best family neighborhood Newcastle

[Sarmarl]

Hello, I am moving to Newcastle in the next few months. We now live in Durham, but I am from the US so don't know how things work here very well. I am looking for a neighborhood that my daughter who is 7 can make friends. Where kids play in the neighborhood. Where we live now in Durham this doesn't happen, there are no kids in our neighborhood. Of course we want a good school, but I don't understand why you would move to a neighborhood for the schools if you are not guaranteed a place for your child. Do you just go on a waitlist, and then your kid has to change schools again. We have moved so much for my husbands work, and really want my daughter to get settled in a school (forever). Not have to keep changing schools, make new friends etc. She is an only child, and has had to move so much, it's really taking its toll on her emotionally to move so much and she isn't making many friends in school. We have looked at Gosforth, Great park, Whitley Bay. I work from home, my husband will commute, 20-30 min max. I'm just really searching for a neighborhood where my daughter is likely to make friends in the neighborhood, and have kids to play with after school and on weekends. We are just going to rent for a while, before buying to give us some time to get to know the place. Thanks for any help or input.

I grew up in Fenham, which has a lovely community feel, centred around the shops on Fenham Hall Drive and the church if you’re religious (Catholic). There are various areas you could look at, the coastal towns are fab, but you pay a premium for being there. There’s a North east chat thread somewhere.

Tynemouth if you can afford it.

Fenham now is very different to Fenham 20-30 years ago IME and I'd consider a lot of it to be pretty rough now especially towards the top end of Fenham Hall Drive where it merges into the Queensway/Kingsway estate and Two Ball Lonnen. We moved away from there for this reason.

Whitley Bay has a nice community feel, is fairly child-centric, and has good/outstanding schools, property prices aren't too bad either. You could also look at surrounding areas such as Wellfield, Cullercoats, Holywell, Seaton Delaval, Seaton Sluice, and parts of Cramlington.

I live in Cramlington. The whole town is connected by a network of large cyclepaths with no traffic, a very safe place for children to play. Lots of parks and green areas and there are loads of young families. If you go out for a walk you will always see kids playing out. Theres good primary schools, a big shopping centre with cinema and restraunts, and a really good large leisure centre with a spa, swimming pool, gym, bowling alley softplay and climbing wall. My kids are in early 20s now but loved growing up here. Public transport is a bit hit and miss, but there is a trainlink to Newcastle.