Manchester Grammar School or King Edward's School Birmingham

[Lalagu]

My kid has received offers from both schools for Year 7 in the upcoming year. I am wondering which school he should choose. Do you have any insightful ideas? Thanks!

One other thing to think about- there are direct regular flights from Manchester to HK on Cathay Pacific. Fairly sure they don’t fly to Birmingham. An important factor for going home occasionally/ or family visiting. South Manchester is very well linked to the airport too.

On the MGS website there is a list of the bus routes - I’d suggest looking at that and choosing a house near a stop so it’s easy for your son to get too and from school.

Your budget isn’t huge for the nicest areas of Manchester, but you should be able to get something in a non ‘trendy’ but safe and nice area. Maybe look at Cheadle, urmston, Prestwich but double check the bus routes

very good suggestion!

nice!

You’ll also find a number of the KES boys live further out along the train line towards Bromsgrove/Droitwich/Redditch, but you’d need to consider how much you want your son to commute, especially if he’s new to the country.

Where I live in Solihull fits your budget and we have had lots of Hong Kong families move into the surrounding area. We even have a Hong Kong cafe round the corner now! The community held a Mid Autumn festival day at one of the local churches and it was extremely well received - a very busy day with lots of our new neighbours attending and lots of families who have been around longer too.
KES is an extremely well regarded school - your son has done well to get a place!

Don’t live in Northfield unless you mean ‘old Northfield’ such as the Bunbury Rd (I say this as someone who grew up in the newer part). Better places are Bournville, Kings Norton or Edgbaston. There are some nice houses on Bristol Road South by the university (which is by KES) although it gets very busy with traffic leading into Selly Oak (don’t live there either). I don’t know much about KES, but did work for the King Edward VI foundation at another grammar in the MAT. All have great reputations.

true. cheadle and burnage may be my choice for Man

would you mind sharing any public transport available to reach KES from Bournville King Heath? thanks

There are some nice houses on Bristol Road South by the university (which is by KES)
I'm going to be pedantic (for the sake of OP, who isn't local).
KES is on the A38, which is a long road. For 5 miles (approximately) going south out of the city centre it is called the Bristol Road. The bit by KES / Uni is Bristol Road.
After that (beyond where Middle Park Road / Bournville Lane crosses it), it is called Bristol Road South.

Haven't read the whole thread so someone might have said this but there's a large Hong Kong community in Manchester with many new immigrants based in Sale (Trafford) so may be worth looking at there to live. Integration in Manchester is historically excellent and certainly people we know who have recently moved are settling quite well.

i guess you are talking about the bristol rd s near the marks and spencer and the largest morrisons?

Do you and/or your husband drive OP? I know from living in HK myself that it’s not necessary there so a smaller percentage of adults learn than in the UK.

Obv you could learn whilst here, but you may need to think carefully about choosing a home from which is easy to access public transport. Not just to school but for your adult daily life too. Taxis are MUCH more expensive here!

absolutely solihull is a great place however it is quite far away from KES

both of us can drive and my husband drives in HK as well. Yes you are right, my elderly mum will come with us and she need to access public transport and my kid also need to take bus to school when he lives here for a while

If you mean the M&S at Longbridge and the Morrisons at Great Park, then yes.
Too far out and you can find nicer for your money.

oh i spotted the map again
you should mean the place around the royal orthopaedic hospital, right?

Hi OP, I’m wondering why you didn’t consider Solihull School and Solihull? Huge HK community in Solihull now.

On Birmingham deffo Moseley or Kings Heath, even Harborne. But I’m not sure on your budget. It’s quite low for housing in those areas.

actually my kid also got offer from Solihull School but compared to the school rankings and post secondary destinations, both KES and MGS offer better prospect.

my budget is just 300-400k and so my target is semi detached with three rooms

The ROH is on Bristol Rd S. But the road changes name further north than that, about at the Bournville Gardens Retirement Village (B31 2FR).

You could look at the Harborne area. It is very popular and therefore expensive but reasonable houses do sometimes come up. Try Moor Pool to the north of Harborne. Harborne's main drawback is the lack of parking.
I don't think that there is a bus route to school but he could cycle, it's only a couple of miles.

There used to be a direct bus from Solihull Station via Moseley to KES , the 885, I used to get it to Kehs on the same campus. I can check with my sister if it still exists as she lives in Moseley and her girl has just started there this year. Saying that, it was often late.....

checked 1S, from solihull to kes via moseley
many thanks!

Great! It does widen where you can move to given it's an easy commute for him.

My best friend used to train it from four oaks, near Sutton Coldfield, and another from Sutton Coldfield itself, the train went to the University station which is only a short walk, so also possible.