Where would you buy if you had £325k?

ultrarunner

Strapped wrote: »

Yes - to make sure to avoid them.

What is wrong with a grammar school? The OP specified good schools, and grammar schools get excellent results.

Serious question - not wanting an argument

Strapped

ultrarunner wrote: »

What is wrong with a grammar school? The OP specified good schools, and grammar schools get excellent results.

Serious question - not wanting an argument

I don't want to hijack the OP's thread, so perhaps you could start another one if you want to debate why grammar school automatically = good school. (As you can probably tell - I don't think so )

pimento

securityman wrote: »

Anyone from Wickford, Essex?
Whats that like for the same things the op asked?
Schools, commute to London etc?

Rayleigh is better, Hockley better still.

The commute is OK, I do it twice a day. Expensive at £4000 (including the tube).

Running_Horse

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Someone mentioned Maidstone. I live half way between Maidstone and Ashford. Would not consider either to be upmarket!

Lovely to live in a kentish village and have access to either town but you do become a taxi service for your children when they become teenagers as they want the facilities in the large towns and the last bus home is far too early for them!!!

It's a trade off isn't it? I would love to live in town, but don't want my children becoming too involved in the nightclub scene. Lenham or Charing or West Malling might be a suitable compromise. Maidstone may not be upmarket but it does regularly feature in the best places to live in the country.

As for grammar schools mentioned earlier, it probably depends if your children are in the top 25% likely to pass the 11+. For every top quality grammar school, there are 2 or 3 Brompton Academies. The pressure and private coaching of 10 year olds is wrong, and the sooner everyone attends a good quality local comprehensive, the better.

Catherine_Johnson_2

milly_molly_mandy wrote: »

............. We have some of the best grammer schools..................... .

Sorry, but I just had to laugh :rotfl:

uk_american

As someone else mentioned, try Essex: Stansted Mountfitchet, Bishops Stortford, Chelmsford (my town of 120k people), or smaller nearby Hatfield Peverel. All have train lines into London. Maybe worth a look at the Essex Ofsted reports to narrow down further an exact area for schooling.

MandM90

I'll second villages around High Wycombe. London Marylebone is now only 25-30 mins from High Wycombe station. I think the villages tend to have better primary schools (I'm in High Wycombe itself and chose to send my daughter to a private one as the couple we looked at were abysmal) but there are good grammar schools - obviously grammar schools aren't necessarily all good but my experience was very positive and many local schools do very well. High Wycombe itself isn't exactly 'upmarket' but there are some lovely places to live around it if you don't mind a drive to the train station.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34330604.html?premiumA=true

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30533446.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-27064411.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29809429.html

securityman

pimento wrote: »

Rayleigh is better, Hockley better still.

The commute is OK, I do it twice a day. Expensive at £4000 (including the tube).

sorry to hijack op
How long is the commute to London not inc the tube rat run.

ultrarunner

Strapped wrote: »

I don't want to hijack the OP's thread, so perhaps you could start another one if you want to debate why grammar school automatically = good school. (As you can probably tell - I don't think so )

Bit hypocritical considering you introduced the debate

pimento

securityman wrote: »

sorry to hijack op
How long is the commute to London not inc the tube rat run.

My commute from Hockley to central London is 90 mins from my front door closing, to my desk. The train takes 50 mins to Liverpool Street. Trains are pretty good. I always get a seat and if anything is going to make me late for work, 99 times out of 100 it's the Central Line.

For schools, have a look at Greensward College for secondary and there are three good primaries in the village. The ones who want grammar go to Southend.