[Closed] Moving house to get your children into a better school - anyone on here done it?

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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 😉

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

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...

[i]Unfortunately, private schooling is beyond our means. [/i]

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

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.

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

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

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...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.

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?

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.

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.

mikewsmith...lol

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?

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

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).

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?

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

[quote=scotroutes ]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).

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.

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

trekster..you are bang on the money..

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 🙄

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

[i]Unfortunately, private schooling is beyond our means.[/i]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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)

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......

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.

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.

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.

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.

My partner met someone at one of the kids activity things (swimming or something) who moved (from one nearby town to another) to get her children into our local "good" school from her local "requires improvement" school.

I wouldn't move on the grounds that you outline but I would in the case of a school which showed "weaknesses in a significant number of subjects including English, mathematics, science, modern languages and design technology." as she did.

My eldest daughter is in year 6 too and I actually prefer the local "good" school to the "outstanding" school which she ended up choosing.

My tuppence would be....
50% of education is schooling.
50% is learning about life and relationships.

If you want to move go ahead but don't expect a miracle fix just because Ofsted have given the school a big tick this year.
A good area would probably go hand in hand with better schools but ive known privately educated sons of the gentry who struggled to tie their own shoelaces ... 😉

This is happening where I live, my lad (7) goes to the primary school just down the road, which is next door to a secondary school (and from what I've heard is a good school anyway). But a lot of the parents have started to move nearer to another scool a few miles away to get in the "better" school. Not only does this mean rather than walking their child to primary school they need to drive there for the next few years, and paying higher house prices, the "better" school has just been down graded to needs improvement, oh how I laughed! 😆

Just remember that a school can be 'good' one year but 'not so good' two years later. Head teachers regularly change schools and teachers come and go - the good ones escpecially.
Eight years ago we thought about putting our girls into the closest school to us (but we're not in catchment) as it had a great reputation, had small classes, etc. in the end we decided upon another a couple of miles away as my wife went there and all the grandparents live in the village also.
The closest school is now suffering from a headmaster who seems to have slightly lost the plot and many parents are looking to move their kids.

Make sure you chose a school that suits your kid, ended up moving my eldest from top local school to a school considered a rung down from that as he hated the top school so much he would never have stayed on through 6th form there.

I would (and did) move to a better area for my kids, not just schooling though and not just for the kids. Why wouldn't you?

You don't need to use the school excuse to move to a nicer area.

We are in the process of moving now
Not just for schools but that is a primary driver
Daughter is 3 and whilst the primary near us is fine the secondary is not, and we really want her going through schools with same group of friends hence moving now
in terms of Ofstead it has gone from being in special measures to good however there are other factors we are considering, it's a typical inner city school in quite a deprived area, and a large percentage of the kids dont speak English at all, whilst it is a driver in our moving its not the only factor, new house has a garage, which was my main requirement and is on the edge of the city, more open spaces, a nicer local community, its a quiet cul de sac rather than a main road, easier transport links outside the city and closer to my work (by a mile) so all in all a nicer place to bring up my family
It's a shame we have to leave our old house as it has 13 years of memories and a lot of time and money spent on it to renovate it exactly as we wanted it (including a huge extension) it has proper double sized bedrooms and a huge garden, something I will miss but we bought it at a time when our main priority was being able to stagger back from town on a Saturday night, our priorities have since changed so time to go

AA, i know you said you would not get into it but what about academies?, ours has just changed to one in the last year and i've not seen a difference.

Having seen the OFSTED process first hand I can honestly say don't bother reading too much into it. Much of it is a paper exercise and bears little reflection on what you actually get.
Some schools are obviously in desperate trouble or needing serious improvement, but they are unlikely to be at a good rating so i'm pretty sure that won't be the case here. If a school is 'that bad' i'm sure you'll know all about it.
We weren't in a financial position to even contemplate this option, so went with the 'help improve the local school' choice instead.
Wife is a governor of our local Primary now as well as working in the Education Dept at the council and being heavily involved in the parents association.
She gets to write the councils press releases and much of the information the school puts out which is hopefully addressing some of the image problems a school on an estate has had over the years.
We have a local issue where parents have opted to try and get kids into an outstanding school in a posher bordering area. This was always claimed to be to get them into a 'better' school, but since the last round of OFSTEDS our school is now Good with Outstanding features and improving while the posher school has dropped to good.
The continuation of parents to go towards the other school is showing what was fairly obvious before. It wasn't the quality of teaching or provision they were chasing, but the company of 'nicer' children with richer 'nicer' parents.
No real problem with this if this was their aim, but don't hide behind the school report to do it.
I'm the first to say some of the parents at our school are less than interested in their kids education and some of the sights and sounds you see at the school gates could be drastically improved, but the actual teaching and learning our little one gets has been excellent and she really enjoys her days there.
Yes a few of her friends parents wouldn't be people we'd normally be mates with, but it's not really about us is it?
Also heard some pretty interesting tales from friends in nicer areas of some of the pressure put on teachers from pushy parents along the lines of Q. "Why hasn't my child learnt to read yet?" A. 'Do you read them many books?' Q. "No, that's YOUR job!" A. 'Well let me do it then!'.
Would I think these things if we DID have the money to move? Not sure, it was never an option...unlike the grammar school choice we may have to make in a couple of years time.

May have been said already. But if the school is over subscribed you may not be able to get a place in it anyway, even if you do live in the catchment area.

Would be a little ironic if your child got a place in the school where you are looking to move away from.

LOL.

You can taste the miggle class angst on this thread, keep it up chaps...

If the 'Good' school is in a nicer area I'd stay where you are. Schools change.

If it were me and you were happy with everything else, I'd stay with where you are. Also your child's friends from primary school may be going to that same school so if they've got good friends the continuity in those relationships will be good too.

50% is learning about life and relationships.

Yep, couple of the desired schools over-subscribed from in catchment here too.

Apparently some of the parents who have moved to the area then don't get in don't take the news very well. Ooops. Better take your kids to the nice parks to meet your desired friends instead.

Feel sorry for the families who have lived in these areas for years and are then 'gazumped' by moneyed new comers taking up the places they'd thought they had all these years.

Also don't rule out the baby boom years. Our next door neighbours got into the posh out of catchment school on a quiet year whereas our other neighbours weren't even close to getting in 2 years later when you look at the figures.

By all means try and go for the best option, but don't make it your only option.

Also if you are trying to move your kids from a set of friends, have you asked their parents if they are doing the same? 😕

They might be moving with you!

What you want to check is what secondary school the feeder primary school goes into.

We had a couple of school beside us that were both good. One went to a nicer comp than the other.

We moved to a new house prior to having baby Breathe because of the better schools (amongst other reasons) but got a shock as the acceptance criteria meant despite being really close to the school we were struggling as there was a massive influx of siblings in our school year that got first priority.

AA, i know you said you would not get into it but what about academies?, ours has just changed to one in the last year and i've not seen a difference.

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).

I'm sure there is a certain element of that in our local school (which has been getting outstanding ratings for quite a while, including in the latest one completed last year - the inspectors were in whilst I was doing IT support, but thankfully the system was working and they didn't want to speak to me!) It's also the case that parents out of the catchment area who are interested in their kids education apply - normally there is space for out of catchment kids, though next year's intake they've had to increase the class size by one to fit in all of the out of catchment kids who already have siblings at the school (in catchment get first priority even if they don't have a sibling attending). Not only that, but such parents - like me - also tend to get involved with doing stuff to help the school, which is a triple whammy - the school gets better facilities, the kids see that school is considered important, and apparently it's a plus point for Ofsted. Teaching staff also well motivated because it's a good environment for them to teach in. What's more, if there's a vacancy on the teaching staff the school gets to take its pick from the good candidates. Definitely a virtuous circle - though to some extent started off here by the sort of people who tend to be interested in their kids education moving here before the school was as good as it is now (I don't think it'e ever been bad, but not so good as it is now when we moved here I think).

I'm also aware of at least on kid here now who moved from a private school - apparently their educational age when they arrived here was several years behind their actual age.

we moved house three years ago, when we had our first son, from a mainly student area of newcastle,to the coast. the main reasons for doing this were:
the beach
the schools
the students
the prices.

The schools in whitley bay played quite a big part in our decision, but it wasn't the only reason, and I doubt we'd move just for schools. If you've got bright, motivated kids I would honestly say the difference between a 'good' and 'outstanding' school is negligible.

We moved closer to my job 6 years ago and part of the move was changing catchments. We also needed a bigger house and I was halving my commute.

But we didn't do it on OFSTED grades. The school my son would have gone to I had worked at. I believe would have been unsuitable for him.

The school he has attended has been good for him. But had we not moved we would probably got him into a different out of catchment school.

We really looked into admissions criteria for both kids and only just squeaked in. If our sale had fallen through my sons would not have started with his cohort. That was with a very soft entry requirement. We just had to be living in catchment. As soon as we had the address we had the place. I believe that our need to move to a deadline cost us money. I don't regret that but moving to a deadline is more expensive.

In the move my daughter ended up at the less good primary in the town. Its a great primary but as its further from the middle school so school drop off is more of a pain. I think it was a brilliant school. It was only after she left that it got the Ofsted outstanding it deserved. handy drop off school is down to good.

As a minimum ask to be shown round the school you are hoping to move to during the school day. Ask parents and students at that school what its like. Try and work out how the sets work in each school.

In theory you could move to take your kids out of the brilliantly taught top set of your slightly dodgy local comp to the rowdy middle set of what you thought was a better school.

Loads of comments by Trekster and other about the posher school in the town having worse systems

Thanks for all your posts.

The situation has changed in our house somewhat...

missus is adamant that the children, will not be going to the 'good' school where we live, despite not attending an open day (at either school)

The other school is in completely different area and would double my commute.

She is determined to move no matter what.

I am not convinced.

Good Luck!

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100133025/why-parents-should-not-rely-on-ofsted-to-keep-their-children-safe-at-school/

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/ofsted-knew-of-baby-p-tragedy-when-it-gave-council-glowing-report-6840563.html

Basing major life decisions on Ofsted reports and nothing else is utter, utter madness.

Parents have a far bigger influence on a child's education than the child's school. There's been some really interesting research that linked reading ability with how much children were read to at two years old, and not the performance of the school.

missus is adamant that the children, will not be going to the 'good' school where we live

Perhaps some people should have a tad more faith in their child's ability and the value of parental input.

I can't see why a capable child with supportive parents would fail in a 'good' school.

It seems some people expect schools to preform miracles.

I know a few teachers. They are all absolutely committed to their jobs. It really does seem to be a vocation. However, none of them has a good word to say about the Ofsted process, and how it is carried out. Echoing many of the points people have already made on this thread.

It seems absolutely bonkers to me that you would base such an important decision on some largely meaningless (and easily manipulated) figures, yet not take the trouble to attend the school open day in person, and have a look for yourself.

Thanks AA, i dont think that be the case at our school as its in a rural area so would find it difficult to manipulate catchments (i reckon). the reason for going to an academy ( so we were told) was because it was a relatively affluent area and the school was unlikely to secure any additional funding / grants do to very few "premium" pupils. I'm not so sure myself but on that basis the schools funding has remained the same, i dont know what the future brings but i honestly hope your prediction is wrong!. Oh and its an OFSTED "outstanding" school 😉 ( i had no idea when we moved there) but i'm fairly involved with the school and the teachers and i am generally impressed with the quality of education there. My advice would be go to the school on a normal day and have look round, you "gut" feeling will tell you way more than any table will, watch the kids in the playground and the type of games they play.... it will tell you a lot!

watch the kids in the playground and the type of games they play.... it will tell you a lot!

The police officer sounded sceptical when I suggested that.

Yeah i though that as i wrote it....! but seriously go on a normal day, they should have no issue with this and you can really see what is happening!

chuckle..genuine lol.

i do get to visit schools on a regular basis and one does get a 'feel' for a school,how the kids move about the school, their general happiness etc.

All of this does not outweigh the wishes of Mrs aa however. 🙄

I went to a school rated outstanding by Ofsted, great GCSE and A-Level results (it was selective, but not private) and whilst I got 4 A grades at A level and all the rest, I was also bullied for the majority of the time I was there, except in the last year of sixth form when all the boys who used to bully me suddenly started asking me out, and wondered why I threatened to punch them in the face.

Ofsted isn't everything. Just sayin'....

Moved for better schools three years ago, cost a bit (but less than private education for 2 kids) and have never regretted it.
I agree that ofsted is not always the best judge, but most people know which are the 'better' schools in their area.
We did what felt right for our kids - if you can afford it, that's what you do as a parent isn't it?

We live on the 'wrong' side of town, and our two kids go to the 'wrong' primary school. Next year, our eldest starts at the 'wrong' secondary school.

Doing this has meant my wife could stop working when they were very small and to only work part-time now that they're a bit older. For us, this is a much bigger priority than getting them into the 'right'school by spending a fortune on a house near to the 'right' school.

Making this decision was made easier by the fact my wife had done supply teaching in the on of the 'best' primary schools and in our local (good) school, so had seen first-hand what they're both like.