Relocating to Chester

[JLM21]

Hi Mums
I’m a new member but found this site so useful in the past. You mums are an awesome resource!
We are planning to return to England next year, from living abroad with our 2 young children, and think Chester will tick most of our boxes.
We’re looking for a good primary school to ideally feed into equally good secondary, would consider grammar but probably not private at this stage. Hoping to get a village/ community feel with easy access to the city. Safe and family friendly area absolute priority. Any information or advice on which areas to look at gladly received! Thanks so much 😊

Have a look at Christleton and surrounding areas OP, the primary schools are good and the secondary school is very well regarded. You can walk along the canal into Chester.

Thanks Zhx3 👍🏼
Any back up suggestions too? Not sure how much availability there will be re housing/ school places, so good to have a few to consider

Chester is lovely! Upton (where the zoo is) had a lovely primary school many years ago - don't know about now. But there are lots of lovely areas around Chester.

Christleton is lovely , I second that. If you are working in the area though some of the villages towards Helsby such as Kingsley, Tarporley etc might be good options . Really it depends where you will be working though. Wirral though still has grammar schools so maybe also look at Heswall, Hoylake, etc- lots of nice places with good schools throughout the area. Really you need a couple of days in the area to drive around. (Also relocated from abroad with small children and same/area and thinking)

Most of the schools in Chester are pretty good, if I'm honest. South of the river (only 5-10 minutes' walk into town!) you have Belgrave, Eccleston and Overleigh primaries, which feed into the Catholic High School and Queen's Park High Schools. Queen's Park had a bad past reputation but the Head has been there for a few years now and she's doing some great work - think last Ofsted was good but you'd need to check.

Upton High also has a good reputation and Bishop's High, sorry, I don't know the main feeder primaries for those two. Those are all easy walking and biking distance from central Chester.

Further afield, there are good village primaries in Mickle Trafford, Guilden Sutton and the Great Barrow areas, not sure which secondaries they feed into, but I think it would be the ones listed above. There are 5 grammar schools on the Wirral (West Kirby Girls, Calday Boys, Wirral Girls and Boys and Upton (different from Upton in Chester)).

I love living in Chester and the dc are happy! Please feel free to ask any questions.

Chester is amazing! Feeder schools for upton high include upton heath and Mill View. Both great schools.
Hoole is lovely too

Christleton, guilden sutton, mickle trafford all have great primaries and secondaries.

*feed into great secondaries I should say

I grew up in the Wirral and it's a lovely area if you don't want to be in Chester itself.

Don't move to the village of Hollyoaks. Crime rates are really high!

Thanks ladies, sounds like a good place to be! I guess we will need a drive around, but great to hear how much you enjoy living there.
I presume with schools you need to live ‘in catchment’ to get a place?

Generally I would say yes, you have a better chance if you live in catchment, although Bishop's takes children from a wide area, including not Chester. There are buses which take Chester children to the West Kirby and Calday grammar schools, but it's quite a distance.

If you want to live more rurally, also have a look at Bishop Heber High school in Malpas, which has a good reputation. Friends living in Rossett (about 10-15 min drive south of Chester) send their children there.

We're only 10 minutes from the Welsh border, so plenty of opportunities for getting out out to the mountains on a nice weekend!

Bishop Heber is a great secondary. Farndon is a lovely village About 15 mins out of Chester which feeds into that school.
Mill View in Upton is supposed to be great but very oversubscribed.
Hoole is also a lovely area and some great primary’s there. Not sure on the secondary schools for that area but I’m sure you’d find a good one as there are generally some great schools on the outskirts of Chester.

I think in the last year or so only children from the Wirral were accepted for the grammar schools. The exam is taken in the Autumn of Year 6. In addition to Calday Boys and West Kirby Girls there are two Catholic Grammars. Then there is Wirral Grammar. Neston High School has a good reputation. Bear in mind most of the Wirral schools are single sex. Chester and the Wirral are lovely places to live but like any other there are places to avoid. I think this info is correct.

Thank you for all the info. Plenty to get started on...
I’d also be grateful for tips on where to avoid please, as you say this is the same everywhere!

Ps. Love love love the prospect of living close to Welsh mountains!

Bacon and the lache gets a bad rep

I think flamingo means Blacon! If you want the mountains and the sea you could consider Llandudno or Rhos on Sea but the population has a lot of retired people. Hawarden in Flintshire is nice. Mold has a busy market and lots of villages around. Good schools in both places and near Moel Fammau and the Clwydian Range.

Yes I did mean blacon!!! 😂 😂 😂 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ Was writing and walking!!! Having said that though I'm pretty sure there are nicer areas within them

Gorgeous place. I live about 20 minutes away and did some of my teacher training in Upton and it was really nice.

It all depends on how much money you've got. A few million may get you a house in Curzon Park overlooking the river and racecourse. A detached in Queens Park will set you back 750K to 1M+. Belgrave Park about 550-800K. Westminster Park about 400-500K. Eccleston is pretty but nothing ever comes up for sale (I think the Duke owns it all and they never sell land or property.)

Blacon is beautiful, highly recommended it.....

I went to Christleton High! I think most of my teachers are dead though.

Heber is quite out of the way but it’s a good school. Personally I like Hoole. Lots of nice shops and very central.

I'm not all that familiar with Chester other than the city centre, I lived on the Wirral for a while (went to WKGS). The Wirral is a great option actually, convenient for Liverpool, Chester and North Wales. Look at Hoylake & Heswall as a PP said, also Irby, West Kirby, Caldy. Don't be put off by Birkenhead either, some parts are actually quite beautiful!

Frodsham/Alvanley/Manley are great places to live