experience living next to a primary school

AnnieO1234

I have to disagree with a PP that primaries have less parents using cars than secondaries. I lived on the same road as a primary and secondary school (joint campus) and by far the worst people were the "entitled" parents with little primary age darlings.

As PPs have said, school opening and closing can be a nightmare. And parents would park up to an hour and half before closing and wait. I lived in a cul de sac off a crescent where the school was situated. Playtime noise was quite pleasant but we weren't right next door. There weren't any problems I recall from either school in relation to behaviour but this may be indicative of the school and area.

You do end up changing your commute times to avoid it, or end up in fights. I recall two incidents in particular where I had an altercation with people. The first some woman decided to park fully across my drive with my car parked in it. (I'd had to pop home from work.) I challenged her as she was at least twenty minutes before school closing and was leaving her car to walk for her kid. Her comment was "oh I always park there, I'll not be long" or words to that effect. I made if very clear to her that if she didn't move her car I would into the local pond... The second one I recall was on the crescent portion. It was two roads going up a steep hill. Parents blockin every conceivable space going up on left side, I was going down. Some pillock in a rush came straight up without looking and clearly demanded I should reverse up the hill. I switched the engine off and waved the key in the windscreen. He got the picture. No I could not have reversed as there were too many pedestrians crossing the road silly billy behind me.

Very frustrating! All that said I have moved now near to a primary school but the road network around it includes a triangle shaped junction (i.e) three roads in a triangle and a mini-roundabout. It doesn't cause any problems at all.

FWIW the council and police will act if enough residents complain. Community events can cause problems but why not attend instead. It wouldn't put me off as for the rest of the day and school holidays you're guaranteed peace. Xxx

Ether_4

One thing you may want to find out is if the school rents out the hall and over the past few years how often it's been in the evenings. I had lived behind a school for over 30 years and besides all the other complaints we had one evening that the school rented out its hall. That was the straw that broke the camels back for me and moved.

tanith

We live very close to an Academy school that incorporates all ages including nursery its noisy and congested twice a day for 20minutes the rest of the time I hardly remember its there . We've lived here for 17yrs its never entered our heads that its a problem.

Grumpelstiltskin

I lived opposite a primary school for many years. My experience.


The parking problem is not just 10 minutes twice a day.


The first cars would arrive at 8.15 am, the parents and children would sit in the cars until about 8.50am then the child would be walked into school and the mothers would stand talking at the gate until some mornings 9.30am.


Afternoon the first cars would arrive at 2.15pm. ( To get the spot closest to the gates ) The parents would sit in the cars until 3.20pm then walk the child from the school to the car. The parents would again spend time talking before leaving.


Now all that happened when it was fine, if it was raining oh dear the little darlings just couldn't get wet, they would park anywhere, across drives, on yellow lines etc just to get an inch closer to the gates.


On many occasions I would arrive home in my car and find the narrow street jammed solid with cars and one parked across my drive. My answer to this would be to stop, turn my engine off and wait until the parent turned up to move their car. The reaction from the other parents trying to get their car down to collect their child, well the language from them was choice, I have been told they were going to call the police as I was causing an obstruction, every time it was my fault, I had no right to want to park on my own drive, I should drive off and wait until the children had gone.


The minute circumstances allowed I put my house up for sale ( at the start of the school summer holidays ) and by the time the school reopened a sale was agreed.


There is no way I would ever live close to a school again.

tiger_eyes

emzi27 wrote: »

My sister lives next to a primary school. She said she quite likes the sounds of children's laughter through out the day.

I live next to a primary school as well and I like it. After school the kids play in a little park across the street in their tiny hi-vis jackets. But I don't have to think about parking - and usually I'm still asleep during the morning rush hour.

PollyOnAMission

I moved before Christmas, to a house very close to a junior school. It's a fairly long, straight wide residential street; the school gates are across the road and down a bit from my house, and the school grounds themselve are set back from the road down a driveway. My house has the flashing school warning sign right outside.

The street gets busier at school start and end times. It's a street where all the houses have driveways and there is plenty of space for extra parking between the dropped kerbs. I've never seen any parents blocking driveways; it seems everyone is very considerate, although I'm sure this depends on the school and the people.

I'm at work during the day and I've never been inconvenienced by the school. My driveway hasn't been blocked and I've never struggled to get my car in/out.

I did visit the house (before purchase) on a weekend day when there was some event at the school. The local council had put cones up at pinch points on the nearby streets to avoid people blocking the road in any way; it seemed to work just fine.

Grumpelstiltskin

One of the main problems I had was that the school had no interest in what happened on the roads outside. In fact I was told by the headmistress that once the children left the premises it was not their problem.


The local council were the authority who could do something about people parking on yellow lines but I think I saw someone once in about 5 years trying to enforce parking regulations.


I know that at some time there will be an accident when a child is injured or killed, I got sick and tired of trying to do something when I lived there and no one was interested so now I have moved I am pleased to be away from it.

Mojisola

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

One of the main problems I had was that the school had no interest in what happened on the roads outside. In fact I was told by the headmistress that once the children left the premises it was not their problem.

We really tried at our school. We didn't have any authority to make parents move their cars but asking parents to be careful where they parked and to be considerate of our neighbours was a regular newsletter item.

When they had time, the Head and Deputy would go out and talk to people who were parking badly but, usually, the parents who do this don't care and won't move.

The only times we got a positive reaction was when the local police officer found time to stand outside the school. It was interesting to see people pull in front of people's drives or onto yellow lines or even the zigzag lines, see the police officer and instantly find that they were able to move further down the road and walk their little darlings to the school gates. It showed that they knew they were in the wrong but it didn't stop them the next day when he wasn't there.

hazyjo

I lived round the corner from a primary school. Only very slight pain occasionally was the parking. Was tough to park anyway, and you'd get all these crazy women trying to fit into spaces, knocking cars, etc outside my house/in my street. And the bibbing horns, etc. I was usually at work so missed all the mayhem, but when I was off I agree it's 'nice noise' (and this is coming from someone who hates hearing screaming kids lol!). Playground noise is lovely!

I didn't really notice much in the way of after school noise. Yes, if something was going on the parking was hell again, but, as I said, it was never great even on a good day!

Oh, and I got loads of people (parents, kids) walking past my house, but that wasn't a problem. Some won't like that though if it's otherwise a really quiet street.

Jx

Grumpelstiltskin

Mojisola wrote: »

We really tried at our school. We didn't have any authority to make parents move their cars but asking parents to be careful where they parked and to be considerate of our neighbours was a regular newsletter item.

When they had time, the Head and Deputy would go out and talk to people who were parking badly but, usually, the parents who do this don't care and won't move.

The only times we got a positive reaction was when the local police officer found time to stand outside the school. It was interesting to see people pull in front of people's drives or onto yellow lines or even the zigzag lines, see the police officer and instantly find that they were able to move further down the road and walk their little darlings to the school gates. It showed that they knew they were in the wrong but it didn't stop them the next day when he wasn't there.

I wished the police would have done something, I tried the local community officer, they said parking was not their problem and they wouldn't do anything. No one would do anything, I am just pleased I could move away.