Moving for grammar school

[Brackenboo]

Just curious as to how many people move either before the exam or afterwards for grammar schools? There seem to be lots of posts about asking for schools without catchments, or by when they would need to move into catchment by etc.

Can't imagine uprooting the whole family for a school, especially if far away. We ended up in Gloucestershire for work reasons, having previously lived in Suffolk/Essex and Hampshire. I couldn't imagine moving to Gloucestershire purely for schools.

[mad?]

There have been a lot of theses posts recently, as is often the case at this time of year. We don't tend to hear from those who have moved in these circumstances, either because reality strikes them and they don't, or because once their questions have been responded to here, they decide that staying around to help others is not part of their plan. Bear in mind that this forum does not necessarily reflect real life, it is a self selecting population of people who by their very presence here are probably more (over?) 'invested' in the 11+ than would be the norm. In real life, I have only met one person who moved specifically for a school, which incidentally was not a grammar, but they did that in Y4. I did however know several people who moved from West London to Bucks when they had their second child, needed to move to a bigger house anyway and found the local house price/school combination here was not to their liking. Not all of their DC passed the 11+ of course...

[Deb70]

Yes, it surprises me how people with families and school aged children are able to just uproot seemingly at the drop of a hat. It all seems so temporary! It must be very unsettling for the children.

[hermanmunster]

We moved from the Midlands to North Yorkshire - sort of fancied the idea, bit of a new start and conveniently there was a GS for the kids. We started planning it when DS was in year 5.

[Sparklecat]

Given the demographics of many (most?) out of county parents for Kent and Medway, some will have moved thousands of miles to secure a British primary school education for their child. Moving another twenty miles to secure a grammar school place is probably not such a big deal. I feel sorry for the kids who have an hour plus train journey followed by a long walk. But that is a price they might feel worth paying for improved life chances.

We moved house after our daughter passed the 11+ to be within walking distance of her new school, although we were within the catchment area already. But there were numerous reasons for that move, from not wanting to be reliant on a very poor village bus, to me and my wife wanting to be near work, and it was a move delayed by several years to avoid disrupting a good primary education in a small village school.

[kenyancowgirl]

Ah, but HM and Sparklecat, both your moves are within the bounds of reasonableness and you even mentioned that your started "planning" back in y5 HM.

I think what Deb70 is referring to are the kind of comments about "what grammar school has no catchment?" - so, although there is an element of planning, it doesn't actually matter where the school is located in teh country, the whole family will move lock, stock and barrel.

At least that example indicates an element of planning - even worse are the ones who live somewhere down south and have "gained a seat at....." some grammar school two or three hours (or more) away, and are now looking at where to live, primary schools etc - I always wonder what kind of jobs people have that allows them to stop everything at the drop of a hat, relocate to somewhere miles away from (assumably) family, friends, work, social life etc and pick up where they left off...?

[ToadMum]

Ah, but HM and Sparklecat, both your moves are within the bounds of reasonableness and you even mentioned that your started "planning" back in y5 HM.

I think what Deb70 is referring to are the kind of comments about "what grammar school has no catchment?" - so, although there is an element of planning, it doesn't actually matter where the school is located in teh country, the whole family will move lock, stock and barrel.

At least that example indicates an element of planning - even worse are the ones who live somewhere down south and have "gained a seat at....." some grammar school two or three hours (or more) away, and are now looking at where to live, primary schools etc - I always wonder what kind of jobs people have that allows them to stop everything at the drop of a hat, relocate to somewhere miles away from (assumably) family, friends, work, social life etc and pick up where they left off...?

I suppose that with modern technology, in some jobs, 'working from home' can as well be done from 200 miles from base as from 5? I used to work in central London with someone who lived in France. They were actually in the office quite often, though (so much so, that I was quite surprised when I found out where they lived), so I don't think they commuted on a daily basis. But if sending an email, rather than wandering off to their office to find them, one would have no idea whether the reply was coming from 30 feet away, or the other side of the English Channel.

[kenyancowgirl]

Which would account for some of the seemingly bonkers moves....but all of them?

[Brackenboo]

I work from home and have been lucky to keep the same job moving from Hants to Gloucestershire, via Somerset. But my husband has always been based in an office. My son is still in Y4, so a move would also mean disrupting him. We are about 2-3 miles from the grammar school we are likely to choose and I would consider moving to a more convenient location, but it would have to be for the right house and after we know where my son will end up.

It is definitely the which schools have no catchment and also the posts of which school should I use in your area posts when they have passed the exam, but not visited any of the schools that surprised me as I would think family/friendship links would have as much benefit to the children as a school with slightly better exam results.

[Sparklecat]

One of the recent immigrant parents at our group tuition centre was a taxi driver. So he could work anywhere. But you do see kids on the train from inner London to Medway, who have another long walk head of them. I just answered someone on the Medway forum, contemplating a two hour journey each way for their child. This year hasn't been so bad on the Kent forum; there was someone another year asking about travel from Hounslow. The thing that annoys me is posters demanding detailed information and not replying or thanking those who help them.