Moving to Belfast - how do I start looking for good schools, nice areas to live in?

hatsepsovet

My OH's co has relocated him to Belfast and me and my 3 kids will be moving there next year as well. I have two kids of school age, so I will need to find a good primary school in a nice area. I haven't got a clue, how and where to start looking, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'd much prefer a recommendation from a parent than going to somewhere like Ofsted
OH is renting a house in Holywood at the mo, but I'm sure we could get more for our money further away from the city centre. He works at the docks and I'd like to carry on working as a childminder, so these things need to be taken into consideration as well. Please, please, any advice, suggestions?:T

stephenni1971

Theres huge range to choose from all within a 30 min journey from the docks.

I think your best bet would be to get yourself over here and spend a little time driving around to get a feel of the place before you take too much advice on here!

Within reasonable commute distance you could try the following

East/South Belfast - some nice residential areas at top of Cregagh Road, Castlereagh Road and Newtownards Road.

Dundonald - was a separate village now all but consumed by Belfast... has been a lot of new housing in this area over the last 20 years.

Holywood - your OH is already in

Newtownards - a market town 15 mins form Belfast, nice small town feel.

Bangor - large commuter town with good shops- train & bus links to city, beside the sea if you like that sort of thing.

Or you could look up the northern side - Antrim Road, Newtownabbey, Glengormley areas though not as familiar with that side of town.

seatzie

N'ards would be at least 30 mins from Belfast and 45-55 on a busy morning traffic run (I live in Dundonald)

caz2703

Asking where to live is like asking how long is a piece of string. Everyone on here will have their own opinions and suggestions so as stephenni1971 has suggested, I would come over and have a look around a few areas to get a feel for the place.

As I've lived in the North Down area all my life I will obviously be biased. Schools over here are of a pretty good standard but ages and finances will play a role e.g. are the kids primary or secondary level and are you willing to pay for a grammar school (not the same level of fees as in England) or are you happy with a high school (still better than an English comprehensive in *my* opinion).

Although Ards & Bangor are technically only 15-20 minutes from Belfast, during the rush hour this can double or treble. My parents had to make the same decision years ago and decided that paying more for a house in Belfast and having the shorter commute was better than getting a bigger/cheaper house but commuting for anything up to 2 hours a day round trip.

The best idea would be to have a look on PropertyNews.com and put in your house criteria. Find yourself a few houses you like then post back here about the area they are in or you can be more specific and mention the street and I'm sure there will be people here that will know the area.

If your husband is working on the Holywood side of the docks and not across the Lough towards Newtownabbey (I'm guessing with him being in Holywood it's the side I know) then here are some examples:

• A 3 bed, 2 reception semi in East Belfast, nice quiet area, close to major links such as M3 & outer ring will cost you around the £200K mark.

• For £250K you could get a 4 bed 3 reception detached on the far side of Bangor from Belfast.

If you have the extra £50K and want the bigger house you will have to accept a rush hour journey of around an hour. If you don't need the big house or don't have the money then the East Belfast option could mean the commute could be as little as 10-15 mins to the docks or less depending on time of day and route used. I know this personally as I used to do the same journey and at 7am I could do the journey in under 10 mins but closer to 9am it could be up to 20 mins.

belfastgirl23

Well it's a good time to be buying in Belfast, that's for sure. Prices have dropped considerably and I know there's a lot of property for sale and it isn't shifting. So you will have plenty of choice.

I think you need to really think about what you want. Do you want big house with garden? Do you want to be near local amenities? Country or city? How long is your husband prepared to spend in a car to get to work or would he prefer to cycle for example? And what's your rough budget?

Welcome to NI though and keep posting and we'll help you as best we can.

Edited to say that there are a lot of good schools in Belfast really which is why no one is exactly taking you on about this. Particularly in the more middle class areas. Probably the most well known is methody and it is very well thought of http://www.methody.org/ more on the model of an english public school than most here. But I don't have kids, just listen to a lot of parents at work

REDMADCURLS

Hi

My sister lives in Belmont (Upper N'ards Rd) and loves it

She has a daughter at Loughview Intergrated PS and is very happy with it - very family focused school, feels like it should be in the country rather than a big city - lovely vibe about it.

joylikes2shop

hatsepsovet I don't envy your task !!!

A few years ago a friend of mine had to do the same thing when her husbands office relocated to Poland...he was 'alright' because he was busy at work every day and made friends with work collegues, while she had to pack up their sort out their belongings -for long term storage at home and to be shipped to their new home -find somewhere to live in Poland,reassure the kids (and grandparents,friends and family etc) that everything would be 'ok' , arrange new bank accounts and find schools etc...not to mention learn a foreign language, find her way around a new country and (grocery) shops and make friends herself.

Anyway, my suggestion at the minute is the same as a few of the others have already said...if you haven't already done so....come over for a while and have a look around.

If your OH already has a base in Hollywood-which I'm sure most people will agree is a lovely village - this should be easy enough to do. I assume at this stage you're not ready to buy somewhere, so even if you use Hollywood as a base for a while, you can travel about and see some of the other places already mentioned.

What stage are your kids at schoolwise ?

As a childminder, I would imagine you'll find work easy enough once you've got a permanent base.

Good luck and keep us all posted on your thoughts.

Joy ( who likes 2 shop)

hatsepsovet

Thanks everyone for your posts.
We've all spent a week in Holywood and we all loved it. We drove to Carrickfergus Castle for a daytrip and I thought the villages/towns we drove through looked very nice, so I'm thinking the Newtoabbey area (Jordanstown, Carrickfergus, etc) would suit us great. Someone at my OH's work also said Gilnahirk or Stormont - what's your opinions?
Now for the schools. My kids will be 5 and 8 by the time we move, so they'll be in Y1 and Y4 next September. They currently attend a very small village school (only 84 kids in the school) but I'm sure they'd adjust to a bigger school quite easily as they are very confident and happy kids. Do any of you know and could recommend a school in Newtonabbey/Carrickfergus area?
Thanks again for the posts; I found everyone so friendly in Belfast and it's just being confirmed here on the forum as well.

Bigcammy

As a born and bred Newtownabbey man I can tell you it's a great spot. The main worry about anywhere further than Jordanstown is the traffic. Try driving to or from Carrick at peak times and you'll soon change your mind. Jordanstown is expensive too. Ballyclare is a nice spot too, but again you hit traffic issues getting to Belfast. I can recommend Ballyclare High as a grammar school for later years

seatzie

lol as someone who works in Newtownabbey I'd say no, its always a couple of degrees colder here than central/east belfast/holywood lol
but thats just my own prejudice lol in the winter the sun doesn't make it over cavehill in the afternoon so if you're at the wrong angle you may not get any sun in winter in the afternoon - sounds like bull? work colleague moved from Chimney Corner area because in the winter the ice never thawed for days because the sun never hit their house in the afternoon......having said that Jordanstown/Carrick may be a different proposition

caz2703

I'm going to be biased and say that I would prefer to live the other side of the Lough. Holywood is lovely but a tad expensive. There are areas of East Belfast (Stormont and Belmont for example) that are close enough to the edge of the city that it doesn't feel claustrophobic but close enough for commuting. I know quite a few people who live in Carrick and Glengormley and although the housing isn't as dear the commute is terrible as you're mainly relying on the motorway to go up that direction.

This is a very big decision for you and your family and in all honesty I would suggest another wee trip if you can fit one in and try Co Down and East Belfast before you settle on Co Antrim - no offense Cammy

You liked the villages up towards Carrickfergus although not knowing the area so well I'm not sure which ones but I'm quite sure you'd love Bangor, Donaghadee or if you have a bit more money Bangor West towards Crawfordsburn. One thing you may have missed is that on a nice sunny day, most of the country descends on Co Down especially Crawfordsburn Country Park. I'm sure there are similar places in Co Antrim but I've never had to consider them as we have literally everything we want close to hand.

I hope I haven't put you off but having driven through what I thought were lovely wee places in Kent/Essex, it's amazing what you find out from the locals as opposed to just using your own rose tinted glasses.