Moving to Watford

[TheGoldRobin]

Hi all!

I’m moving to the UK for the first time and will be settling in Watford (WD17 area). I’d really appreciate your advice on a few things:

How is Watford for families? Is it safe and does it offer good amenities for children?

Are there specific neighborhoods or streets within WD17 that I should avoid, or any that come highly recommended?

My daughter is 12 years old and considering we are moving in year(April), how should I go abt checking vacancies with school. Since she has missed 11+ grammar exams held last year, can I request south west consortium to reconsider her for examination now.

Pls guide, I am terribly confused as all good and excellent schools in this area are over subscribed.

WD17 includes the Cassiobury area and part of Nascot Wood area, both of which are desirable places to live.

can I request south west consortium to reconsider her for examination now
You can request, but they won't be able to accommodate this.
(a) Logistics: they only run it on one day in early September.
(b) Standardisation: the test is designed and the scores standardised for children who were 10 (and under 11) at the end of August.

Once you have a local address, you can make an in-year application to schools under the criterion of distance, but not for one of the specialist (academic aptitude, music aptitude) places.

WGGS is likely to be oversubscribed for your daughter's year group but you could look at Croxley Danes.

For the budget, can you go somewhere else? If you move a bit closer to London, with better transport, your kids will have better autonomy and can travel to places herself. Unless you get into Watford girls, I don't think it is worth living there. The Euston train is expensive and packed.

All these questions seem relative from where you've come from. If you've come from a rough part of Kingston, Watford is one of the safest places in the world for families. If you've come from a rural Icelandic village, Watford is nightmarishly scary and everyone will want to hurt you.

@Fartypants83 we are moving to London from India...pls suggest now

@3b1g the only problem is that in Watford all schools belong to south west consortium and administration to that group is through test which we can't give now, so unable to understand.

How to check if croxley danes has vacancies available for in year admission...pls suggest

Nascot Wood and Cassiobury are nice pockets of Watford. I live in Oxhey Village which is also desirable and considered a nice pocket of Watford. However, if you have a choice, I wouldn't move to Watford.

I have 4 children, preteens to teenagers and dread them going out around here.

I would move in a heartbeat but I need the Bushey to Euston train to have easy access to my hospital appointments at UCLH.

https://www.croxleydanes.org.uk/877/in-year-admissions

Hi, we are looking to move to the Bushey/Oxhey area. 2 kids and looking for a London commute and good schools. Why do you dread your kids going out in the area?

I have lived in the area for over 50 years. Most of the schools are very good, transport is excellent. It is not a cute shire market town, it’s an outer London suburb essentially with the fairly low crime rates associated with that. It now has a very nice, food and drink based High street which is well policed. A perfectly pleasant place to live with excellent connections to London which are very useful if your children want interesting jobs or internships. I just don’t recognise the description of being scared for your children.