Grammar Schools within 1hr15 drive of Milton Keynes

[Rococo01]

Hi !

We’d like to relocate to get ourselves into catchment for Grammar Schools. We do need to be within 1h15m drive of Milton Keynes. We have both a daughter and a son.

The house move is purely for education reasons so we want to be as sure as we can be that we’re doing the right thing. I will be going to open days come September even though we’re a few years off applying. In an ideal situation we’d like to have a good non-grammar, state secondary school back-up option.

We’re primarily looking at the Aylesbury schools but also toying with High Wycombe / Buckingham. Are there any other places we should have on our list ?

Where would you move to and why?

Any opinions on the schools in the areas mentioned ?

I guess our major worry is we end up moving somewhere for schools and then they’re not what we thought they’d be or one child doesn’t get in and there’s no back up.

Keen to hear opinions and thoughts.

Thanks,
R

Buckingham is a pretty nice small town, and much nicer than Aylesbury.

Cottesloe School is an Upper school in Bucks (Upper is the term used in Bucks for schools that are non selective ‘secondary moderns’

(It’s not in Bedfordshire as another poster has stated)

Waddesdon.

In catchment (I think) for both Aylesbury and Buckingham grammars but also has an outstanding comprehensive that people move to get into. So you'd have all bases covered.

I know people who have chosen Waddesdon secondary in favour of the grammars, even when the child would most likely have passed the 11+

Of the grammars:
Aylesbury High (girls) and Aylesbury Grammar (boys) both fabulous schools but high pressure and (obv) single sex.
Royal Latin (mixed) is the Buckingham grammar. Very good school. Not sure if it's as highly regarded as those two Aylesbury ones.
Henry Floyd (mixed) is the third Aylesbury grammar school. Traditionally seen as easier to get into but not sure how true that is.

Definitely wouldn't say Milton Keynes is a bad place to live and go to school though. Obviously there are very challenging areas but there are also lovely ones. Oakgrove, Walton High and St Pauls (Catholic) are the most popular secondaries, I think.

Winslow is another option as it is convenient for Royal Latin Grammar but also has Sir Thomas Fremantle as a good secondary school if the children don't pass the 11+.

The Thomas Fremantle in Winslow has no 6th form anymore, and a lot of the decent teachers are leaving because of this. I wouldn’t recommend it.

@miniaturepixieonacid whilst I take on what you say about parents choosing to send their children to Waddesdon, even if their DC had passed the 11+, I must state that Waddesdon is not a comprehensive, it is a secondary.

As for SHFGS being easier, that is certainly not the case now. The score of 121 in the 11+ is the magic number, and it's automatic entry to any of the grammars ( depending on distance, etc). In fact my DD has lots of girls in her class (AHS), from MK and even Dunstable, so the old days of pupils from further afield going to SHFGS have passed.

Incidentally, SHFGS seems to be more heavily subscribed now.

I was also going to say the same as the poster above, that Sit Thomas Fremantle no longer has a sixth form.

OP if you do look at schools in Aylesbury, I agree that Waddesdon is generally the best (but you'd have to live very near, or be a regular and committed church goer. There is also a new Catholic school in Aylesbury, St Michael's, but it has quite mixed reviews. AVA is apparently good, but if your child fails the 11+ , the best schools are outside of the town.

Not grammar obvs, but if you live in the Woburn area you are in the doorstep of MK and go to the Leighton Buzzard schools - which are good.

Ok-All the Aylesbury grammars are good. Good state secondaries -Waddesdon (CofE so need to be in catchment or church goer as heavily oversubscribed), Lord williams in Thame (easy bus from Aylesbury). I don’t know about schools between Aylesbury and MK though

As far as I’m aware Aylesbury isn’t in catchment for Lord Williams in Thame

You are right it isn’t. Historically, as it is a large school, out of catchment got in but huge expansion of housing in Thame and nearby haddenham have put paid to that. If a child has SEN they’d get in.

Amersham or Waddesdon. Both have excellent secondary moderns in the event the 11+ doesn’t go to plan.