Thoughts on buying house with high school behind?

scottishgirl87

I am swithering back and forth between viewing this house or not. We have been living with my parents for 8 months now, having sold our flat, and have been outbid on 3 properties so far. Things in our area are scarce and selling way over Home Report value...a house has come on the market today which ticks alot of our boxes but the one thing putting me off is that behind the back garden fence is the local high school car park with the entrance road being only 2 houses down from this one.

On one hand I’m thinking the garden would be great for privacy in the Summer and we both leave the house at 8am and get home after 6pm so would miss the inevitable school scrum but I’m still not sure. It’s a very highly rated high school if it makes any difference?

pramsay13

Some schools have lots of after school community use so are used well into the evening, others finish at 3 or 4pm and everyone is gone.
Is it just the car park and not a playground? If so I wouldn't think it was a massive issue, surely just the same as having a road nearby.

scottishgirl87

From the photos it looks like the car park is behind the garden fence, however, maybe slightly lower down than the garden.

bouicca21

I used to live in a similar situation though backing on to a playing field rather than a car park. It's worth looking at the way access works. Our school had a very narrow access. Parents dropping children, parents driving into the school (little Johnny couldn't possibly walk all of 100 yards), created chaos for those living near the school gate.

davidmcn

Hang around when the kids are coming or going and see what it's like. I live in a street with a high school (which has just moved to another site) and no real problems. As above, there may be a lot of use in evenings and weekends so parking in nearby streets could be busy. If you're on the route between school and shops then litter might be an issue.

KxMx

The location you describe does sound like a recipe for parking issues.

I'm close to a high school (across the road) and don't get much trouble.

They do do activities outside most weekends.

They did demolish and re build which was a nightmare. Work over ran by 18 months. Dust, noise etc every evening, Saturday, bank holiday.

The school was uncommunicative (once they'd got approval) and unhelpful in terms of resident enquiries and complaints.

PokerPlayer111

Incase any get rowdy, sniper them on break time with poison dart.

PasturesNew

My friend bought a house with a school like that behind "Ah, good, it'll be quiet most of the time and I'm at work all day" they thought .... they said to me "I hadn't realised how much goes on in/around schools evenings and weekends".

So it all depends on what else goes on there and its precise location with regard to the school/boundaries etc.

They might be "THE" location for all the weekend football/rugby training, games, competitions ... and crowds.... or the occasional craft fair on the other side of the school with just 150 old dears dropping by for candles as gifts.

Callie22

My house backs on to a primary school playground, although we are a long way from the school entrance. I wouldn't really be keen on living near to the entrance as the parking issues and hassle every morning and afternoon would be irritating, but living next to a playground really isn't that bad. You do get noise at breaktimes (little girls really can shriek and little boys love to roar ...) but it's over quite quickly and the benefit for us is that it's absolutely dead during the evenings and at the weekends, and it's really lovely to back onto some open space - we aren't overlooked at the back at all, which is rare in a town! The only other downside is the amount of stuff that ends up in the garden, despite a nice high fence I'm endlessly chucking balls and hoops back into the school and I can always tell when it's maths homework day as I get the worksheets ...

edited to add: We seem to be quite lucky with regard to other 'stuff' going off as we're never really bothered 'out of hours'. Again it would probably be different if you lived nearer the entrance and I have to say that honestly I'd be less keen to back on to a secondary playground just because there'd probably be more potential for anti-social behaviours.

Ci_bach

My advice is : Don't. Just don't:D

I live a 2 minute walk away from a High School. It is shocking how many 11+ year old pupils do not walk to school:( The school has about 1.5k pupils. There are plans for expansion ...

The matter has been compounded as the school has prohibited the parents driving into the school carpark to drop off and pick up Jonny and Mary. The resulting congestion on neighbouring roads has to be seen to be believed.

It's not unusual for 20+ minutes to pass for the roads to be clear of school traffic. It is also not uncommon to take 30 minutes to travel 300 metres (that was me coming home after a big shop)

Also, I came home one day to find a parent had decided to park on my drive whilst awaiting their sprog and was quite indignant when I politely invited them to remove them self!:eek: There are also problems with pavement and grass verge parking.

You may have to advise delivery companies that the area is a no go area at school drop off and pick up times.

The area has a 20mph speed limit. It's surprising how fast 20mph is:). I have witnessed impatient drivers overtaking those keeping to the speed limit by driving on the opposite side of the road

There are anti social behaviour problems too - litter, air pollution (Parent sits in the car with engine running), vandalism etc

I have also witnessed atrocious driving and hit and run accidents - one when a parent drove onto a residents drive in order to turn around and managed to hit the residents stationary vehicle parked on the drive. The offending driver then drove off but not before I had managed to take a photo of the incident on my phone. The result was that offending driver was traced and paid up for the damage caused

The school has absolved itself of any responsibility however much they are reminded that both parents and children are ambassadors of the school.

Sorry if I have put you off. Hope you find something suitable

CB

gingercordial

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

I am swithering back and forth between viewing this house or not. We have been living with my parents for 8 months now, having sold our flat, and have been outbid on 3 properties so far. Things in our area are scarce and selling way over Home Report value...a house has come on the market today which ticks alot of our boxes but the one thing putting me off is that behind the back garden fence is the local high school car park with the entrance road being only 2 houses down from this one.

On one hand I’m thinking the garden would be great for privacy in the Summer and we both leave the house at 8am and get home after 6pm so would miss the inevitable school scrum but I’m still not sure. It’s a very highly rated high school if it makes any difference?

I used to live next to a daycare and in general yes it was fine as we were almost always out at work when the kids were there and so the garden was nice and quiet in the evenings and weekends.

However it was horrible to be home unexpectedly in the daytime. Being off sick was never exactly peaceful recovery time with the noise levels. You wouldn't have wanted to try working from home.

About one weekend a month seemed to involve an open day or similar and those were always loud and busy.

We also had problems as they had commercial cleaners in every night and they mainly came at about 1am (presumably they work night shifts and go around various clients all night) and would make an incredible noise vacuuming, banging external doors and shouting to each other from outside. With our bedroom window facing the building it was unbearable, and we complained often but the nursery management basically just shrugged and said it wasn't under their control.

I wouldn't live near one again personally.