Moving back to UK need advice on where to live for schools

[modernista]

I admire your bravery JS, I am sure other posters think you are reckless but I know that another person can not always understand the specific combination of push and pull factors that make someone leave the familiarity of a place and move somewhere where there is no family...
I think people are frustrated that you are giving away so little information, budget (rent/ buy etc) and it makes it very difficult to narrow down the advice.
Essex/ Kent sound like places with lots of options for you but if you have looked at house prices, you will see that they can be double of those of very nice places in the north. However, we dont know if money is not an object, what your minimum requirements are etc. The reality is that a move to the South East is out of the question for many people in the UK.

I think you also need to find a suitable expat forum if you havent done so already

[johntressine]

Well thanks again for all those who have replied. I did say I was looking for ideas and general opinions of where might be suitable for my requirements that i was happy to share. Info received from several of you in regard to specific towns and schools has been very helpful, and I thank you so much, I will investigate further to see if any are suitable.
However I am little upset that some of you seemed to take the hump with my request for information, I thought this site was about giving help and advice in regard to what you know about schools, education and the 11+ the good the bad and the ugly, at no time did I say I was going to base my final decision on purely this advice.

[Guest55]

I think the frustration has come about because you have told us very little in order for us to give you good suggestions. You can find school performance data on DfE site and then look at school websites which (legally) have to contain basic data.

Good rentals don't exist everywhere and areas around popular school may prove difficult to find something suitable. House prices tend to reflect the quality of local schools. The 11+ is not 'one' exam it varies across the country. As others have said Bucks is completely selective with top 30% going to a GS so more schools to choose from; lovely area but a long way from the sea. Essex has few GS and it is very competitive for places.

Wherever you end up you need a good non-selective back-up in case the GS entry test does not go well.

Has you child been taught to the English NC? Do you know how her levels match those in this country?

[Angie76]

Hi

I realise you have specified a preference for the southern region however please consider a Lincolnshire Grammar School. The Lincolnshire area is huge and not all rural. I live in a town in North Lincolnshire with fab motorway links etc and my son attends a school in Lincolnshire called Caistor Grammar School which is the best in Lincolnshire and I believe ranks at around 32nd in the country. No mandarin however they do still teach Latin which many schools don't offer now. They also teach French and German. Lincolnshire is a very reasonably priced area to buy/rent properties with a diverse population and I would say a very safe place to raise children. The school criteria for entry is that children within an inner catchment of 6.5 miles just have to pass at the 75% Mark however the remaining places are then offered on the basis of highest mark around 95% which how my DS gained his place as we live 19 miles away.
There is a bus from my town so I only have to take him 1 mile to catch his bus which is great.
If you have any further questions feel free to ask and good luck with your search for a school.

Angie76

[modernista]

JT, I am sorry you have felt this way. I think this forum is tilted towards people who have been very involved with the 11+ process, are commited to it, believe in it and have lost a bit of their lives to it. However the UK education system is very varied and wideranging and suits a wide variety of needs as posters have pointed out before.

However if you still feel that you are going to base your move solely on the grammar school, this forum will give you a wealth of information once you have narrowed down your options.

[modernista]

Also rents for some places in the South East make private school fees look reasonable!

[erisindevon]

Plymouth (and the southwest in general) may be worth considering. It's really beautiful down here, and I know many other local families who gave up the hubub of London to move here with school-age kids - easy access to sea and moors, good schools in general, good-sized city with reasonable amenities. We get quite a bit of rain (just call it the South Wets), but it tends to be really heavy when it comes, which means that although our annual rainfall is high, we also gets lots of sunny days. It's not as warm as London (all that concrete really raises the temperature) but the air is clean and the sky bright. I have been here 10 years and love it - but we sometimes feel a very long way away from the rest of the world!

Plymouth has two girls' grammars (120 intake each) and one boys' (174 intake), all three of which are excellent schools. I have a daughter at DHSG, where she is thriving (and doing Mandarin, which is offered to GCSE, although as others have said, the teaching is aimed at non-native speakers). There's quite a bit of competition for places, but it's nowhere near as fierce as some of the superselectives elsewhere. And there is a good selection of comps too - many of my friends' children chose the comp option, and are very happy with the schools.

Good luck deciding where to land!

[Tinkers]

As someone who lives in the south east, I'd avoid the south east completely.

As previous posters have mentioned, Yorkshire or Lincolnshire would be my choice, for a variety of reasons.

However if you want an area in the south east with good schools, with possible access to a GS, then Wokingham might be an option. However it's definitely not coastal.

[Tolstoy]

Also rents for some places in the South East make private school fees look reasonable!

.. a very valid point to note. We relocated back to UK this summer and were limited by having to commute to London. Whilst some frown on people targeting Grammar schools, hence some of the posts you have noted, it can sometimes be a safer bet than trying to rent near an excellent Comprehensive. I am going to leave aside the fact that you prefer the south east as I am not living here by choice. I will suggest the Forest of Dean with the caveat that you live near the Comprehensive school Dean Magna. It has been judged outstanding by OFSTED for many years. The catchment is mixed so this is down to good management not parental input and extra funding. Rents in the area are very reasonable compared to the South East and it is a rather beautiful part of the country, excellent walks and the market town of Monmouth nearby with a girls private school should you decide to go down that route. It is also near Gloucester where there are two excellent girls grammars.

Good luck

[2Girlsmum]

If you work through lists like these:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/le ... mance.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/le ... hools.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

you can also see the non-selective state schools listed by area, though in the top 100 or so they are nearly all selective. There are 3268 secondary schools in England, so any school on that list is a good school. If you then reference them on Google maps, the county school details of catchment area (as distance can be in 100's of metres for VG non-selectives), and Zoopla (for cost of rent/purchase) it might help. I'd say that London might be out your budget as it would for many.....King's College have produced a series of maps which could help find affordable areas, and interestingly there are pockets near Latymer in Enfield, Sutton, and west of Barnet, all with good grammar schools

http://londonist.com/2014/11/mapped-the ... #gallery-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I live in North London, and we barely afforded our house 20 years ago, but it's current value is £500,000+, something we'd never have managed now!

Good luck with the move, and let us know where you decide:)