Secondary School Kendal

[Seashanty99]

Hi,
We are considering moving to Kendal, Cumbria. The town seems have amazing schools, which are oversubscribed in Year 7. Our daughter will be doing GCSEs. Does anyone know how difficult it will be for her to get into a Kendal School in Year 10. We are keen for her to not have to commute to another town for school.
Any advice or experience greatly appreciated!

When are you thinking of moving? Has she just finished year 9 so going into year 10 in Sept (unlikely I guess as that would be a rapid move) or is she going into year 9 in her current school this Sept?

I am guessing you have considered this, but you should bear in mind that a move at the start of year 10 might mean that your DD has no choice of option subjects at the new school but has to slot in where there is space. That might be fine ofc but if she has a passion for a specific subject I would check that.

What is driving the move to Kendal? It's an isolated area and not where I would want to be a teenager. But ofc it may be for jobs or to be close to family. No direct experience of Kendal schools but I do know that the area is remote and not especially well resourced.

Isolated? By what definition? It's just over an hour to Manchester, 2 hours to Glasgow and 3 hours to London. Lancaster, where people on Mumsnet are forever recommending that youngsters go to university, is 15 mins away.

It's not some village in Cornwall

I knew a couple of people who lived in Barrow and they said that was pretty isolated – tho I agree it's further than Kendal is from any big cities. Same general area tho with the focus on rural National Park.

Google says one hour 24 mins to Manchester. And four and a half hours to London, tho maybe you mean by train. And while I rate Lancaster uni, I would never suggest that it was in the middle of a bustling conurbation.

Anyway. I grew up in a rural area about 30 mins drive from the nearest city and two and a half hours’ drive from London and I would have described it as very isolated. I hated being a teenager there. I also lived as an adult in a seaside town that people talk longingly of moving to, which is an hour from a big city and that was very isolated. I was delighted to move to a place where the nearest big cinema wasn't a 45-min rive away.

Tbf tho we don’t know where the OP is coming from so it may be irrelevant.

Obviously I meant by train. Barrow is out on a limb, but Kendal is on the West Coast mainline (trains)

I wouldn't describe Kendal as rural itself. The areas surrounding it yes, but Kendal is on a train route to major cities. It's a great town.

All the schools are good I think. Kirkbie Kendal has always been a nice school.