Life in Norfolk & Suffolk

Costessey Centre has a decent sized car park so I won't worry about parking.
As said before it's a faith school and doesn't have a catchment area as such. Many students then feed into Notre Dame, a Catholic High. I note you mention a house that you have found, can I ask which area it is in as that might shed more light on things. Also what type of property you like as well as your needs and wants in the area. One thing you may want to consider is good access to the A11 probably from Hethersett to the villages south of Attleborough( we live in one of those villages on the A11 corridor) as it was to make my husbands commute a bit easier as he is often in Birmingham. Then identify suitable villages from there and look at schools. Regarding schools I would suggest you obviously consider results but don't be too sucked in by them as their Ofsted rating can change over night! You really need to visit some villages and schools to see what works for you as well as houses as what's on paper or online doesn't reflect the true picture( we went through this at the time!).
Feel free to pm me.

Use BT for broadband, and for mobile (they use the EE network). Where we live, mobile signal is good, but down in our village itself, which is in a dip, mobile signal is very poor/non existent. I switch to using data on my phone if our broadband is having a very slow day (have a very cheap family SIM contract with BT)

Hartismere and Thomas Mills both excellent high schools as well - have known friends with children at all of them, who have had good experiences.

Our local primary school, which is very small, has recently had a slightly disappointing Ofsted (though it was good when my children were there and they were very happy and did well), I believe Debenham Primary has good reputation (but places may be in short supply), also Stonham Aspal and Earl Soham seem to be popular locally.

I live in a village about 3 miles from Debenham - think the commute to Bedford, even just twice a week, is a long way, as mentioned up thread traffic on the A14 round Cambridge is dreadful at rush hour. Debenham is a bit of a drive from the A14 though. We love our village and the area in general, only half an hour from the coast (Aldeburgh), 20 mins from Woodbridge, and trains to London from Ipswich take just over an hour.

Both my children went to Debenham High School and did really well, but it is only up to Year 11, so one went to Farlingaye (Woodbridge )for 6th form, the other to Northgate (Ipswich). Debenham has quite a large catchment area.

I work from home, broad band is currently slow but adequate (I do on-line training using join.me/skype) but fibre broadband is being rolled out gradually in the local villages.

There is a Drs surgery in Debenham (with other surgeries in the same practice in Otley and Grundisburgh) and we have not had any problems getting appointments etc. We go to Ipswich for any hospital treatment, dentist etc. Debenham has a small Co Op, plus butchers, bread shop, flower shop etc, bigger supermarkets in Ipswich, Stowmarket, Woodbridge and Framlingham. The latter two are great for small town, varied high street type shopping.

OP I lived within spitting distance of St. Augustine’s (less than a minute walk) and couldn’t get my 2 children in.

It’s a catholic faith school, with many of the staff from the local university hospital taking up places...good luck tho.

My friends live in mulbarton - a new housing estate has just gone up there. The elder daughter was a weekly boarder and there is a school bus that picks them up for hethersett.

Kharo
Can I just ask re St Augustine's - do you specifically want a Catholic primary school?

I live not far from the Cambridge border and can confirm that A14 is an absolute nightmare during rush hour.
You really have to be wary of secondary schools in the Norfolk area - they are truly diabolical which is a shame as there are some fabulous primary schools around.
Friends of ours moved closer to Norwich to be within Hethersett catchment area and their eldest has just sat her A levels at Wymondham.
Rural bus services can be poor so just be aware that you will be the taxi driver as your children get older.

We can walk to our local train station to get to Ely/ Cambridge and London but I tend to drive to Norwich - everything seems to take about an hour!!
Internet can definitely be a bit patchy so if you need to work from home this will be an important consdieration

Wymondham High is ofsted good and supposed to be a good high school.
My dd is at Hethersett Academy (a few miles from Wymondham) which is ofsted outstanding and a lovely school which gets really good results.

We have a landline which is fine, superfast broadband is being rolled out but in my experience it is happening more slowly in rural Suffolk than it was in rural Cambridgeshire, but Debenham is a sizeable village with a lot of businesses so fibre BB might be in existence there already (it has come to a very small village near here but is hit and miss as to which houses get it). I get 6Mbps download and between 0.1 and 0.4 upload. If you are on Facebook Debenham has it's own page, might be worth asking on there what their BB experiences are?

Hi
I live in Norfolk with my family and we love it here. We lived here previously then moved away for 7 years due to work but have been back for 13 years.I note you ask about Costessey, is it a particular school you want your children to attend? Also what ages are your children and a idea of budget and house requirements will help me point you in the right direction.
I currently work in Education but previously sold property in Norfolk.

Having said all that I love Suffolk life. My partner has recently moved up from Kent and doesn't miss the hassle of the M25 and the commuter belt at all.

I live near Eye, my family live in Bedford, the A14 is a pig of a road especially around the M11 junction and so is the A1 around the Black Cat roundabout.

I go to Norwich for shopping, Eye is quaint but there is not much more than a small Co-Op, a few cafes and some quirky little shops. Diss has more to offer but not in the way of clothes shopping etc.

Communities around here tend to be really friendly and welcoming, there is always something going on in our very tiny village. Most villages have a doctors surgery within a reasonable distance and for hospitals I go to Ipswich but could opt for the West Suffolk at Bury St.Edmunds. Lots of villages have busy village halls or pubs that lay on family events. I would say a car is essential round these parts, I am currently unable to drive and I am stranded unless DP is home to ferry me about. Debenham is better served by buses and there are railway stations at Diss, Needham Market, Ipswich and Norwich that serve London but the services don't run all night. The road network round here isn't great, there are few dual carriageways and lots of narrow lanes with passing places, it is a standing joke that everything in Suffolk/Norfolk is an hour away. My office is 27 miles from home but it regularly takes an hour to cover the journey even without rush hour. The internet tends to be shite in the villages and lots of areas struggle with mobile phone signal (when I am at work I work across county, lots of our team struggle to get a signal on our phones in many of the home we work in).

What's your budget for a house? Bedrooms etc?