Personally much prefer up crosby area, far more space than south liverpool, and i would always rather have the beach than the parks. Can see the appeal with bars, restuarants etc, but there are so many houses squashed together and loads dont seem to have gardens. Although town is very close which i guess is a big plus to many people.
I would much rather live in crosby than south liverpool, but got my son coming up to senior school age and looking at schools etc, prob will end up moving to south end if he gets in somewhere decent. Loads of my mates live that way and love it, but as anyone from liverpool knows we have the ongoing north-south battle going on!
As for schools, been reading up for a year now:
Liverpool college is not only changing to academy but is now apparently going to be using the tiered entry system which complicates things even further(info available on line).
But bluecoat certainly and probably king david are the better schools in the area anyway.
St Edwards was always very good, but standards are definately slipping with the increasing numbers and non-selective intake, even the music department which was once great is pretty poor. That said still get a really good feeling from the school at open days and speaking to other parents etc.
