# Needing school advice for bristol



## Pecosa (Nov 29, 2009)

We just moved to Bristol (from France) two weeks ago and I managed to get our youngest daughter into a decent primary school to finish out year 1, but having a terrible time getting our eldest daughter into a state-run secondary/grammar school!!
She would be finishing year 8 out if we could get her in now, but our top three preferences were met with NO SPACE so I am appealing 2 of them and continuing to bug the academies.
It is pretty nightmarish as the schools in Bristol seem to either be very good or very bad (from what I have been told).
I am hoping someone who lives in the area might have some advice for me? I have tried Cotham, John Cabot's Academy, St Mary Redcliffe's, Redland Green and Ashton Park.
Our catchment school is Ashton Park--which doesn't seem to mean much!
Any help out there for me/us??!!
Thanks,
Beth


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Pecosa said:


> We just moved to Bristol (from France) two weeks ago and I managed to get our youngest daughter into a decent primary school to finish out year 1, but having a terrible time getting our eldest daughter into a state-run secondary/grammar school!!
> She would be finishing year 8 out if we could get her in now, but our top three preferences were met with NO SPACE so I am appealing 2 of them and continuing to bug the academies.
> It is pretty nightmarish as the schools in Bristol seem to either be very good or very bad (from what I have been told).
> I am hoping someone who lives in the area might have some advice for me? I have tried Cotham, John Cabot's Academy, St Mary Redcliffe's, Redland Green and Ashton Park.
> ...


I cant help you other than to say, thats how it is in the UK. The good schools get oversubscribed 

Jo xxx


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

If you are too choosey (as most parents are!), you risk not having a place for your child at all. Also take any supposed reputation of a school with a pinch of salt - granted that your first-choice schools are oversubscribed, another school may prove to be somewhere your eldest daughter is happy attending. If you have any concern about bullying or whatever, let the school know without delay, and ensure they do something about it - it's your and your child's right.


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## Pecosa (Nov 29, 2009)

Thanks--good tips and, yes, I did arrive very ignorant to the state of affairs (re: schools) in the UK!
Live and learn...
~Beth


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## fourgotospain (May 4, 2009)

Hi there,

I moved from Bristol to Spain in Jan and I have to say that one of the factors was the ridiculous state of secondary education in the city (our children are 10 and 7).

HOWEVER what is even more ridiculous is the 'mummy mafia' that exists, which is what you're coming up against I suspect. I don't know whether your kids were in international school or local in France, and I see that before that you were in the US. All this gives your children a massive advantage over the children from the more deprived neighbourhoods and the 'week in Cornwall darhhhhling' ones alike. TRUST your instincts, go and see the schools and don't rely too much on league tables. 

If we had stayed my kids would have gone to Monks Park - widely regarded as a nightmare, and yet I know several children who have flourished there. Ignore everything you've heard about Redland Green, the school is practically private as you have to spend school fee money to buy a house there!! Don't worry - your children have moved countries, they can cope with a bit of peer pressure I'm sure!

Hope this helps
Rachel


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## Pecosa (Nov 29, 2009)

Hi Rachel,
I love your message--and I envy you your move to Spain (I love Spain!). I hope you have luck with the school system there!
I finally had a break-through with the schools (no thanks to the Local Authority!) by just BEING A PAIN IN THE ARSE!
Our youngest got into St Mary Redcliffe's (the non-religious, primary school) in Victoria Park and started Monday and our oldest got into Ashton Park (year 8) and started yesterday. My feeling before and now close-up is these are decent schools with a great staff. We shall see...
What took you to Spain?!
Ciao,
Beth


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## fourgotospain (May 4, 2009)

:clap2:Yey Beth!! :clap2:

Well done for being a PITA! Hopefully the children will now feel settled and cn move forward. 

Why Spain? Where to start?! We took the girls on a rtw trip in 2007/8 and realised pretty soon that we wanted to live somewhere else. We like Spain, it's fairly close to UK and family there and has the advantage that the kids now learn the 3rd most spoken language in the world, having already mastered one of the top 2!! (Just got to work on their mandarin now!!!) So we looked at how we could make a living, education etc. 

One thing we found really hard in the UK was the 'must have' culture and also the sort of unspoken goal that everyone should work all the hours and then retire early - I'm afraid we don't really fit that, and want to enjoy life and family while we can. Obviously we haven't been here long, but we are finding Spain suits us in that respect - you fix something that's broken rather than buy a new one, take days off for fiesta, work to pay the rent, not just for the sake of it. My dad lives in France and feels it's similar there. School here has been great so far, but I think we're pretty lucky in the town we live in.

So why Bristol?? I love it, went to Uni there and stayed (on and off) for 19 years.
Hope you settle soon,
Keep in touch
Rachel.


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