Best area to live for grammar catchment of becky high, SWBS, Chesham grmmar, dr challoner and higheycombe girls

[settleforgood]

Dear all lovely people,

We currently stay in Maidenhead and our little daughter is in Year 2 . We plan to buy house near to beaconsfield area as we like the nearby towns but bit confused which could be the best town considering catchment for at-least 3 out of 4 good grammar schools like becky high, chesham grammar, dr challoner, wycombe high, SWBS

We have visited beaconsfield, woburn green, seer green, gerards cross and bourne end. We liked all of them specially beaconsfield town but houses seem bit expensive and our budget is £600-700 and we also want to make sure we are in catchment and able to apply for atleast 3 grammar schools mentioned above..

I am sure you would have come across this situation at some point in your life.

Requesting to share your experience and your valuable inputs so we can plan our move for a long term and buy at the right location.

The primary school for the Little Chalfont House will most likely be Chalfont Valley. Little Chalfont is over subscribed do unlikely to have in year spaces.

Hello All, Do you have any feedback on buying
house and settling in Seers Green area ? Its seems to be in catchment mals for becky high, dr challoners as well as chesham grammar..

2 threads asking the same….

You're taking quite a gamble on your child getting into Dr Challoners. Make sure you are as happy with the non selective options (realistic
Options) near you, esp as your child is only year 2.

Does anyone have the same information but for Boys?.

The best thing is to look at the catchment area maps (& admissions criteria) on the school websites, then look at the recent allocation data on the Buckinghamshire council website.
Do you mean you are looking at moving to Seer Green?

HI Settleforgood, did you move to Amersham in the end? How are you finding it?

We used to live in Little Marlow and were in the catchment for SWBG, Wycombe High and just slightly over the boundary for Beaconsfield grammar so my daughter still got a place there.
BUT - ditch all those and live in Marlow - still in the catchment for Wycombe High (which I don't recommend from personal experience) but in the catchment for SWBG which I do recommend. ALL girls grammar schools can be liked by some but tend to be more pressure as girls put pressure on themselves. Plus Marlow has good primaries and a good comprehensive if grammar does nor work out for you.

I am leaning more towards Amersham which also has a Amersham school as backup if grammar doesnt work out.
any thoughts on Amersham ?

No sorry - I know some kids which moved to Chesham Grammar for 6th form and they seem to be happy.
One thing worth doing is looking at the subjects offered for GCSE and 6th form and also the 6th form entry criteria. You will be surprised how varied they are even better grammar schools.

I gave you quite a lot of information on Amersham when you first posted last year. None of that has changed! If you want to ask any specific questions, I will be happy to try to answer – DD2 went to Amersham School.

My daughter is in year 3 and I am but struggling to find a admission in primary . Only good I know are Elangani and woodside junior.

not sure if there is any other good which willnhave spaces. One option is hetherton but not too sure if I would want to spend on private and if it helps for grammar preparation

Have you asked Bucks council where there are spaces? I don't know the primary schools around there but I would think they'd all be fairly good.

Hi all
what area would be best to live in if we wanted to apply for Dr Challoners high and Wycombe high school? I've had a look at the maps and I can't seem to find anything within our budget, but also not familiar with the areas either.

Hi @Lux2025
Looking at the criteria / distances offered this year (https://buckinghamshire-gov-uk.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Allocation_Profile_2024_-_FINAL_rrgfYhf.xlsx), you would need to live within the DCHigh catchment area. Whilst you might still also be eligible for Wycombe High (last distance offered this year was 11miles), this can vary wildly depending on who applies from where.
I would decide which of the two schools you prefer, and try to move as close as you are able to.
(Usual disclaimer about being happy with the non-grammar options in whatever location you are moving to, just in case)

When we lived in Little Marlow it was in catchment for Sir William Borlase (co-ed), Wycombe High (girls), John Hampton (boys) and we were just out of catchment for Becky High but the advice at the time was my daughter would have got in.
Personally I would check you Sir William Borlase in marlow - will also be in catchment for Wycombe High (girls), John Hampton (boys) but also in catchment for Great Marlow which is considered a good comprehensive.

Thank you all for the replies!
Yes we are interested in DCHS and Wycombe High. We cannot afford anything now in Amersham, so do you think it's best to buy a property in Wycombe? ( We can afford this) and in future we could apply for Wycombe high if we still cannot move to Amersham due to affordability.

Any advice on this? Thx

You need to join the 11plus forum - https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/
All the information about previous years distances and numbers are available. Do NOT try to guess - you really need to go on this forum rather than MN.

I think you are prob going to want to check out the primaries in Wycombe I can not think of any I would recommend. Personally I am not keen on Wycombe high - it’s an exam hot house and we pulled our daughter out after a year. There are girls that like it though but many feel under too much pressure

@settleforgood I know this is an old thread but just wondered why you hadn't considered staying in North Maidenhead / Pinkneys Green / Cookham?

That way you are in catchment for SWBGS plus either JHGS or Wycombe High AND you have access to good secondary schools in Maidenhead.

You need a back up plan if they don't pass 11+

@Ohnoooooooo how long ago was this? I got the impression that the hot-house atmosphere has calmed in recent years…

Hi all
thank you for your advice. We are narrowing down our choices between Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter. We are originally from London, we aren't aware of either areas well. Which one is the most preferred to be closer to the dr challoners? Which is a better place to live in? What's your opinions on either areas? I would appreciate advice from anyone really

thank you in advance xxx

Chalfont St Giles is closer - albeit the admissions statistics show that offers were made to all girls in catchment for nearly all of the last few years, bar 2023 entry which was only up to c. 4.5 miles (but this I think was the last large birth year…)