Good Private/state schools in MK

[Archana2906]

Hi, we are planning to move to MK, can someone please guide which place is good to move in MK considering good secondary private/independent schools, new built homes, good locality for kids and family, ease of daily living and connectivity to London. Would be great if someone share their experience. We hardly know anything about this place.

@takemeonnnn

I've heard Akeley wood is good for private, my child goes to shenley brook end which isn't private and they are doing really well

@Polly271220 Hmmm. No. It’s not great at all. Stowe is far better but costs more.

@Archana2906 Bucks has grammars. The people in North Bucks who want private are often looking for DC who haven’t got into the grammars. The other issue is money. Many don’t have enough for a private school at secondary. Or they live in an area with a good secondary and choose not to spend the money. In some areas of MK you would not find many privately educated DC! In some areas with access to Stowe or Bedford, you would. You only need to have a drive around to see that areas of MK are not all the same. It is not all new: it has old towns and villages within it and they were there long before it became MK around 55 years ago.

Thornton and Akeley are not Stowe or Bedford. They cater for different people. In your case: join Swanbourne House which is a feeder for Stowe or look at the Bedford Schools. The senior schools start in y9 so not sure when you are moving or if they have vacancies. It would be unusual for the Bucks grammars to have places or indeed the best secondary schools in MK.

Thanks for this detailed information. I heard many ppl MK is best place to live and all that, so wanted to explore the good area to think of living with best availability of schools. Not sure even moving to MK is a good decision for kids. As in some forum I even read ppl mentioning they moved out of MK for better secondary and higher education. Currently I live in west London so wanted to understand will it be a good decision to move. My daughter is in year 3 and son will start with year 8 in sep. will moving to MK be a good decision for them or not, if yes which area should I explore.

What is your budget @Archana2906 ? And whereabouts do you and your partner work? Could maybe give some other suggestions of locations that may work for you.
I wouldn't have thought its ideal for children to commute from MK to Bedford as it's quite a way and I guess they have quite a lot of pick ups and drop offs too. You may also want to look within Bedfordshire as it has a 3 tier system with children starting upper school in year 9. If you're looking at state then Ampthill/Flitwick has a good school and Harlington Upper is also good, there are 2 good schools in Leighton Buzzard also. Ampthill/Flitwick and LB have access to main line stations as do the villages near Harlington Upper as there is a station at Harlington. Ampthill could be a good shout for the private's in Bedford as well, or any of the villages around Bedford, some are lovely. Parts of Bedford are nice too, the riverside area could be worth investigating.

Are you children fluent in English? What nationality are you?
Generally London schools have better outcomes for EAL pupils.

@Archana2906 I’m more of a village person so not so keen on quite a lot of MK. It depends what area of west London! MK will feel soulless after Chiswick or Richmond or Ravenscourt Park! So I would go and have a look. You might need to ask the schools about entry but you could live at somewhere like Buckingham and work in MK. Villages around Buckingham are lovely. You could then look at Winchester House prep in Brackley which feeds Stowe. You could live within a relatively easy commute to MK. This is a quiet area though!

I lived in mk for nearly 40 years (recently moved). Shenley Brookend school and Denbigh were our top schools. Not sure if this is still the case. Avoid Stantonbury school (did it change its name?) there are some other schools on the newer estates. Avoid anything near netherfield or fishermead. Brougjton also has a lot of trouble (I lived there).

Agree with the poster who said Ampthill/ Flitwick area - Redbourne school has a good reputation.

Milton Keynes is not remotely like West London. There isn't huge numbers of people using private education (whether this is because there is only one small private school so they prefer to live in different places, or there is only one private school because no one uses private eduction, I have no idea).

The city is (purposefully) set out with mixed areas of housing and amenities, so you also don't get "good areas" and "bad areas" so much. All the state secondary schools are also large and take a diverse socio-economic mix of children. There is no one "best" school or schools to avoid (other that arguably MKA).

I don't know who is telling you that MK is the best place to live, but perhaps they could tell you why? IMO the advantages are a good transport links (road and rail), good city centre and range of facilities in quite a compact area (although MK is sent to massively expand over next 20 or so years) so that everything is pretty close and that, although it is a city, the estates set up gives more of a sense of community. Nobody (as far as I'm aware) is moving to MK because of its great schools. Don't get me wrong, the majority of state schools are good - but because they are genuine comprehensives, you won't be seeing ones with stellar results and they will all have a very mixed student base.

Those wanting selective private schools predominantly go to Bedford, but it's an hour on the bus, which is not what I'd want for my child if I was picking an area for a change for the better, so if you are set on private and have no other strong reasons for wanting MK, I would move somewhere else :)

Thank you so much @shepherdsangeldelight

@shepherdsangeldelight There are some areas in MK that were problematic fairly quickly. I was around when it was built down the decades. Certain estates I can think of were never great. The schools are a mixed bag and so are the housing areas. Sir Herbert Leon is Inadequate. So I would avoid that catchment area and this school has had issues for 10 years! Before that too!

@Archana2906 Do you actually need to be in MK? Living in areas with access to MK and private schools is a better idea.

Yes, I'd covered some of this off in my earlier posts and didn't want to repeat myself, so was generalising.

My son goes to Webber Independent School in Milton Keynes. He is academic and he is being stretched so I don't think you have to go to the Bedford private schools if your child is academic.
It is a small private school so when he joined he made friends easily and it was very welcoming.
It doesn't have the big sports facilities that the Bedford private schools have but my son does so much sport outside of school that this isn't a problem. In fact, not having to do sport on a Saturday for the school means he can play higher level football outside school on a Saturday.

In terms of where to live in MK, if you want to be nearer the train station, you could live in Loughton, Shenley Brook End, Walton Park or Middleton
If you don't mind being further away, you could live in small towns nearby such as Aspley Guise, Olney and Stony Stratford or villages like Sherington and North Crawley.

Walton Park is nowhere near the central rail station. It's near Bow Brickhill station which is on the Marston Vale line so if the op wants one train an hour to Bedford it might be helpful, otherwise not so much.

I was assuming they had a car and that driving 15 mins to the train station would not be a big deal. Many people I know commute to London from Olney and Sherington, which are further away. They drive to the station, park their car, then get the train.

Reading area is good. Loads of independent schools
Pangbourne
The Oratory
Shiplake
Cranford
Abingdon
Radley
Reading Blue Coat and more.

lovely villages too.

Oxford
Magdalen College School if super bright
St Edwards
D’Oeverbrokes etc