Colyton grammar

[movingtodevon1]

Hi
We are in the process of relocating to Devon due to my partners work and are looking at areas within 40 mins commute of Exeter with good schools. My daughter currently y5 is very keep on Colyton but with no grammars in our current location we are clueless of wether she would make the cut with 11 plus etc.
She is bright, vey good with creative writing and grammar, her maths is slightly above average for her age but not her strongest skill. We wouldn't want to go down a tutor route so basically what Im asking is will an academically able but non tutored/hothoused child stand a chance or do I need to steer her away from this idea?

Yes we love Ottery and its still very much the plan to buy there but Im struggling when viewing properties to see how our family will actually fit in the house with all the tat the kids own and their complete lack of ability to put anything away
Uffculme school sounds brilliant academically but I have been warned to avoid due to bullying and lack of pastoral care.

Do you need to be right in ottery? I went west hill as a child and was in the catchment area :)

West hill is beautiful but there is no suitable houses within budget.
The problem is if you move into the surrounding villages but don't get into the corresponding feeder primary (which all seem to be over subscribed) then you struggle to get into kings!

Does anyone local to Ottery know much about Salston Barton? There is a property there I could see ourselves making our own, but I'm hesitant due to the proximity to the river.
Does the area flood/roads cut off? Is it as quiet as it seems or would there be a few children living there so mine aren't completely isolated?

Yes, I know west hill is a feeder school.. oh my it's not the barn is it? I was looking at it 😂 I was also eyeing up a property that has just come up in ottery which use to be the old hospital that's been renovated recently. I haven't heard there flooding, but in flood times the roads around there do. But a few roads in the area flood, such as sidmouth road (Tipton at John especially)

Tipton St John (auto correct :( sorry)

We've viewed both of those, loved them both, the old hospital one was just too small and the barn is compact but lovely, worried about the river, the damaged long private road (which its replacement seems to need financing between residents) and the windows looked like they have blown so will need replacing.... i still want it but hubby (captain sensible) is resisting!

The barn has been on for a while, longer than hospital one so maybe cheeky offer? Ah shame it's small, looks really quirky which is my cup of tea!

And ours! It looks like a fairy tail house! But there was no garden and the third bedroom was partially small as was the double downstairs.
Husband has just drove over to Salston and the private road seems to have been resurfaced..... thats one less thing to worry about.....

The downstairs bedroom in what we called the fairytale house i think they had included the interior of the wardrobe in the measurements as in reality a kigsize bed would almost be touch each wall!

Yes I was worried about the garden, my partner is a landscaper so it's a deal breaker :( but all else for me is lovely. Ah that's great :) are you decided on kings?

Kings is our number one choice, we are in a race against time now for our buyers to get an offer so we can move into catchment before the kings entrance cut off in October!

@movingtodevon1, have you checked that any of the feeder schools have space for year 6? This year has been a nightmare for families in Ottery, lots of families who live within minutes of the school and go to non feeder local primaries didn't get in to Kings. Including children who have siblings already at Kings.

I think the wait list for the cohort starting Kings this September was over 80 children, of which a sizeable number were from Ottery. My friends daughter is about no.25 on the list, she lives just out of catchment, but does have several siblings in the school- my friend was expecting her to get a place, so it was a shock.

As a result of Kings being oversubscribed, we have friends who children go to Sidmouth, Cranbrook, Honiton and Clyst Vale. All are happy with the schools, I'd say Clyst Vale comes out on top in terms of pastoral support. And that both Sidmouth and Honiton appear to be improving.

Personally we had a negative experience with Cranbrook, and weren't impressed with the others when we looked around, but that was a few years ago.

Both my ds are at Kings currently, eldest loves it and it suits him completely, youngest struggled to settle in- he wasn't from a feeder school, but is doing okay now. Academically it's a great school and pastorally it's okay but not as good as it was. It's reputation for being good, means it attracted a lot of children with ehcps, and whilst they try very hard to meet need, I feel they are a little overwhelmed now.

We had been told the closest feeder schools were full, and would be relying on living in close proximity! Seems crazy that local kids couldn't get a place as according to the admission criteria children in catchment should get priority over kids out of catchment in feeder schools? Nightmare for the local parents!

Yes I believe that only children in the first 4 categories were offered places this year, so that included children from feeder schools who lived in catchment or had siblings, but not from feeder schools if out of catchment, and not all from in catchment who went to other non feeder schools.

It has been a total nightmare for parents and they are still trying to sort transport out for the pupils who will go elsewhere.

East devon desperately needs another school. Loads of new builds but no new infrastructure. This year Honiton and Cranbrook both have waiting lists as well, which is unheard of.

I will say, it was a bumper birth year for the area, with some schools adding an extra class just for that year in primary. Hopefully the year after is smaller.

From memory at looking birth rates, the last 2 years were higher it then drops for the next few years. I think Exmouth CC was at capacity over the last 2 years

Update

We still haven't moved due to the current housing market but are now looking in the Kinskerswell/Newton Abbott/top of Torquay area as my Daughter took the 11+ for the Torbay area and got a yes for all three schools.
We didn't try out for Colyton for various reasons.
Thanks again for all you previous advice.

Did you move in the end?

Thats a sore subject!
We are stuck in a chain that keeps moving the goal posts! We have had three moving dates collapse at the 11th hour and are now in the position that my children are due to start at their new primary school in Devon on the 15th and we still are not in! (We will have to rent a static if things don't happen fast)
However my DD did get her place at her first choice Grammar for September so we are sorted in that respect.

What put you off Colyton in the end?

We liked the Torquay Grammar's and as it was all last minute we didn't want to put my unprepared daughter through two different exams, so It was a simple choice of try out for Colyton with a one school choice or Torbay with three.