Finding a good school near your new home

16 May 2019 Finding a good school near your new home

If you’re a parent, then making sure you live near a good school for your children is probably a top priority.

But working out which school to send your child do can seem daunting, especially if you are new to the area. Next week (w/c May 20) is Walk to School Week and with initiatives trying to encourage more people to ditch the car when it comes to the school run both to help the environment and tackle childhood obesity, it is more important than ever to live near your preferred school.

Here are our top tips for combining your search for a school with househunting:

  1. Research areas before you view

Do your homework about schools before you start viewing houses. The last thing you want is to fall in love with a property and then find you don’t like any of the schools in the area. Make a shortlist of schools you like the look of and look for houses which are for sale in their catchment areas. Primary and secondary schools will be able to tell you what their catchment areas are and some property listings sites will also include information on nearby schools. You can find and compare schools in England on the gov.uk website.

 

  1. Read the reports

You can read the Ofsted reports on any school by visiting Ofsted’s website. The reports will tell you what inspectors thought about the school’s leadership, the behaviour and safety of pupils, the quality of teaching, the achievement of students and any early years provision. Schools are given a rating – outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate. Reports will usually also include comments from parents with children at the school.

 

  1. Visit the school in person

Written reports can only tell you so much so make sure you visit the school in person to form your own view. Some schools will hold open days or you can contact them directly and ask if you can come in and look around. Talking to staff, looking in classrooms and meeting pupils will tell you a lot more about a school than you can glean from an Ofsted report. Take it as an opportunity to ask lots of questions about issues which matter to you.

 

  1. Ask for recommendations

If you can, try to speak to parents who already have children at school so you can find out what their experience has been like. Ask for people’s opinions in local forums online or chat to people in the area when you are visiting. Remember everyone’s personal opinions will vary but it will help you build up a picture of what different schools are like.

 

  1. Check how popular they are

It’s a good idea to find out which schools are generally oversubscribed  - figures are usually available from your local education authority. If you want to send your child to an oversubscribed school – one which has more pupils applying to go there than it has places – it is even more crucial that you move to a house which is well within the catchment area. If your child is already at school and will need to join an older class, either in September or part way through the academic year, find out which schools have places before you set your heart on one.

 

  1. Think about how you will get there

When looking at new houses and schools, think about how you will get your child from home to the classroom each day. Is it within walking distance or will you have to drive? Can you get between the two places easily by public transport? Walking to school reduces congestion on the roads and gets you and your children active but make sure it is a realistic distance if you are planning to travel there on foot every day.

Andrew Porter have now launched a dedicated laboratory relocation specialist, APort Global. As part of this there is now a dedicated web site where you can get all the up to date and relevant information about our laboratory relocation services.

Proceed to APort

Continue to the old site

Special Offer

Get up to 50% off self storage for 8 weeks and free collection!

Get a quote and reserve your space now

Continue to Andrew Porter Self Storage