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!

OK, I've just looked on Rightmove and it seems that there is a choice of 3 bed houses at 400k or less in the High Storrs catchment area, but most will need some TLC, a lot are terraced (nothing wrong with that but the parking situation is terrible) and you'd definitely need snow tyres/4WD on some of those hills in winter!

King Edward has just received Good from Ofsted today. It was reinspected.

My DD went to King Ted for 6th form and I was rather unimpressed with it. At the time, it was performing better academically than the league tables now show -- but I felt she would have done far better for her A levels elsewhere. That was a good few years ago though.

I shudder at the thought of Newfield Green but it has improved a lot over recent years. However, if I've got this right, I think the head who dragged it out of the mire has now moved on (to Mercia, I think!!) so will it maintain its current grading?

@mauvish I think there were joint heads. One moved to a new school and one stayed at Newfield.

The top 3 schools in Sheffield never change. They may vary between good and outstanding, but the results are steady year after year. They may swap around the top 3 places but they never go below number 3

So it will be interesting to see if Mercia does upset that apple cart!

Yeah, it’s meant to be proper strict there. Dd calls it the Victorian school!

Does your DD study or work there?

Yes, it is v strict. But there's a lot of kindness there too, and positive reinforcement and feedback all the time. I think that such a structured approach does suit some children, either because they find it safer or because they'd go off the rails without it.

No, but she goes to another school. But she talks about it in hushed whispers of awe. They all know about it.

I wouldn’t have sent any of mine to Mercia. I’m sure it’s good and some kids thrive on it, but l don’t like that sort of school.

Is this genuine? I've heard it's best in Wigan, but then what does that mean? It's our closest high school but neither my husband or I grew up in the area.

I guess grammar school areas. Although, if your kids don't pass the test then the non grammar schools in the area don't tend to be very good.

Balcarras which has been mentioned is in a grammar area. You won't pay less than £450k for a 3 bed though.

Given that over 60% of Glos grammars current intake are from out of county IIRC (FOI request by the BBC), it doesn't really impact the local schools in same way as Kent/Bucks.

Balcarras' sister school (Leckhampton High School), just got Outstanding in its first inspection - no kids there have sat their GCSEs yet so it probably won't feature in the lists. Although you might find it tricky to find a house the size you want in that catchment for under 450k now...

We moved to Wilmslow as high paying catchment and excellent school. But please bear in mind the environment and motivation for non selective and private is never the same. As they struggle with behaviour issues in most high schools.