How annoying is it living near a school?

[emilyjeff]

So, we're looking to move, seen a lovely house that ticks all our boxes. The only possible negative I can see is its proximity to a secondary school. Its probably about 150 metres from the school main entrance although not in the same road as the school if that makes sense.
So interested to get peoples opinion on how much of an issue its likely to be please? Thinking really about parking/ traffic although DH and DS leave home about 7.30 returning 5.30/ 6ish so unlikely to affect them. I work from home.
Thanks 😊

I live near a high school and it's not a problem. All the kids seem to walk and there are just a few extra cars.

However growing up I lived near a very posh prep school and that was as nightmare at pick up time.

I have lived near to schools for twenty years, Primary and Secondary. But I live in London, where you pretty much need to live on the doorstep of a school to guarantee entry.

I don't even notice most of the time.

With the Secondary, parents' evenings and Open Evenings are a hassle for parking. We've learned to not take the car out of its parking space on those days, or resign ourselves to parking a long way away.

With the Primary, there was an up-tick in cars in the morning and afternoon - but not enough to notice.

Noise - I scarcely noticed.

However, there were considerable upsides - but those were based on having children in the school. Really easy to get to school; I could wave to child at playtime; they could come home for lunch when older.

Obviously, those upsides won't be an issue if yo don't have children at the school.

Reading the other posts on this is fascinating.

I think it really depends on where the school is and what it's like, OP.

I've never experienced any behaviour issues from the children. And we've been here 15 years.

It depends on the quality of school. We live quite near two secondary schools - one is Ofsted outstanding and the boys are very well behaved and don't trouble locals at all.

The other is, well, it's the school that you dread your child having to go to and the pupils illustrate why. They hang on street corners, smoking, swearing, dropping crisp packets, not getting out of the way of pedestrians, and they cross the busy road very slowly to wind up motorists, giving them V signs etc as they go.

A lot depends on the school, it’s size and how often it is used out of school hours. I’d be more wary of secondary.

We live near a prep school and because the terms are short and they don’t rent the facilities of an evening it’s ok. However, pick up time is bad because there are lots of v inconsiderate drivers. They also take the piss a bit by using the loudspeaker during PE and they don’t often adhere to noise regulations when they have big events.

If you're not on the same road and don't mind about 8:30-9 and 3-3:30 then you are probably OK.
However there are also these key evening events which may create traffic and parking problems in the evenings

• open evening
• parents evenings
• school drama / music performances

Interesting to read all of this. I agree it probably depends on the school - we don't have any issues with behaviour/fighting or litter etc...we are in an affluent SE town and they are both grammars so maybe that helps. (However there was a phase where open drug dealing was going on from cars parked on the routes the children took home, which thankfully seems to have ceased in more recent (prepandemic) times....!)

Thanks for all the responses everyone, didn't realise it would be such a popular thread!
I dont think parking will be too much of a problem tbh, the house is in a side road and our car/s will be on the driveway and not likely to want to go out during drop off and pick up times.
My boys are over 16 so won't be attending the school but there is a gym that the public can use for cheap monthly fee so DH and I quite interested in that.
Hadn't really considered kids walking and their behaviour etc though. Its difficult with the lockdown otherwise I could have gone for a nosey! Might go check out their ofsted now, have a look on the community Facebook page etc for a bit more research
Thanks all :)

I live about 10 houses from the school entrance. The main irritant is parents parking across the drive blocking you in. Also with cars parked on both sides narrows the street to single lane and idiots will argue who has right of way.

This is only an issue during parents evening and pick up and drop off.

Otherwise it's very convenient if you have school aged children

I lived on the main walking path from the secondary school, and next to a community centre. I actually loved the ten minutes of chatter outside every day as they walked home, and the coming and goings at the centre. Some people would absolutely hate it though!

I had a house that was on a road off the main road to the school and traffic at home time was brutal
A couple of times on a day when there was a big sporting event all the local roads were used as parking , my cul de sac was filled with cars and I couldn't access my drive or park roadside for at least a mile but that was only around 3 times per season.
An upside was the children playing in the field at lunch time as background noise was really nice and I'm not a kiddy person !

What sort of secondary school is it? A super desirable one with a cut off distance of mere metres might be easier to live near than a less desirable one where children come in from all over. At least the one with a tiny catchment shouldn't have too many children being driven in.

I live round the corner from a huge campus with 3 schools on it. Where I live many children seem to still walk to school so traffic really isn’t an issue. I live in a very deprived area though the few roads around the school are not. The headteacher of the secondary school which my DS attended has zero tolerance and is incredibly tough. Teachers stand at the cross roads near the top of my road at school opening and closing times to supervise behaviour.

I live close to a primary school and not very far from a secondary as the crow flies. I occasionally hear noise from the secondary but that's the only issue and it's only if I am outside, so that's not a problem at all.

With the primary it is the parking. Some parents are so dopey about the way they park. It's not generally that bad on normal days and the local traffic wardens come round from time to time and give out a few tickets which stops people eg blocking turning areas or parking in double yellows. But it does mean that I can't really go out between 8.30-9 or 3-3.30 as there is so much traffic around.

The problem comes when there is a school event like a school fete. Then people come on eg a Saturday afternoon and put their cars everywhere, not giving a toss if they block you in.

When I park somewhere I check and double check that I am not in anyone else's way but the yummy mummy SUV brigade really don't give a monkeys.

If you want to talk about issues with parking and screaming children - I live opposite a nursery! Almost everyone drives to drop off and pick up their kids, so they try to park as close as possible and will be a while with the car door open into the middle of the road or blocking the pavement fiddling with car seats. Plus staff park along the road as it only has a couple of spaces for I presume the senior staff. Most days there will a baby or toddler having a meltdown at some point, being taken in or out. It's just life, but it's not a selling point for this bit of the road for sure...