Amazing state secondary schools... Anywhere in the UK!

[RaRaRamen]

Hi all,

Our kids are still in very early primary school but we're thinking ahead to our next house move in a couple years time and would like to move somewhere close to good secondaries. Our local options are pretty dire. We'd be looking for jobs around good school areas so we're pretty flexible and can go anywhere in the country. Which is exciting but so open! Our budget for housing is around the 400k-mark so nowhere super expensive 😬 We can't afford private school.

I haven't seen a recent post like this so hopefully this will be useful for other people with a similar conundrum.

So please tell me, does anyone really rate their kids secondary school? Or know of counties with a high proportion of good schools? Most important thing to us is a nurturing environment rather than academics. I know schools can go downhill but a good starting point would be ideal!

Also please, no posts about how terrible all state schools are. I'm not interested and there are plenty of other threads to choose from for those. Thank you!

@GulesMeansRed got there before me, I wouldn't put great faith in a UK league table put together by people who don't know that Scotland is part of the UK and has a separate education system. That said, high performing schools in Scotland are very closely linked to property prices as catchment area is consistent year to year, so prices drop off dramatically from one side of the road to the other.

Have you considered Yarm/Eaglescliffe area?
Both towns have excellent state schools and are lovely towns to live in.

These postcodes are lovely and border the Peak District, and come at a cost. Other parts of Sheffield are not very lovely, very urban and a bit run down. Like any city, it has extremes, but within close proximity.

But the OP could afford a house in these areas. Not a detached, but they could get a house.

Decent school- yes, absolutely, but "Parents who are invested in their kids' education"<= I think this is not the most important criterion you should use. But that is my opinion...For me, a good school, great pastoral care, and good teachers are more important than if "other parents care for the education of their children". I don't live their lives, my child doesn't live their lives....
There is a lot of mental health issues among kids in many grammar schools as a result of pressing parents. Single-sex education makes children socially awkward. But this is all swept under the carpet. The parents start with the push to get them in and then they push to be the top. What memory of childhood they will have?
So what if the school is super selective if the school is not that good and is merely driven by the fame of the GCSE percentage that comes of the fact that they have the best kids in the county? That is not enough. I am referring here to downgraded by OFSTED grammar schools with reports that teachers' provision is merely satisfactory but there are still 11-12 candidates per place because their parents don't understand how to do proper research what the school really is like. And the existing parents just worship the holy grail school. I know quite a few "Stepford wives' schools" where everybody repeats like a mantra " Aaaamazing school". Not really in fact. I know even one school which is below the national average in GCSE results, has a lot of absences, and instances of bullying and parents are programmed to say "aaaamazing school".

Beware of successful marketing as it distorts perception of reality. :)

@RaRaRamen No grammar school in Bucks has ever been less than good. Most are outstanding and will remain so. Waddesdon has always been exceptional. Sheffield, which I know quite well has RI schools. One is a strict school. Some don’t have 6th forms. They are comprehensive but very variable according to area. Few are as good as Waddesdon and that’s a secondary in a grammar county. I think there are schools you can trust to stay pretty decent in all the areas you want. If you are purely judging behaviour and bullying, that’s far more of an issue in some schools. Also difficult to judge over time. High performing schools time and time again with great slt are the gold standard. In your price bracket, you don’t really have a huge choice in some areas of the SE, should you want to be there.

Here's a £400k house in catchment for Comberton Village College, genuinely comprehensive, has its own 6th form but also feeds into Hills Road 6th in Cambridge.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136487045#/?channel=RES_BUY

That should do it?

That's really good to remember, thank you! I think there's no substitute for visiting the school and gauging the feeling for yourself, as I agree there can be an echo chamber with parents and schools, both good and bad.

I guess I wasn't totally clear though, when I said invested in their education I didn't just mean academically. I meant invested in the school as well, taking pride in the school etc. I live in an area where this isn't the case. The schools aren't valued. The community feel, and the feeling of a supportive environment, just isn't there. I'm not a particularly pushy parent academically but I am invested in making sure they're in a happy environment. I definitely don't want to be with a crowd of demanding and pushy parents though 😬 As you say, pastoral care comes first.

Thanks! We'll put Cambridge on the list of places to investigate too!

Sorry that was meant for @Tingalingle When will Mumsnet invent an edit button?!

Here is the same Curriculum for every school. They pick up they preferences in Y9.

That’s not really true though, is it? Not all school are equal and not all schools have to follow the NC.

For example, academies don’t have to follow the NC. Some schools don’t offer additional or further maths. A minority don’t offer GCSE triple science. Some offer more/different languages, in other schools pupils can only take 1 language. Some offer additional languages after school, others don’t. As RS has to be studied in some form even in schools who don’t have to follow the NC some make GCSE RS (short or long course) compulsory, others don’t and deliver RS in other ways. Some have a more limited range of options for GCSE/GCSE equivalent qualifications than other schools. Some pick their options in Y8, some make ‘mini’ options in Y8, others don’t pick any until Y9.

And that’s before you consider anything else other than the curriculum.

Solihull has 2 schools on that list but you will struggle getting a big enough house for £400k.

I'd look at South Ribble, specifically between the Penwortham girls and Hutton boys schools. Hutton is a Grammar by name but not nature (it's a very very old school) but both have a long history of being good.

Additionally you have All Hallows (outstanding catholic school) in the area too

Hi OP have you considered the East Midlands? There are a couple of very highly rated schools in and near Derby (Littleover CS and Ecclesbourne); doubt you’d be able to find four beds in Duffield (Ecc village) but probably if you looked in the bit of north Derby city that is in catchment; for LCS you should be fine but make sure you check the catchments (other schools in area not so great).Or there are great schools in West Bridgford in Nottingham, tho I’ll be honest and say I don’t know if the £400k houses in WB are in catchment for WB School – worth checking tho. What else is important to you? City vs rural? Commute to London? Closeness to family? Handy for the coast? There are great schools all over the country, honestly.

@Relaxinghammock

But with the exception of minority, how do you know if your child will want to take triple science? I have now a pretty STEM-orientated 10-year-old. But I have no idea if he will be into that in year 9 when the times of choice come. Maybe he will develop a liking for music more, or languages. God only knows.
Here where I live in my borough all academies have the same core GCSE subjects+ 3 optional

I am concerned about making solid choices at this age. 11 years old child is supposed to make a decision if he will learn Spanish or French at school. We do not have family in Spain or France. I cannot make this choice for him based on the fact that I like French cheese or I like holidays in Spain:)

But right probably it is good to attend a school with a broad range of choices. But what I observed is that most of the parents make choices based on a percentage of 5+ in Maths and English rather than broad GCSE choices.

I never commented on that. I posted about you stating “Here is the same Curriculum for every school. They pick up they preferences in Y9.” Which is not correct.

You don’t know if your DC will want to take triple science, but attending a school that doesn’t offer triple science means even if they do want to it won’t be possible via school. Your DC might prefer music, but if the school doesn’t offer GCSE music, as some don’t, DC won’t be able sit that via school. Another example of the curriculum not being the same everywhere. Same for languages.

Subscribe to the Good Schools Guide for a month and that will give you loads of info on the best secondary schools in any area of the UK, covering everything from academic results to pastoral care.

@Relaxinghammock

Hence I responded that probably it is the best to pick the school with the broadest choices. But again between the time they move and the time the school selection time is happening that is at the end of y5 a lot can change with respect to that. I have observed that in a local school with the change of the head.

Personally, the pastoral care and bullying policy matters to me more than anything else. In any school my child will be able to succed in what he wants.

London Borough of Sutton

Again, none of which I commented on. I was merely pointing out the curriculum does differ between school and to say otherwise is incorrect.

@Relaxinghammock

I acknowledge the fact that you don't tolerate anything mentioned which you have not addressed.
But if you have noticed for a second time agreed with you that it is probably good if the school has as broad offer as possible EOT for me.

It is not that I ‘don’t tolerate’ it , it is that your reply isn’t what I commented on, so I don’t know why it is aimed at me.

That looks like a very half-arsed list. It says it shows schools with the "best GCSE and A level results" but there is no more detail. I expect they used Attainment rather than Progress scores, but they don't make it clear. High attainment is usually dependent on intake - it is usually higher at schools that are difficult to get into, with expensive catchment areas or strict religious criteria. Nor do they make it clear how they combine the GCSE and A level attainment to get an overall ranking. Some schools don't do A Levels, so they presumably won't appear in the list at all. Newer schools won't appear in the list either, because they won't yet be established long enough to attract the competive crowd. The three secondary schools in my area with by far the highest progress scores are all less than 10 years old and none of them are on the list (yet).

I’d also consider how you feel about grammar schools and that will limit your options.
Areas without grammar schools are not competing for good teachers with grammar schools. I’m quite happy we don’t have them as it means both my dc can go to the same school (which is excellent).

Oh lordy, no it won't. It'll only tell you about the schools that have paid to be in the Good Schools Guide. 🙄

A school can be amazing for one child but terrible for another. So much depends on the child. Also two identical children going through the same school at the same time can have very different experiences depending on the teachers they get, if they have to put up with a number of supply teachers for some subjects, if their preferred choice of subject is full so they don’t get allocated it or both in the same ‘column’, how their social network works out, etc. And a school can change considerable over surprisingly few years. So be very careful how much you put on one person’s experience of their children going through a school.