Greater Manchester

[3pickles]

Hi,

Really looking for some guidance on secondary schools in and around Manchester (in areas of the tram or frequent trains to the city centre).

We are relocating and my main priority is getting schools right for my children, secondary and primary aged.

I am looking for recommendations for non-selective secondary schools that have excellent pastoral systems that are caring yet have robust systems for dealing with behaviour and bullying. I find ofsted reports and schools websites are quite limited in getting a true reflection on a school and would love some personal recommendations!

Thank you ☺️

My middle one is Year 2 not 3! 😂 (had two birthdays this week so feeling a little frazzled).

That’s a relief as my girls are much younger (Year 2 and reception), so I suppose the main difficulty would be trying to place my son in Year 7.

do you know anything about the non-selective schools in Trafford?

Do you know if this because the trains are not always reliable? my husband needs public transport to get into the city, so I wonder, if on that basis we would need to stick to the tram lines.

Thats good to know!

Single Sex state - not sure if they do link up. Others might know. I don’t hear horror stories about any of the Dids & Chorlton schools tbh. Some have way more extracurricular and trips than others. The bigger ones tend to offer more options at gsce inc vocational and btecs as well as traditional gsce. Easy to look up on web sites.

I agree
I work in Relocation and you need to sort a house out first and then hope there is decent school with a space close to you.
Moving near a "good" school will not in itself get you a space. Most of my clients first priority is " a house near a good school" and I have to explain it doesn't work like that

But surely if @3pickles phoned round and eg Didsbury say they have a massive wait list and little movement, Barlow say full but no wait list and PW and Chorlton say they have spaces and more come up then that gives an insight?!? Schools know their admissions pattern. The data on allocations day changes a lot as loads apply to state and then go private. It’s only an indication. The last admitted distances haven’t changed much for years

Ps in Manchester if you get one child in the others get automatic sibling priority

Audenshaw Boys or West Hill School (boys).
You will get more bang for your buck housewise around Stalybridge/Audenshaw. There are buses/trams and both schools (single sex) will have more chance of getting in than SManc/Trafford. .
However, unless additional needs/diagnosis is a root cause, you need to sort your teen out with regard to boundary-pushing. None of us need to put up with that when there are waiting lists for places. Good luck .

https://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/705/school_admissions/6590/the_demand_for_primary_school_places

You could buy the house next to Didsbury High and your child might not get in. The distance on catchment for yr7 applications are irrelevant. They are the distances for year7 applications.

What matters is if that school is full or not. The local council only has an obligation to offer your child a space in the local borough. Not at the nearest school.

If the school you want is full it's tough.

You can only appeal if there is a compelling reason or if there is special circumstances. Otherwise you have to take the school place offered even if it's at a shit school some distance away.

You could then put your child on the waiting list for a place at the closer school and hope a place comes up.

This means if you move once your child is in high school you have very limited options. Personally I simply wouldn't move to Trafford or Manchester if I had a high school kid for these reasons.

I know years 7 to 9 are particularly oversubscribed as it is. The only places are at the less good schools.

You have also missed the boat for applications for next year's year 7. Theres talk of bulge classes for this year group already in the area.

Basically you are screwed.

Personally I would look outside Manchester and Trafford where there isn't so much of an extreme between the best and worst schools. That means forget the tram

Yes I think I would certainly want to know there are spaces in schools before finding a house, opposed to vice versa. Would consider renting if needed to just to transition from where we currently live.

Yes you can get a picture but if a school says, yes we have a place then by the time you move there they may not be. I suppose you could see if the LEA would allow you to take a place if you live in another area.
Also, houses near the best schools can be very hard to secure, especially a Rental

I haven’t been to these areas, but really appreciate you mentioning them. Do you know what the girls schools are like in these areas? My youngest two are girls so obviously would need to consider options for them in the area too.

It rarely works that way around but you might get lucky

Fantastic! Thank you

I’d be gob smacked if there wasn’t any movement at end yr7 and yr8 places come up. I guess it depends on when you plan to move @3picklesI do think it’s worth calling round schools. I know plenty kids that have left schools due to house moves, moved schools for other reasons and joined post yr7 in both my DC year groups

Could you expand on this? What rarely works? Finding out if there is space or renting a house whilst I find one to purchase?

I would have a look at East Cheshire as well as Manchester too. The houses aren't cheap and the transport isn't good but the schools are on average better and there's a better case to get a space too. Also there are places with trains. Also see Warrington.

I think ideally I would like to move this year, with the hope that the kids can be in their schools by the start of the next academic year. Where we currently are my son would start choosing his GCSE options in year 8(so next academic year) to start in year 9 and know this is the case in a lot of schools. So I would prefer him to have some time to find his feet before needing to do this.

Thank you, we need transport for my husband
, needs to go into the city for work, so it really rules out that if trains/buses are not reliable.

You would almost definitely get a space in CHS South during year 7. There's a fair bit of movement in and out.

There's also Loreto high in Chorlton which no one has mentioned. It's smaller than Chorlton High and less popular but the results are ok, especially for maths.

Didsbury High I highly doubt you'll get a place (they also have very high bar for sixth form entry which I find irritating, it's higher than almost anywhere around).

For your youngest you need to look at the entry criteria. Are they likely to pass the 11+? (Aka Are you tutoring them yet?) You also need to be aware of deadlines for applications too. If you have a yr5 child, the deadline for entering the 11+ for entry not this September but the September after, isn't that far off. (It's something like April or May).

This will also impact where it is worth considering looking. Some schools have a priority for feeder primary schools rather than distance too.

Thank you.

in all honesty I am not so concerned with results, I am much more of the camp that I want them to be happy in themselves, know who they are and be supported pastorally.

Where is Loreto?

On Nell Lane in Chorlton.
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