Cotswold secondary schools

[Cocoben]

We currently live in Cambridgeshire but are hoping to move to the Cotswolds in the next 3-5 years. I appreciate a lot can change school wise in that time but it would be great to hear some first hand experience.

We've holidayed a lot in the area from Bath/Cheltenham to Burford and lots of places inbetween. Our family is in Herts/Cambs and sowe don't want to be too far West. I have started looking and The Cotswold Academy seems like a great school from an outsiders perspective, but I'm not sure if we could realistically afford to live in the catchment area.

Any info on which areas fall within catchment and tend to be cheaper but still a nice place to live? Appreciate I might be describing something that doesn't exist, but that's why I'm asking.

Any other state schools in the sort of area that are good secondaries? Looking for good results academically but also a lot of value of pastoral care and then being "nice" nurturing schools.

Any and all info would be hugely appreciated!

Tetbury? It's got Sir William Romney’s School, which has great pastoral care and produces good results. It's also a cheaper area than where The Cotswolds Academy is located

The Cotswold School catchment is big and not all the villages it serves are equal in terms of house prices. The bottom end of the catchment, down towards Cirencester, probably offers slightly better value for money but it's still pretty and with free school transport.

However, for cheaper housing it'll be more about specific parts of the towns and villages than the villages themselves - some have modern developments that are more affordable.

What sort of house are you after?

@xmasdealhunter thank you, that's not actually one of the areas I'm familiar with. I think it's too far from where we are currently. We're hoping for just over two hours to family and that's 3.5 hours.

@competentadult we've been to Cirencester once and we did like it. Our preference would be a property with character, however the priority would be getting into an area in the catchment that is safe and a pleasant place to live and if it was a nice new build estate that wasn't too big then we definitely wouldn't rule it out.

You could look at Northleach. Picturesque, pretty (and pricey) in the centre but some modern housing round the edges that might be worth a look, and a good few shops, services and facilities.

I visited the Cotswold School last year and the head said children would be included from Chipping Norton.
It was a great school IMHO
However the transport cost is very high and if you live rurally the child will not be able to take part in clubs unless you are available to collect.