The schools around Downley are good, and the odds are in a parent's favour. Most graded schools in the county are good or better. About one in five is outstanding. The village has a primary with its own name on the gate. Secondary school means a trip down the hill.
Buckinghamshire has 94 schools with a published Ofsted grade, and 80 of them are rated good or outstanding, which is a little over five in every six. Ofsted rates 19 of those outstanding, 11 as requiring improvement and 3 as inadequate. The figures cover the whole of Buckinghamshire, so the strong ratio tells a Downley parent about the county's odds, and the rest depends on which school the child ends up at.
The school that carries the village's name is The Downley School, and the Department for Transport's 2019 modelling puts the nearest primary about 9 minutes' walk from the average home. Places are handed out by Buckinghamshire Council under its published admissions rules, so being able to see the playground from the kitchen does not secure a place in it, and the council's own record of how far the last offers reached is the thing to look up for any house on a shortlist. Secondary is a different journey. The same modelling puts the nearest secondary about 14 minutes by car, 35 by public transport and around 51 on foot. A child who strolled to primary in nine minutes discovers at eleven that the Chiltern Hills go downhill in the morning and uphill all the way home.
Within reach are The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, a grammar school as the name says, and The Highcrest Academy, with Godstowe Preparatory School among the independent options. Other primaries in the wider area include Hamilton Academy and The Disraeli School. Parents here tend to discuss the secondary choice long before the primary one is finished, because the shape of the secondary options is what sets the plan.
Schools are one of Downley's real strengths, backed by a county where good is the normal result. The work is in getting a place, and that comes down to the council's rules.