House Prices Soar in Good School Catchment Areas

When looking for a home in a new area, most people seek out the same things: a friendly neighbourhood, low crime, nearby public transport, and top of the list, a good school. Getting your children into a decent school is something that most, if not all parents strive for, but a recent study has shown that houses that lie within the catchment area of Britain’s highest achieving schools are considerably more expensive than those outside.

Apparently, it’s not enough for your child to have perfect grades and solid ambitions, because the deciding factor has become whether their parents can afford a home nearby. Of course, that’s on top of the tuition fees for some of these schools.

According to the Telegraph, the reason for the sudden interest in homes near state schools is due to the financial crisis affecting Britain, causing parents who would normally send their child to private school to opt for the band below. That isn’t to say, of course, that state school is lower in standards than private school – we won’t get into that debate now.

image source: http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/245-thats-the-postcode-premium-for-living-in-catchment-area-of-top-london-school-8953893.html

This is all well and good for families who can afford to pay a high price for a home within a catchment area, but what about parents who are already scraping by? With the rise in university tuition fees, it is starting to feel as though a good education is only achievable by the financially fortunate or those willing to jump into a giant well of debt, wearing concrete shoes.

Of course, house prices fluctuate more often than the weather here in the UK, but without some form of financial aid, how are the children of today supposed to succeed? After all, they are going to be the future leaders, are they not? It is these little humans who will be saving lives, collecting taxes, processing insurance forms, and engaging in all other manner of employment. It’d be nice if they had some form of education behind them, wouldn’t it?

The most important thing to remember is that, if you can’t afford a home close to a high-achieving state school, it isn’t the end for your child’s education. There are plenty of creative and intelligent people who didn’t attend such institutes; Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both school dropouts (NOTE: this is not an excuse to drop out of school!), Thomas Edison and C.S. Lewis were home-schooled, and most likely some of the witty, clever people you meet every day are products of a not-private-school-standard-but-still-pretty-darn-good comprehensive school.

As a matter of fact, the author of this article attended a comprehensive school and she turned out just fine!

For more information on this story, check out the Guardian’s article.

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Jessica Lawrence