Moving outside of London

[Brycee]

Hi Ladies,

I want to move outside of London, not too far maybe as far as Birmingham.

Please could you recommend areas.

I have a 12yr old daughter, so there needs to be a black presence. She can’t be the only black child in the school 👀

I’m putting my property on the market, at the end of April.

Thank you

😊

Wow you are looking at a big area!

Don't go to Norfolk!

How about Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire or Warwickshire? What' your budget and what sort of school do you want for your DD?

I’ve looked at all those places, ideally I need to narrow down some areas, and visit.

No way am I expecting areas to be as diverse as London, I’m being realistic.

My daughter will be attending a State school, but she goes into Year 9 (Options) in September.

I will be looking for a 2-3 bedroom house

My budget is £300-375k

Why are you moving out of london? For a job or for a better climate or because you want a safer area?

You really have a lot of options tbh.

Some more info would help narrow things down without a lot I would recommend Watford.

Nice town where you can get a 2 bed in your budget. It has a tube station. It’s also quite diverse.

Dartford is another town where you can get a 3 bed. It has growing diversity and is close to london.

Here’s an ethnicity map that could be useful: datashine.org.uk/#table=QS201EW&col=QS201EW0015&ramp=YlOrRd&layers=BTTT&zoom=13&lon=-0.3500&lat=51.6260

Thank you ❤️

What about Reading?

If your daughter will be in year 9 in Sept you might want to take a look at Bedfordshire. The county is moving towards 2 tier but still lots of the county is 3 tier with children staying upper school in year 9. Could help your dd settle in as everyone else is new to the school that year and the friendship groups re establish. There are some nice towns with spaces in the upper schools for year 9 in Sept such as Cedars Upper in Leighton Buzzard. You'd get a decent house in a nice area with your budget and it's on the main train line down to London and not far from the M1. Leighton is not massively multi cultural but there is a small Black community.

*should say starting, not staying upper school - doh!

@Brycee Also Milton Keynes is a good shout.

@pisspants what do you mean by two tier education?
@Brycee for 350K consider Tring, Apsley, Aylesbury Hatfield and the likes. Good schools with opportunities to work in London if you wish.

@Delectable at the moment there's lower (reception to yr 4),middle (yr 5 to 8) and upper school (yr 9 to 13), but if it goes 2 tier then it would just be regular primary and secondary school.

Reading and increasingly Basingstoke are diverse. Basingstoke is the cheaper of the two.

@pisspants that sounds American. Do you have thoughts on which you prefer and why?

@Delectable I think part of the reason they're moving away from it is because the results are not as good, i think partly because it takes time for the new schools to get to know the new pupils and that happens twice rather than just once.
I think it has some advantages with 3 tier as the children get more specialised teaching earlier plus better facilities like science labs, but also they lose the nurturing of a primary school a bit too early so it makes the younger one's grow up a bit too young, but on the flipside, the year 8s are the oldest so it keeps the older ones younger.

Reading
Cardiff (Too far?)
Essex
Bristol
Brighton

I'd love to move to Birmingham. My dh is from there and we have family there. To me it just seems such a happy place and just the kind of diverse place that would make for an inclusive upbringing. I am always amazed how many English people always slate it and take the mick out of dh from being from there. I personally dont see why myself. Lovely housing, lots of job opportunities and everywhere we have been over the last 20 years have welcomed us with open arms. I am not from the uk so there is often class and snobbery "things" I dont see becuase I am not brought up with it. But yes, if I could convince dh to move there, I'd pack my bags today.

I think some people are forgetting the original question. Tring, Apsley, Leighton Buzzard are nice places but not what the OP is looking for. My DC go to school in LB and there are no black children in one of their classes and one in the other. Very very few in the whole school.

[quote mumsqna]Here’s an ethnicity map that could be useful: datashine.org.uk/#table=QS201EW&col=QS201EW0015&ramp=YlOrRd&layers=BTTT&zoom=13&lon=-0.3500&lat=51.6260[/quote]
Wow so interesting!

@Lndnmummy I don't disagree there are some great communities in Brum take Moseley or Yardley. I spent a good 10 years there and still have family there. Always love going back.

@pisspants thanks. That makes sense.

Love the map.

Reading is diverse and its town centre has really improved recently.