Moving from The Netherlands to South East England/London.

[viciousrabbits]

Hello, everyone!
DH,two DD's and myself need your help on deciding where to live.
My DH is British and I'm British/Dutch.
We currently live in Hilversum near Amsterdam and originally wanted to move to England before the new school year starts but I don't think that's going to happen, so the second option is we move before or right after Christmas.
DH works in Bromley now and I have to travel a lot for my job so we need to live near a train station.
DH is willing to travel for max. 2 hours to Bromley and 2 hours back.
We have a DD aged 17 and a DD aged 7 so we also need to look at primary and secondary schools.
Our budget is 350,000 for a 2/3 bed.+ a garden that can fit a medium sized trampoline.
We thought about moving to London (Highbury area) since we have friends there but it's too expensive for our taste.
We looked at places like Arundel, Brighton, Farnham, Canterbury, Windsor and Battle. I really like Arundel but there isn't a secondary school in Arundel. DD17 really likes Brighton but I don't. Farnham is nice but also expensive and so are Canterbury and Windsor.
Battle is nice too and has secondary schools but it's too far away from any good cities/towns (except for Hastings and I've heard it's not a nice place.)
So, do you have any advice on what to do? Good schools? Nice towns with a train station/easy access to London? Thank you for helping!

[LIZS]

If dd is already 17 she may find it easier to get into a 6th form or FE college than a school. getting into Bromley from M25 could be a headache. South coast and Farnham could all be pushing 2 hours. Are you looking at state schools ? I'd suggest you focus on north Kent/ SE London tbh. Maybe Sevenoaks, Maidstone or Dartford areas ?

[Hobbes8]

Is that 2 hours driving or do you need to get the train? I'd say Windsor is too far. There's plenty of nice places in Kent or East Sussex. Tunbridge Wells is very nice, although a bit pricy. Whitstable is lovely if you want to be by the coast. I live on the East Sussex coast and I love it. Close to brighton for teenagers and a good bus service, but a nice quiet village and we can see the South Downs out of the window.

[viciousrabbits]

LIZS: I'm not sure because the UK school system is different from the Dutch school system and I have no idea since I grew up in Holland.

[LIZS]

Just thinking you may struggle to find a place of your choice for dd2 in either sector.

[viciousrabbits]

Hobbes8: Yes, that is 2 hours driving for DH and I need to get the train to get to Heathrow/Gatwick or to get on the Eurostar.

[LIZS]

Tonbridge? Ebbsfleet/Ashford convenient for Eurostar

[Bonsoir]

Schooling would be my biggest worry. Most schools won't take 17 year olds - entry point is at 16.

[MrsLettuce]

Hmm, I live in NL and have for 10+ years.

TBH I'd never, ever move to the UK while my children (now 5 & 6) are still school age - the dutch system, with all it's faults, is infinitely preferable to the lottery that is education in the UK. Do you really have to?