Anyone got cold feet when it actually comes to moving house into a preferred catchment?

[gaussgirl]

DS1 is in Y5. We rent thus have some mobility. We have looked at 3 possible secondaries, our catchment one, MB (but not where DS1 school friends will go, by and large- perhaps 4 or 5 out of 50?); Th. which is strictly catchment only but we're only 1.4 miles out of catchment; or K which is 7 miles away, close to my work and where DS1 might get a place (DCs from this village do get in).

We really would like Th. But we know we have to be IN catchment by mid Oct 09. DH and I are both paying lipservice to this but I guess 'the issue' is DS1 would possibly get into K, our number 2 choice whilst living here, BUT, being a rental (and though large and well laid out, DAMP and with exactly 60 days security of tenure!). I ALMOST wish we would be given the heave ho which would force our hand.

I don't really know what to do! DH is not the most decisive of people and tbh, it has caused a few problems in the past (like FINALLY agreeing that yes, we NEED to sell a property we hold overseas- in a crashing market- when I was trying to gently nudge him towards that sale a year ago!). I can visualise myself 2 years hence, when the first report of appalling, class-disrupting behaviour filters home from Y7 at MB, kicking myself for my lack of commitment in not being proactive NOW and MOVING!

But I guess the thing is MB really isn't THAT bad! They have a new head who appears to be wanting to kick you know what, but they also have had a big increase in behavioural problems due to the special measures etc that other local-ish secondaries are in. Will 11 months be long enough for things to settle down? Whereas Th. to a greater extent and K to a lesser, have staunchly 'middle class valued' intakes where knife pulling is still unheard of. (K. feels very much like a no nonsense grammar whereas Th. is well-to-do liberal!)

Anyone got a crystal ball I could borrow?

I think you should go for Th and move if it is possible. From what you have said it is the one you prefer and moving now in Y5 is better than Y6 i.e moving schools twice in a year?

What are the things that are keeping you renting where you are (if it's not too nosey to ask)?

Convenience and inertia! Literally! tbh, when the house came up we were quite desperate. Our existing renter's owner decided to sell so we were out on our ear. This place came up eventually (the others were all 2 bedroom or TINY) so, though it was in a village I was a bit dismissive of, being 'poor cousin' to where we'd been, we grabbed it- and it's worked pretty well. The downside is the boys continue to go to school in their old town (2.5 miles away) - we didn't dare move them in case THIS place lasted 11 months, too; thus we're not 'embedded' in this community apart from Cubs and Beavers, and the boys can't play with their mates after school without pre-arrangement.

We like this place because, seeing as this village isn't THAT desirable, we get, for our money, a large 3b/r + study and enormous lounge'd bungalow, 2 garages on a hefty piece of land backing onto fields and horses. A similar cash rental IN th. catchment would yield an estate terraced town-house with a handkerchief back garden- IF we could be REALLY BAD we would consider a temporary relocation except, of course, all the other DCs would live in catchment, but we wouldn't thus playdates all round. Again. I WOULD like the DSs to be able to get themselves to school when the time was right. They couldn't realistically from here (narrow unlit country lanes with steep hedges).

I, too think we should go for th.- safe in the knowledge that with our relocation history (we emigrated here 5 years ago!) our minds tell us we can make 'home' anywhere but our hearts are saying 'but we're so settled here after 4 years'!

It's tricky, but aren't the dc going to have to negotiate the narrow country lanes even if you stay put? If ds gets into MB or K? And is Th near their old school? Also, where would you like to live? That is, really, quite important. You are probably going to have to spend some years where you move because of those country lanes and teenage sociability.
Bizarrely, I was interviewed, years ago, by some guy doing research into people who move into school catchments. What became clear in the course of the interview was that it's a kind of algorithm; with different decision-elements that you have to assess your weighting thereof.
It sounds from your post as though you'd quite like to move full stop but it's a question of space holding you back.
Would you prefer to live (permanently) near to K or Th? Then maybe it's a question of moving close by and hunting for something close-ish and cheaper.
That's not quite the same as doing the awful moving-temporarily-into-the-catchment-thing.
I'll just add that I wasn't Mr. Social Studies' target interviewee, my kids weren't at school at that point, but no-one else would talk to him.

Nipped out- so long (over-long?) post in 2 bits.
We had to move - needed more space, couldn't afford old area - and moved into an area that was cheaper and had a good secondary school.
All our old friends are now in secondary transfer hell. At first I thought they were just saying stuff to cheer us up about having had to move, now I know that was just weird self-centredness on my part.
I now love the area we moved to. And it has a good secondary.
Not the same situation but maybe it helps ... .

Thanks Dougal.

Thing is, DS1 could take himself to MB -it's the opposite direction to the dark country lanes, INTO the village then a 1 mile, lit bike path'ed road (our village is catchmented to MB) total journey of maybe 2 miles.

I would imagine I'd have to drive him to K (it IS very near my work, albeit both 7 miles away) BUT K's catchment is wide, big and largely rural and the 'bit' we'd be interested in expensive! There are, however, sevaral smaller, pleasant villages in that catchment.

To call a spade a spade, we're talking Winchester, here. Houses for sale don't bother advertising their catchment as all 3 are very good and once you're in close, you more or less can choose (this MAY change with the credit crunch and all those privately prepped DCs going state for secondary, mind!). K HAS got a large (and the only!) council estate in catchment, BUT that possibly why the school is very big on discipline, hence "like a grammar". Excuse me if I don't get into a 'council house bad/middle class good' debate here! It's been done to death. This estate is really quite rough BUT the school has a critical mass of well behaved DCs to counterbalance behavioural problems AND 'sets' like crazy- but I need to hope my DCs are in high enough sets to 'buy' their way out of the misbehaviour! DCs get detention for walking the wrong way around the one-way system even during lesson time!

Th. is solidly middle class. It is a liberal, quite free thinking establishment with a sloppy sweatshirt based uniform. It also produces the best GCSE results in the area by a long chalk. The reason is, as the Head readily concedes, the raw material is well above average. They don't NEED to police behaviour, it's done at home. IF we lived 1.4 miles closer, DS could cycle, certainly by the age of 12-13. It's a very small, suburban catchment. It's NOT that near their existing school (it's in the opposite direction from our home village, actually!).

Seriously, I feel we do HAVE to move into Th catchment. K is fine (and as I've said, there's a good change DS1 would get in from here- though no local friends) but it is Full On and whilst that might suit DS1, we need to consider DS2 and HIS needs as well!

It sounds like you really, really like Th. Is that moving towards the town? Maybe it would be nice to have a smaller, urban house for a bit? Like you say, you can always move again if it doesn't suit. Maybe you wouldn't have to move so far that Ds's friends being v. far away is an issue.
I don't want to go on too much b'cos you need more opinions than mine.
(Deep breath) - I think you should go and see what's on offer at the moment. Plus side - credit crunch means you'll get choice and maybe a bargain.
Oh, and you'll probably have to do it all yourself - I did (grumble).
Good luck!