According to Sainsbury’s Bank up to 71,000 people will have moved home between April and September 2004 to ensure they fall into a better school catchment area. And some are prepared to pay up to 10% extra to secure a home close to school.

The findings show that moving home to secure the best schooling for their children was a greater motivation than moving to a house with a garden (50,000 people) or relocating from the city to the country (47,000).

Securing a better school education was also stated as a reason to move home by more people than moving in with a partner (22,000), disagreeable neighbours (27,000) or getting married (38,000).

A regional trend was also seen with parents in the Midlands and the South of England being more likely to move house in order to get into a better school catchment area than those based in the North of England and Scotland.

The survey’s findings underline the drastic measures taken by parents to get their children the best possible education. Families’ desperation to secure their offspring’s future is also helping to fuel the high cost of buying a home within a popular school catchment area, with people being prepared to pay over 10% or more on the value of a property, the equivalent of almost £15,000 on the average UK house price. Indeed, it was recently reported that a granddad in Swansea has adopted his granddaughter in a bid to overcome strict boundary rules at one of the most popular schools where they live.