Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 73 total)
  • Moving house to get your children into a better school – anyone on here done it?
  • dawson
    Full Member

    My eldest will start her last year of primary school when they go back in September. The secondary school that she would go to by default has a ‘good’ report from Ofsted.

    We are looking at moving so that she would be able to go to a school that is classed as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

    Anybody on here done similar?

    br
    Free Member

    No, but we just sent my son to a private school instead.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Rent your house out and rent somewhere in the area you want to move to. Probably a damn sight cheaper than incurring moving costs (or go private.)

    Anyways it seems that school grades vary year by year. If the school she moves to is no longer outstanding next year, would you move again?

    dawson
    Full Member

    Anyways it seems that school grades vary year by year. If the school she moves to is no longer outstanding next year, would you move again?

    I put that to SWMBO earlier, and she didn’t really have an answer to that!

    Unfortunately, private schooling is beyond our means.

    fr0sty125
    Free Member

    If you are going to go to such lengths can I suggest you don’t just go by grades but also look at the culture within the school, the socioeconomic diversity and how they prepare students for adult life.

    convert
    Full Member

    If I’m absolutely honest ‘outstanding’ might well mean ‘very good at paperwork and gathering evidence’. I went into a school last month to observe some teaching in a school that had got an outstanding the week before. By christ it was one of the most depressing set of dull teachers, teaching some of the dullest classes I’ve ever seen and the head was a bellend of the highest order, but the paperwork was simply marvellous.

    Do it if you think it worth it but base your decision on more than just an ofsted report – talk to parents and teachers from both schools and find out especially about departments that might have a particular influence on her given her interests and aptitudes to date.

    postierich
    Free Member

    Would not worry about the Ofsted report as the school getting the Good report this year will be under pressure to improve this year!. Its down to the Parents on how well the child turns out not what school they go to IMHO so concentrate on being good parents and not following the Jonesy 😉

    scottyjohn
    Free Member

    We are in this situation with our wee one, although with us it’s a good primary school. Trying to work out how to get into the catchment area, as its an expensive area

    beanieripper
    Free Member

    hmmm..have you thought about the whole picture…..i.e not just the school, but the way YOU are bringing up your kids…? the way you have posed the question wreaks of detachment…

    br
    Free Member

    Unfortunately, private schooling is beyond our means.

    Sorry, but how much will you spend moving house? And are you sure it’s too expensive (at Primary level), have you actually looked?

    convert
    Full Member

    hmmm..have you thought about the whole picture…..i.e not just the school, but the way YOU are bringing up your kids…? the way you have posed the question wreaks of detachment…

    You are either amazing at reading between lines or you have a screw loose. I’m putting my money on the latter.

    beanieripper
    Free Member

    convert…why are my screws loose? you seem upset..

    beanieripper
    Free Member

    btw, have friends with 6 year old kids in 8k a term school who are thick as sh1t and cant spell…!!!!

    totalshell
    Full Member

    we moved to be close to a decent school, turned out the head teacher was the best fiddler of figures on the planet.. she got promoted and the new head had to stand up and tell everyone the truth of wwhat it reakky was..

    hopefully leaving public funded education behind this summer where the race is to be average at everything..

    convert
    Full Member

    convert…why are my screws loose? you seem upset..

    Why? Because only a person a little daft would make such such idiotic statements about someone’s ability to raise children based on, well, sod all. Or you could just be very rude I guess.

    beanieripper
    Free Member

    maybe only someone a little daft would ask complete strangers fundamental questions about the upbringing of their own children…take a chill pill..hope im not rude..are you?

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    If you want to get in then Rent nearer, quicker, easier and rent your place out. Then if you’re wrong and the schools isn’t as good you can move back. In the end you could probably move back after a year and keep sending them there anyway.

    Down side is you will upset the next portion of STW who will claim you are a money grabbing property hoarding BTL landlord.

    convert
    Full Member

    maybe only someone a little daft would ask complete strangers fundamental questions about the upbringing of their own children.

    I don’t see a person asking others about upbringing of children (although millions do every day on mumsnet et al). He’s asking a question about others’ experiences of the mechanics of moving house to get a child into a different school. Totally different imo.

    And yes, you were unnecessarily rude.

    beanieripper
    Free Member

    mikewsmith…lol

    xiphon
    Free Member

    Just ‘cos a school might cost £20k per year, doesn’t make it any ‘better’ than the local comp down the road.

    Instead of moving house, how about the kids go to the local school – and you pay for as much ‘extra’ tuition is needed for them?

    beanieripper
    Free Member

    convert..sorry if I came across as rude…get your kids all the help they can get (I think daddy needs them too)…

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    Over time, some schools get a better reputation. That means that parents keen to enhance their childrens education move to be near those schools. Parents that are interested in their childrens education tend to motivate, support and stimulate them, leading to the kids getting better than average results. The school they attend gets a good reputation (rinse and repeat).

    Garry_Lager
    Full Member

    dawson – Member

    My eldest will start her last year of primary school when they go back in September. The secondary school that she would go to by default has a ‘good’ report from Ofsted.

    We are looking at moving so that she would be able to go to a school that is classed as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

    Anybody on here done similar? I think you’d need a more pressing reason to move than good ofsted v outstanding ofsted – I guess you think so to as your real operators would have moved years back.
    It seems likely that there will be a cohort of good kids at the ‘good’ school – it’s not going to be wall to wall scallies. Vice verca, is the ‘outstanding’ school really a level or two above? As always, the decision you make has to depend on your kids and how they respond to school / teaching.

    beanieripper
    Free Member

    hang on a mo….just got it now….ive got a really big nagging question on my mind about the future of my kids…I think im gonna ask some nerds I don’t know who ride racer type bikes off road about it…nice plan n all that but, my god, get a grip ffs, wrong forum nnnnnnnnnn all that..should ask some roadies

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Or people with money, who can afford to move to an area and send their kids to a (perceived) better school and expect an improvement over how their kids were doing, forgetting that money can’t buy you everything and you need to put some work in yourself 🙂

    In the end of the day (and I wish teachers would point this out to some parents) you can’t polish a turd.

    Trekster
    Full Member

    Mmmmmm!
    Some good advice above…
    My daughter is an “early” years teacher and works in a school situated in an “undesirable” area. She has only been teaching for 3yrs and had her first Ofsted inspection recently and received an “outstanding” report as did her dept and school overall. They are now oversubscribed with applications. As far as she is concerned there is nothing different to the way she and the other staff work now than they did before the inspection. The school was a “good” school before but missed being “outstanding” by a few points.
    She herself moved from one end of town to the other so that her son, my grandson, could go to the school with an “outstanding” repor(she was still a student at this time) That school has now been downgraded to “good”. !!!!! She is not surprised at this now that she is in the ” profession” and realises how the system works and how her sons school managed to “massage” their scores

    From my own experience of secondary schools when she moved up it all depends on what friendships your kids make and other stuff that influence kids at that time.

    When my kids moved from primary to secondary they had the choice of 3 schools and we allowed them to make their own choice after visiting all the schools

    beanieripper
    Free Member

    trekster..you are bang on the money..

    Trekster
    Full Member

    Cheers beanie.

    I had some serious discussion with daughter and wife re this subject during the period but they just saw me as an auld grump, cynical person.

    I have also had serious discussions with MrsT and others re the value of “everyone” should go to uni!

    Daughter did go to uni because she wanted to get into product design. She has an MA in textile design but there were no jobs locally and she could not move away easily. She then did her PGCE and got into primary teaching, securing the only job available at that time!

    Son went down the apprenticeship route becoming an electrical draughtsman for a world supplier of industrial boilers. He left that job to work for a civil engineering company who paid for him to get his degree. He is leaving that job to go back to his old job after being head hunted and due to internal issues with his current employment feels now is the right time to move. If a job in the civil eng comes up in the future he may go back to that.

    I got quite a good insight into the way schools work when I was on the kids school PA and then board(council), but that was a few yrs ago 🙄

    wool
    Full Member

    Good is the new outstanding is it not ? ( at the risk of being flamed)

    seadog101
    Full Member

    Unfortunately, private schooling is beyond our means.

    Sorry, but how much will you spend moving house? And are you sure it’s too expensive (at Primary level), have you actually looked?

    IME – Even a middle rate private school will set you back about £40,000 up to GCSE, and the around £20,000 for the Six form years. Imagine that invested in your own home/pension, or possibly a bit of tutoring if your kids need it.

    TiRed
    Full Member

    We moved three years ago, not so much for a better school but because a work relocation was offered. The upside was that Son1 was finishing at a private prep school and moved into an outstanding state school in an area with middle schools (so at 13 not 11). This had the effect of saving us a significant sum in fees (which go on the mortgage!). That school has been downgraded to below good recently after a couple of tough years administratively. Son2 starts there this September and we have no concerns. All his friends will go there, the teaching is superb and the ethos is magnificent – what education should be about. Suffice to say that we expect Son1’s GCSEs to match those of the peers he left behind when when we moved into the state sector.

    A bright pupil with parental support will do well almost anywhere. Ofsted reports only tell part of the story.

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    Good is the new outstanding is it not ? ( at the risk of being flamed

    Yes the bar has been raised.
    If one school was done more recently it could effect the result.
    An outstanding school in a rough area will still be rough with worse results than a good school in a nicer area. If it were my kid I’d want him going to a school with the best results which is not necessarily the best ofsted.

    stumpyjon
    Full Member

    Don’t let the Ofsted grading sucker you. My wife came home ranting after receiving some governers training recently on how the gradings are calculated. I didn’t follow all of it but got the impression the criteria had been very heavily politically manipulated. A lot of the grading is based on how much kids improve (which is good) so if you’re in a poor catchment with reasonable teachers you’ve got lots of opportunity to up your scores. If however your pupils are already doing well and you keep them on the right path you’re not going to score as highly even if your pupils are achieving levels well above other schools. Our primary is rated Good, we think it is very good with both our children doing well, the head has been seconded in the past to sort failing schools as was the previous deputy. Because of the grading system it’s almost impossible for them to get an Outstanding with the review points being at 7 and 11, a lot of improvement in attainment has already happened which doesn’t get measured.

    It depends what your after, most people want to know how good a school is overall, I.e. how good results are, this is not necessarily what the headline Ofsted grade gives you. You need to look at the local school holistically before making big changes. Plus if you’re buying a new house consider the moving costs vs private school fees, not just stamp duty and solicitors fees but redecoeation costs etc., chances you’ll increase your mortage etc. Can add up to a lit of money.

    mattsccm
    Free Member

    Might I ask why you are linking Ofsted with good schools. Largely irrelevant in my 19 years as a supply teacher.

    wallop
    Full Member

    I don’t envy parents these days. Ofsted has turned what should be precious early years into an anxious mess for so many people. Some friends of ours have started going to church just so they can get their 4 year old into a particular school.

    Ofsted didn’t even exist when we went to school, and we turned out ok 8)

    aa
    Free Member

    Good morning,
    school admissions is my occupation, so, i’ll chip in with my thoughts.
    As mentioned above, an ‘outstanding’ might not account for much in the real world, at least two of the secondary schools i work with have gone into a dfe category from outstanding.
    From a practical point of view, check that the admissions policy ‘guarentees’ a place for in catchment kids. Not all of them do.
    Also, consider the best environment for YOUR child, I’ve been in several ‘outstanding’ school that wouldn’t get my custom over a school thats merely good.
    I’m not even going to get into academies……

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    Certainly, at primary level, an ‘outstanding’ from an inspection pre 2012 is worth about the same as a ‘good’ now, because the calculation formulae got tweaked. So it might be worth checking when the relevant inspections took place, and whether that might be a factor.

    Above all though, visit the school, observe the behaviour of its pupils around town, and make your own judgement about the best environment for your kids.

    hs125
    Free Member

    If you do decide to move (I don’t think I would), bear in mind that there is a cut off point when you would need to be in the new address for it to count for admissions purposes. On that date you would have to prove your residence by having child benefit, council tax and other documentary evidence showing that address.
    This date will probably be sooner than you would think, and could be as early as October this year for entry in September 2014.
    This is in place to try and stop people getting round the rules by having their children suddenly move temporarily to a friends or relatives house near to a school, or even rent a house for a month in a catchment area.
    If you moved too late, and your child did not get a place at the start of year 7, the only advantage would be that they would be able to jump up a few places on the waiting list for a place, but it could still take years to get in assuming it is an oversubscribed school.
    I would find out this date from the school before anything else.

    Trekster
    Full Member

    Certainly, at primary level, an ‘outstanding’ from an inspection pre 2012 is worth about the same as a ‘good’ now, because the calculation formulae got tweaked. So it might be worth checking when the relevant inspections took place, and whether that might be a factor.

    Above all though, visit the school, observe the behaviour of its pupils around town, and make your own judgement about the best environment for your kids.

    Agree with most of this but;
    When daughter was on her training placements she was placed in schools from the roughest to the best(her sons)
    She had chosen this school not having visited it or worked in it but on the report and recommendations of others. It is however probably the best for him but she decided if a job came available she might find it difficult to work there, not enough of a challenge!!
    Her current job includes working with all the agencies kids and parents need to get through their difficulties. She says she spends more time educating parents than kids!! Something the previously “outstanding” school was not good at. She found this out by accident when enquiring from her sons teacher on how they were going to deal with a certain issue. They chose not to record these issues therefore didn’t show up on any records or inspections!!
    Her school is now turning away kids including siblings as a consequence of being awarded their “outstanding” report.

    freeagent
    Free Member

    Yep, we did it just over 3 years ago.
    We needed to move as the Schools around where we used to live (Northfleet – just outside Gravesend) we shocking, and there was no way we were sending our kids there.
    We had long discussions about going the private route but decided spending the money on a nicer house, in a nicer place would benefit us as a whole family.

    We decided to move to where we are now (Farnborough Village, Bromley) partly for the schools, and partly because we wanted to live there.

    My wife is a teacher, and is well aware that OFSTED isn’t everything, however the fact that our school has just been awarded ‘outstanding’ under the new criteria is a bonus in my eyes.
    We were more interested in sending the kids to a small school (ours is one form entry) and in a nice area, than getting hung-up on OFSTED results.

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