To ask what part of North West England should I move to?

[CanIHaveChocolatePlease]

I hope it’s okay to put this in here, I couldn’t see a dedicated section for relocating!

I’m Irish and live in Ireland, but have wanted to live in England for a few years now for various reasons (things like more choices of shops, types of schools, towns etc, not as casual attitudes to rules etc), but I’ve come across better job/training opportunities in England than I can get in Ireland, which makes me want to live there even more now

I’d be targeting moving there late this year/early next year (yes I know I’m mad with the uncertainty of Brexit coming up but I feel that personally it’s the best choice for me!)

My preference has always been the North West region (no offence to any other areas, I like the idea of there being so many areas/towns/regions near each other and feel that the climate, lifestyle etc would suit me best)

I am hoping to do the school-based primary teaching
degree at Edge Hill uni and then work as a teaching assistant during the week, and then maybe a Saturday job in a shop to boost my funds more.

So I would like to be accessible to Ormskirk (where Edge Hill is), but also accessible to more non-student towns and cities, especially Manchester and Liverpool .

I would like to live in a decent sized town rather than in the city or in the rural countryside.

From looking up houses in the area, I think somewhere like the town of Leigh would suit me well, but I would just like people’s advice and opinions so that I wouldn’t regret my choice

I’m single so wouldn’t have to be worrying about having to bring family members over with me

Thanks in advance, I’d really appreciate people’s insights☺️

I wouldn’t recommend Wirral whilst travelling to Edge Hill. Whilst it is fab, the commute brought Liverpool is awful, particularly at rush hour.

That’s good to hear at Ormskirk doesn’t revolve around student life☺️

I’d be hoping to work and therefore get some sort of pay as a Teaching Assistant during the week and then boost it with retail work at the evenings/weekends - I know things would be tight, especially for the first while, but I think it’s the most sensible, long-term way to spend my money 🙂

Depending on the value of the house, I should already have enough saved up for a 5-10% deposit on a house, and would obviously earn as much money as I could here before I’d leave to put towards it, and I’m not a heavy spender so would be willing to spend most of my money on somewhere nice and long term for me to live and on a car and other basics

I would also try to use something like the Help To Buy scheme if I could at all as they seem to contribute towards your savings for your first house deposit

Yes I’d love to go over and visit some time to explore my options, and between cheap flights and Stena and Irish Ferries always giving me discount codes, I’m very tempted, except I don’t have a car so even if I got my licence soon I couldn’t easily be borrowing my parents car to be going to an airport or driving around another country (I think it would be easier to drive around than to rely on public transport for exploring)

I am hoping to do the school-based primary teaching degree at Edge Hill uni and then work as a teaching assistant during the week, and then maybe a Saturday job in a shop to boost my funds more.

I’d be hoping to work and therefore get some sort of pay as a Teaching Assistant during the week and then boost it with retail work at the evenings/weekends - I know things would be tight, especially for the first while, but I think it’s the most sensible, long-term way to spend my money 🙂

OP I'm not sure I understand what course you're aiming to do?
If you're on about doing schools based teacher training where you train to become a teacher on the job then you aren't going to be able to work as a TA during the week? It's a full time commitment. You could work weekends but you would not find it easy alongside the planning and marking commitment never mind the assignments.

For what it's worth I trained at Edge Hill 10 years ago and still teach at the school where I did my final placement 15mins from Ormskirk but live on the Lancashire/Greater Manchester border. There are loads of great places to live around here

Agree with Wombat. How are you going to complete your course & placements and work as a TA? And work weekends too?

Depending on the value of the house, I should already have enough saved up for a 5-10%
You need to let us know what you think your budget will be. Some of the places mentioned are expensive to buy and might be out of your price range.

I think you definitely need to get a flight /ferry and look around. Trains from Central Liverpool go to Ormskirk on the Northern Line. So you could look round Ormskirk / Burscough area. Maybe look at Maghull for a cheaper option. Northern line also takes you to Southport via Crosby / Formby / Ainsdale so nice areas to look at there. The other way from Liverpool Central and there are direct trains to the Wirral and on to Chester. You won't need a car to explore these areas if you have a few days to look around and have researched first.

I'm in Cheshire OP in a surrounding area of Northwich. It's only a market town but it's undergoing regeneration. It's great being so close to Liverpool, Manchester, Chester and Warrington.

You cant get a mortgage without a job and even on a full ta wage youd not get much of a mortgage, certainly not enough for a 3/4 bed house.

Seems bit pie in the sky to me.

Horwich ... 😊

How are you going to work as a teaching assistant and do your placements? Do you have a teaching assistant qualification?

This is the course I’d be hoping to do Edge Hill school-based primary teaching degree

It says in it that you’ve to work or volunteer in a school for at least one day a week and then go to some evenings training sessions so my preference would be to work as a TA during the week and then maybe get a Saturday/ evening jobs to boost my funds a bit more, or if not volunteer in a school for one day a week and then work in a shop or somewhere during the other days and boost my earnings that way

I definitely would be earning more money with either of those options than if I was at uni full time and could only work weekends, and not being full time in a uni environment is definitely an added bonus

I think given that I probably almost have enough for a 5-10% deposit saved up (probably enough for a house in the low £200,000s) and would be frugal and do my best to earn as much money as I could, I don’t think it’s completely unrealistic

To buy 200k house by yourself you will need to be on 40-50k a year wages.
Standard is 4 to 5x your wages

to get a mortgage for around £180k you'll need a salary of around £40k pa, possibly less (based on DDs recent checking, they're on c£50k between them and think they were offered around £200k). Also, TA positions are sought after, regardless of region. I think you may have to lower your expectations on buying quite considerably. The North West is a great place to live, and there are good opportunities here but you should probably think of the house purchase as more of a longer term goal tbh.

You can get decent house in for example Liverpool for MUCH lower prices than 200k, so it is doable, but the wages will have to match how much you have to borrow.

Not Wirral! The local politics are dire. There is some awful stuff going on in the schools and hospitals.

wirralleaks.wordpress.com

I know Leigh, and there's not much to recommend it.

Ormskirk is nice but if you want a big town nearby, then Wigan has lots of positives. Like anywhere, there are some rough areas, but Swinley / Whitley is walkable to the town centre with two train stations and bus Parks on your doorstep, a huge country park in the middle and lots,of nice pubs and restaurants. Standish, Appley Bridge, Upholland, Billinge also nice areas but not as good for easy transport. Upholland is not far from Edge Hill.

@CanIHaveChocolatePlease
I came back to say don't put all your hopes on finding a TA job that will fit around the hours the course has. Then when I read further realised that you need to be employed by a school and complete the majority of your placements through them that is going to massively limit your employment opportunities. Many schools are not going to want to take on the extra responsibilities to train you up without knowing you. You have to get the headteacher to sign off before you can start. So what you were saying before about not knowing where their linked schools are is irrelevant mostly as you need to find the school and you'll get a second 'away' school that you'll do some placements at.
I think this course is designed for current TAs who want to go on to become teachers. They have headteachers who know and rate them highly and will be willing to put the work in. There is no way you could do that course only being employed by a school one day a week even if the course overview suggest it!

Our school is a link school with Edge Hill but we very rarely take on EHU trainees anymore because they're so underprepared for the demands of teaching and learn very little from uni! We now take SCITT students mostly.

I can see why you'd want to do this course because you can earn while you do it however I really don't necessarily think it's the best approach unless you've already got TA experience and are currently employed by a school.
I'm assuming you don't already have a degree? If you do then look into a SCITT course (AMP SCITT is in the area you want to move to).

You can get decent house in for example Liverpool for MUCH lower prices than 200k

Depends what sort of area you want to live in though. I've lived in North and South Liverpool. Both areas were great places to live but not a chance of getting a 3/4 bed for £200k, never mind 'much' less

I have some NW connections and Partington and Newton Le Willows both seem nice to me.

OP I don’t get it in the first place tbh...you desire to live in the uk! I lived there for years as trained/worked as a teacher! I RAN back to Ireland!!In the wages are shit and you get treated like shit! And with brexit i am so glad I am out of there!! Are you single or do you have family going with you??

I used to live in Leigh, the cheap housing got us on the property ladder. It is definitely cheap for a reason, it's a tired town which despite having investments and it's first cinema in 20yrs and a new sports complex built hasn't improved conditions in the town.
The transport links are dire despite a large bus station. It would take ages to get to Ormskirk.

What about your course fees OP? As an Irish person you would not be entitled to UK student finance loans. Fees are around £9k a year in the UK.

If I were you, I'd look to rent near Ormskirk whilst completing your degree, then once you secure a teaching job, look to buy.

TA jobs are like gold dust, you won’t be able to work as one and study full time. Neither will you be able to get a mortgage with a low income.
Are you very young op? I don’t think you have thought this through. I would chat with your parents.

@cccameron I live in a nice and quiet area where houses are about 100k, does upper even less. It's just that the first part of postcode is not exactly the best, nor it is the worst though. Friends live under similarly looked at postcode, but have a nice quiet area for about 130k.
There are these pockets of bliss spread all over.
So yes. You can buy solid 3-4 bed in a nice and quiet area for well under 200k in Liverpool.