrick, which she narrowly missed (passed but ended up on waiting list)
It really is nothing like, it’s very rough and she had an awful time. They’ve since moved again.

Thanks a lot mums. I think we now know about the school and got mostly ‘not (so) good’ reviews so far.DD had taken Kendrick (CEM Slough) test as well as Sutton selective but narrowly missed both.If we move anywhere from Ealing we are aware that she will be offered the available school there and we have to go for that in the interim.But then we will probably accept this since we liked Sutton, it’s vibes .. and can imagine the area as a place for long term settlement. We had moved in the UK just before Corona and liked South London better , Ealing was chosen then to facilitate my daily office journey , however couldn’t move out of the area(even though there are lots of positives in Ealing) since then. Now it’s between staying back in Ealing and moving out..

It's not at all like Kendrick, so don't apply if you are looking for a top performing grammar school. It's basically a normal academy with a focus on STEM. All 'selective stream' means at RGS as far as i can work out is that they automatically get put into the top sets in Yr 7.

It used to have an appalling reputation, though a new head turned it around and it's a good state school now.

DD goes there. She didn't bother taking the 11+ but was put straight into the top sets anyway - don't know how they worked that one out as she didn't take SATs.

It's OK. Pastoral and the teachers have been great with DD. Parents seem generally very satisfied with the school.

It's not the sort of school I'd up sticks and move for, though!

But your DD won't get into the Sutton grammar schools if she didn't pass the exam, even if you do move there.

Which schools did you actually put on the CAF?