Bournemouth,Christchurch and Poole

[Umamoon]

Hi there,
Just needing some advice from anyone who may have relocated from the north of England to Bournemouth,Christchurch or Poole or anyone who wants to share their experiences & knowledge of the area.
We are a family of 4, boy aged 11 and girl aged 10 looking for a friendly,family area fairly near to beaches&good mixed gender schools(I've noticed most schools in area either boys or girls schools.) Our kids have been in same class in a tiny rural school for last 3 years and are almost like twins..they are good friends and want to go to the same school (although not sure how long this will last 😂😂)
We are not at all pretentious in terms of living in a 'good area' - we've lived in some areas that have been described as less privelaged (to put it politely) and areas of affluence and have met wonderful people across both.
We're particularly looking at Hamworthy,Poole as our son is crazy about football&I believe there's a good youth football club there? Also any thoughts on Carter community school in Poole? Really like what I see on their website but I've read mixed reviews on here.
Thanks so much for reaching my very long&rambling post..any info greatly appreciated! Liz

we live in dorset and love it, having moved from other areas. personally i think i would try and rent a while before buying so you can better gauge the areas. some places, eg some areas of christchurch have very high numbers of retired people. poole has some very expensive areas and also some very poor areas. You will also have to accept holiday traffic/tourists in the summer especially if you are in these towns as they are near the beaches

Schools in dorset are mixed normally, though the grammars in poole/bournemouth are definately separate gender.....not sure about the comps.

what work will you do? There arent a lot of well paid jobs here and lots are based around tourism or looking after old people. so the income v cost of living is not nearly so great as a load of places in the north

unless your son is going to do football professionally i personally wouldnt have this as my main criteria. if he is that good then he could potentially play at county level couldnt he?

Thanks so much for your message dreamingofsun really appreciate your advice. I know what you mean about renting but we have to choose an area pretty soon so can get Sam into a decent high school (need an address to register). We both work from home so can bring our work wherever we go which is a blessing right now! As far as the football goes that's definitely not our main criteria..being in a safe,friendly area in a house with a garden is our priority,we don't have a huge budget (450k max) so this limits our search to certain areas but having done a bit of research on crime/poverty rate compared to where we live now I think even the less desirable areas of BCP will be an improvement! The quality of life here is sadly declining at a greater rate than the south..there is literally nothing for our kids to do outside of school and don't even get me started on the weather! 😂⛈️ Glad you love living in Dorset..what do you enjoy most about it compared to where you lived before?

I live in Christchurch, grew up in Swanage. I love Christchurch because its close enough to big shops and supermarkets to not feel rural, has beaches and the New Forest on the doorstep and the schools are great

We're in Poole and love it. It's a grammar area - the grammars are single-sex and the non-grammars are mixed. It's tricky at the moment but you really need to visit schools to get a proper feel for them. Carter hasn't got a great rep. In terms of secondary schools, Poole High, Lytchett and St Edwards are the more well-regarded non-grammars. There is also an area (Broadstone) that has the three-tier system (first, middle and high) which might work for you considering the age of your children as they stay at middle school till yr8 so would allow them to settle a bit. Your main issue will probably be school places as most schools are oversubscribed, especially if you're trying to get them into same school. I don't really know much about Hamworthy I'm afraid but steer well clear of nearby Turlin Moor. There are a few good youth football teams locally - Poole Town, Lilliput and AFC Bournemouth has an academy and also runs a lot of community sessions. My son plays for Lilliput and there are multiple teams for each age group and a lovely community spirit down there.

Like a PP I grew up in Christchurch, specifically Highcliffe. It is very much full of retired people but also lots of families, and the primary and secondary schools are good.

You could get something like this there: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73223886#/

Make sure it's in Highcliffe catchment not The Grange though!!

Thanks so much for all your help..just wondering if anyone could be more specific about Carter community school..eg.is it behaviour related or quality of teaching or other reasons? Guess we're drawn to is as it's a small school with good outdoor facilities like our kids are in now..I now they weren't oversubscribed last year but there's usually a reason for that!

what do we like here - and bear in mind i dont actually live in the towns you mention - we like that we are near the sea and lovely countryside. we like the weather which is generally warmer than the north. its not super far from london so you can get a bit of big city if you need it. i prefer here to places further west (eg devon/cornwall) as the roads arent too bad - there are lots of decent A roads.

one of my kids went to uni in the north and initially he found it a bit of a shock - mainly the crime rate. on saying that you get crime here of course. also the people have a reputation across the south for not being as friendly as those in the north

agree with posters comments higher up about areas of poole - there are some really nice/expensive ones and some really rough areas - one of our football kids got hit by another in the game there.....

@namechange30455 did you go to Highcliffe School? I was there in the late 80s.

Hamworthy can be an issue because of the bridges, if the bridges are up you have to drive the long way round so it depends on which school they’re at, your job and where it is etc. It would drive me crazy relying on the bridges!

I would have a look at Parkstone - lower parkstone more expensive, upper Parkstone less so.

I went to grammar and can’t tell you much about secondaries I’m afraid, but I know Carter doesn’t have a great reputation.

It’s a lovely area to live in, but very expensive in parts.

a lot of people i know live in southbourne (check for subsidence though i could be wrong on this) and westbourne which all look nice places to live. or around queen's park in bournemouth. No idea about property prices though.....or what the comps are like. The grammar was fine but may have changed now and is very hard to get into

I would echo the bridge point - the new one has had a load of problems and they've just had to delay repairs again. It causes chaos over that side of town. For your budget, you can still find houses in lower Parkstone, but also there are some nice roads in Oakdale, and Broadstone has a nice villagey community feel. Be really careful with high school catchments . Our house is about three miles from Poole High - when my daughter moved up to secondary four years ago she would have easily got in but now it's more popular you need to be within 2 miles to get in. Places like Westbourne are a bit of a no-man's land in terms of school places unless your child passes 11+. Poole High has an academic stream but also don't discount the grammars if your children are academic. I've got a child at both and I've been particularly impressed with the boys' school.