Guildford High School - where to live?

[ghsmumsoon]

DD will be starting Reception at Guildford High School in September, and we need to move to the area by then.

We'd love to live in Guildford itself within walking distance of both the school and the train station, but realistically we need to widen the search. Can anyone give us some ideas about where else to look?

Where do families with girls at GHS junior school tend to live? We're looking for places where the logistics work well, and also want to consider the social side for DD (playdates etc).

Our main priorities are:

1. Short/easy commute into London
2. Access to the school (next to London Road station, Guildford). This can be by car since I drive to work, but ideally DH would be able to do some drop-offs/pickups on his way to/from work (in London). Also we need to consider public transport if we're not within walking distance of the school, so that DD can travel independently when she's older.
3. Easy access to the A3 towards London/ M25
4. This will be our 'forever' house so we're looking for a good size, with a garden, in a calm but not isolated location (suburban or village rather than rural).

Our budget is just over £1M.

Thank you for any suggestions!

For just over 1M you can afford to live in the centre of Guildford, not the very biggest houses but a quite adequate one. Lots of GHS girls live in pretty normal suburban houses, and lots also live in the cheapest areas as a way to afford school fees.
If you live close to the school it will make play dates etc easier, and will be good when your DD is older (both for access to town and independence).
Some do live in Onslow area, and when older they can get the bus/train across town (or just walk).

My 4 bed 4 reception house in a good rd in the centre of town is 1.2M, a neighbours slightly smaller one is 900k.
Be careful of some estate agents - some are pushy, and at least one has found a way to misleadingly price houses (it uses some kind of buy back scheme to lower the headline price for over 60s).

Live in the streets surrounding the school, especially off the Epsom road. Not many families live in onslow IME. Girls come from as far south as Cranleigh, west to Farnham, and up to weybridge even in reception so travelling to play dates is the norm.