How did you choose where you live?

Lalaladybird

My OH and I are at the stage where we want to move to an area that has a good school for our dd, low crime, safe neighbourhood etc.

How do I find out about these things? Are there websites that provide this sort of info?

At the moment we live in an area that suited us at the time we moved here 2 years ago but we don't want our dd going to the local school so will move to get into a better catchment area. Our dd is only 1 so we have plenty of time to get on the waiting lists (or however it works)

Any ideas?

tanith

The first T on OH's golf course was within 5/6 mins walk from the house...;)

sorry thats not very helpful ......

poppy_f1

my parents moved here when i was 17 as they at the time needed a house with downstairs bedroom and bathroom (my gran stayed with us)
now as im looking in the same area purely as its convientent for work, friends etc

Mapson_2

May help but use as a guide only

UK Local Area - Neighbourhood Profile
http://www.uklocalarea.com/index.php

poppysarah

BBC site does school leagues - local councils probably have lists too.

Read the local paper - see what goes on in dfiferent areas. Our free paper has sections for each area.

Drive round. Get the bus, go have a look!

hamblettamaud

most important for me is a place where i can feel safe, eg when walking the streets (no jokes) & when i'm alone in the house.

penguine

Even if you move, there's no guarantee you'll get into the school you prefer. I know one school in my area which has (ostensibly) 60 places, but next year will actually only have 16 places because there are 44 siblings lined up to start Reception! It is a school which has become outrageously popular in the past few years and there will be a lot of disappointed parents next year.

Lalaladybird

penguine wrote: »

Even if you move, there's no guarantee you'll get into the school you prefer. I know one school in my area which has (ostensibly) 60 places, but next year will actually only have 16 places because there are 44 siblings lined up to start Reception! It is a school which has become outrageously popular in the past few years and there will be a lot of disappointed parents next year.

It is ridiculous these days isn't it! We are hoping that getting on the list 3 years in advance will help

Thanks for the link Mapson, I'll have a look!

PasturesNew

There's been stories on the news this week, there are no catchment areas, it's a lottery.

One girl lives next door to a school, but ended up being sent to one a mile away.

One set of twins ended up at different schools, 18 miles apart.

Cissi

Lalaladybird wrote: »

It is ridiculous these days isn't it! We are hoping that getting on the list 3 years in advance will help

That won't actually help - not unless it's a private school, and then it doesn't matter where you live. You can't apply for state schools before a set date the previous year. There is no "list" to get on before that. Where we live, I think it's by Dec 1st the previous school year that you apply and the results come out in April. I know people who have been high on the waiting list for their preferred school at that stage and have slipped further down the list during the summer, because other people have moved to the area and even closer to the school (even though these new people hadn't applied by the original deadline). In our borough at least, the only factor that really counts is distance to the school, and in many cases even 5 min walk is too far

Cissi

PasturesNew wrote: »

There's been stories on the news this week, there are no catchment areas, it's a lottery.

One girl lives next door to a school, but ended up being sent to one a mile away.

One set of twins ended up at different schools, 18 miles apart.

That's not the case in our borough, at least not yet. I keep hearing rumours that it may change, but so far the system seems pretty strongly entrenched. The ridiculous thing around here is that the nursery/pre-school goes by age, but the school goes purely by distance, so a lot of the children from the nursery don't then get into the school with the rest of their class!