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Now looking at Eastbourne, any thoughts?

27 replies

RollingThunder · 29/12/2012 17:36

We are thinking of moving to Eastbourne from Kent. Looking for any information on schools, areas to avoid, areas that are good. What it's like to live there. Etc' I have two DSs, 2 and 4 and am a Sahm mum, so wondering about primary and secondary schools (would be hoping not to move again), is there much on for kids, is it a friendly place? Easy to meet other mums?

Especially since ds1 would be moving part way through the school year. Would I struggle to talk to mums at the school gate?

Anything else you think we need to know really. Budget is around 300k though less would be better.

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fatnfrumpy · 29/12/2012 18:58

I went to school in esatbourne, my mum still lives there and my sister is a teacher at the secondary school!
LOVE it LOVE it Love it
Don,t even look at Hastings. It is DIRE
My aunty lives in Bexhill and its gods waiting room.
Go look at Eastbourne you won't be dissapointed!
Lower willingdon is great as is langley.
Fab shopping Fab country side.
Have a drive out to Jevington and visit Drusillas.
Please let us know how much you love it too when you move there.

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Kahlua4me · 29/12/2012 19:05

My db lives in Old Hastings and I love it there.
Agree that Hastings town may be bad but the old town is excellent. They have loads of friends there with dc who all rave about the area.
They all moved from London at around the same time and are very happy. Seems to be lots of arty/creative types there.

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JaquelineHyOnChristmasSpirit · 29/12/2012 19:07

I'm Eastbourne and it's fab.

The schools are good (although I would aviod The Bourne) however, there is a shortage of space in the primary schools. We moved to Eastbourne in Srptember and 2 of my 3 dc's are being home schooled whilst we wait for a space to come up...Worth waiting for in my opinion though. Also a new free school is opening next year and that should ease the pressure for places.

The meads area is lovely as is the old town and the Eastbourne is very well serviced for shopping and public transport.

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JaquelineHyOnChristmasSpirit · 29/12/2012 19:13

With regards to Hastings I grew up there and know it very, very well.

It has some beautiful areas with ok schools but it also has some dire areas with schools you would never consider.

I would always pick Eastbourne over Hastings, no competition as far as I am concerned.

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RollingThunder · 29/12/2012 19:43

Great to hear such positive feedback about Eastbourne. Anyone know anything about the secondary schools? Are they good too?

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GinAndSlimlinePlease · 29/12/2012 22:24

I've just moved to eastbourne from kent and I love it. Very quickly it's felt like home.

For your budget, look at old town and meads. Both within easy walking distance to town, sea front, parks, train station and downs.

Langley and willingdon feel more suburban.

I can't say how easy it is to make friends with other mums as I'm not one myself yet... But I have found people very welcoming and friendly so I'm sure it'll be ok.

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aufaniae · 30/12/2012 01:31

With your budget you'll get lovely place in Eastbourne, go for Mead, Upperton or Old Town - areas with period properties with loads of character.

I would avoid Langley unless you like modern. (I find it soulless tbh).

The infant schools Motcombe and Pashley Down are both well rated. They feed into Oklynge Junior which is also we rated AFAIK.
We chose Motcoombe as we thought the ethos of Pashley too formal / Christian for us, but we have friends who chose it for exactly those reasons!

It's true that Bourne has a bad reputation locally, but I'm yet to understand why. I think it's a mixture of an old reputation and thinly veiled racism tbh. I think Bourne may have been a bad school in the past, and old reputations are hard to shift. However it gets an Ofsted "good" rating, and people I know with kids there are very happy with it; teachers I know rate it. The only solid criticism I have (frequently) heard against it is that there are a lot of kids with English as a second language there. And that is true, it does tend to be the school that non-English kids go to. Having come from Hackney, and worked in schools there, I would say that's a positive thing! I honestly believe Bourne's bad rep comes partly out of racism. I looked round it and personally I really liked it. The only thing which makes mr wary is the head has just retired, they don't have a permanent new head yet.

We're lucky to be sonspoilt for choice anyway!


We

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aufaniae · 30/12/2012 01:37

Hey jaqueline, nice to see you here! Perhaps you can out me right on why people are so anti-Bourne? Is it an old rep no longer deserved or is there more to it?

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aufaniae · 30/12/2012 01:42

Would you say it was fair that some of the bad rep with the locals is because of people having a problem with there being lots of children with English as a second language? (that's certainly the impression my friend and I who are currently looking at at schools now have got).

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magimedi88 · 30/12/2012 13:59

Don't know anything about schools but really like the area. I am just outside Eastbourne (about a mile) & therefore come under Wealden council rather than Eastbourne & council tax is much cheaper. I know the secondary kids in our road go to Eastbourne schools. PM me if you want to know more.

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JaquelineHyOnChristmasSpirit · 30/12/2012 18:25

Hi Aufanie a lot of the Bournes critisism does come from it's past reputation, however, it is also a lot to do with the large number of students there who have English as a second language.

However, I think claiming that it is thinly veiled racism is a bit far fetched. Having observed a few lessons at the school it is clear that a lot of the teachers time is taken up by the pupils who require extra help due to the language barriers (and rightly so) and the students who have English as a first language (foreign or otherwise) are left to fend for themselves for the most part.

Given a choice I think most parents would pick a school where they knew their children would get the attention they need. For parents with children who have English as a second language I would highly recommend the Bourne as the teachers have the experience and specialisim it takes to teach their children as best they can.

I say all this as the mother of 3 mixed race children and the wife of a dh who has English as a second language. Certainly no racism here. Smile

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aufaniae · 31/12/2012 14:02

Thanks for the reply jaqueline, some interesting insights :)
I have a more considered response brewing, but have to post and run right now as very late for a friend's family-friendly NYE thing!

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RollingThunder · 02/01/2013 17:54

Thank you all for your thoughts. Very interesting and helpful. Anyone else?

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RollingThunder · 04/01/2013 20:52

Bump, anyone else?

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3smellysocks · 04/01/2013 21:38

Work backwards. Find a good secondary or two and then look for the primary schools that feed into that school.

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RollingThunder · 05/01/2013 05:33

3smellysocks - absolutely the plan - but am struggling to identify which are the good secondary schools - all the results seem pretty much on a par.

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bex2011 · 05/01/2013 08:08

Im from Eastbourne and the secondary schools that I would avoid would be The Eastbourne Academy and Causeway. If you are looking at the Old Town area the schools which are closest are Cavendish and Ratton. Both are good schools.

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RollingThunder · 05/01/2013 08:23

Bex - many thanks, thats really helpful - what happens about A'levels in Eastbourne?

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bex2011 · 05/01/2013 08:36

Pretty much all students go to Sussex Downs College where they do a full range of A levels and vocational qualifications. There is also a smaller campus in Lewes where some students chose to go.

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RollingThunder · 07/01/2013 18:31

Thanks bex, is it any good?

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bex2011 · 09/01/2013 13:45

They have recently been seen by ofsted and didn't do too well. However, Im sure they will do everything the can to turn it around. Id be happy for my dc to go there if they were at that age

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JaquelineHyde · 09/01/2013 18:00

Also there is a new free school opening up this September that is a complete through school offering from reception all the way up to 6th form.

Obviously it is new and so there is no way of measuring its performance but from investigations and research I have done it is worth bearing in mind for future plans.

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aufaniae · 10/01/2013 22:51

DS will be starting reception in September, and we've just moved. We spent a lot of time carefully considering primaries before the move.

However we didn't even consider secondaries - schools can change enormously in a fairly short space of time IME, especially if there's a change of head for example, and we're talking 7 years into the future here.

My own secondary school for example - when my parents and I were choosing schools at 11, it had an excellent reputation. But then the head left, and after her, many of the decent staff. The new head wasn't great, the staff were demoralised and by the time I got to GSCE, the school was failing, desperately! On the other side of the coin, I worked in a school where a great new head came in (after 6 years of stand-in heads!) and the difference she made was instantly recognisable.

It'll be 7 years before DS needs to go to secondary. I guess we'll start looking at schools a few years before then, and if we need to we'll move. I'd quite like to move to the countryside somewhere round here when we can afford it eventually anyway, it's beautiful!

I'm not saying don't look at secondaries! But personally I wouldn't put secondary very high up the list as it's so far ahead and so much can change.

Perhaps I've been swayed by my own experiences here though?! Grin

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aufaniae · 10/01/2013 23:40

Total procrastination here - but I have important, boring stuff to do, and I love looking at houses!

If I had your budget I'd be looking at these (thinking of applying to Motcombe and/or Pashley).

What do you reckon?

Asking price a bit over £300K (hoping for an offer perhaps?!)

6 bed - £339K love this one :)

3 bed - £315K Lovely big garden

3 bed - £335K Detached, nice garden.

6 bed - £324K lovely bit of town.

4 bed = £349K Detached, big garden.





Under £300K:

3 Bed - £279K

4 bed - £295K

3 bed - £235K

3 bed - £279

6 bed - £300K Not sure if you'd get into Motcombe from here or not, and it needs work - but wow! Look at the size of the rooms! Nice part of town too.

OK, back to what I should be doing now!

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RollingThunder · 10/02/2013 06:24

Oh wise mumsnetters please tell me about enys road, Hatfield square area, I think it's in upperton, is that right? Is it a good area?

We are looking at getting a house, should I worry the area is full of student flats or just all flats? Will there be other mums around there?

Anything you can tell me much appreciated.

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