Bury St Edmunds move help

[citygirl1234567]

Hi,

We are trying to move to Suffolk with 3 children and are going to be scouting potential areas next week.
They are currently home educated.
Child 1 (9yo) needs specialist for bright kids with ASD/ADHD/dyslexia/dyspraxia etc. In our area there is nothing, hence home ed.
Child 2 (7yo) had long covid but has now recovered. We would like to put him in prep school, which isn't academically pushy (as most of Surrey schools are). He is quite sporty. Even better if it could be a school with international focus (I'm a foreigner so it appeals).
Child 3 (barely 5). Suspected ASD, but needs mainstream and small classes. State is probably better for him, but happy with similar to child 2. Lots of energy so nowhere that's all sit down learning all day from early on.
We are happy to continue home ed if nothing suitable.

So far I identified Culford and Brookes as potential. Centre academy East Anglia as specialist.
Any others?
What about areas? We would like village but close to town (15min max in car). Village to have at least a pub, shop and ideally butcher/veg shop. Scouts too somewhere close by. It must be quiet as that's why we are moving away.
We would like 4 bed and have about 600-700k.

Thank you for all ideas.

Best of luck with your move OP. I'm from East Anglia and Bury has very little traffic on MN. As you probably know the train line to London is too slow to make it a commuter area so for a long time it was an agricultural area. The growth of Cambridge and new towns / science park has of course impacted house prices anywhere commutable which Bury is. I would be interested if private schools were impacted too with more potential pupils. The best private schools in Suffolk are Framlingham College and schools around Woodbridge / Ipswich plus Wymondham College - state boarding, hard to get day places.

Hi OP
I'm a secondary teacher and live in a small village just outside Bury and there's lots which would meet your needs.
School-wise look at King Edward VI - they're excellent with SEND and have a great sporting and academic reputation. County Upper and Sybil Andrews still have some way to go to come anywhere near King Eds or St Benedict's (catholic intake).
Culford's having a wobble right now as the head was just sacked at the end of term for gross misconduct and no one knows who's going to replace him and Brooke is quite new and a bit odd imho and professional experience.
Post-16 look at Abbeygate sixth form college which has a huge range of courses and a fast growing reputation as an outstanding place to be.
If you want large village with butchers, shop etc then check out Thurston, Elmswell and the Moreton Hall parts of Bury.

Sorry - had somehow concluded that your kids were older!

For primary kids try Lawshall which is a fabulous village school in a lovely community which is super hot on internationalism and SEND. Lawshall kids are accepted into Long Melford Beavers, Cubs and (I believe) Sudbury Scouts. There's also a preschool linked to reception class.

I agrée with @RSintes about the independents - I think you’re better off going state in Bury St Eds.

Have a look at Finborough Prep. It’s fairly small and has a reputation for being not quite as pushy as some of the bigger schools.

Regarding villages, try Woolpit and Rattlesden

We were looking ourselves a while back and inyear all the schools were full. It was extremely difficult to buy and even more difficult to ensure our children would have schools to go to.

Bury states are excellent. Culford has excellent reputation for sports, but I'm talking from experience 15yrs ago and as PP said it's got bad press at the moment.

I'd go state.

Thank you all. We looked at Rattlesden, which seemed nice. Drove around quite a bit around south, inc Feltsham, then went to Horringer. Both very nice. Tbf, I'm yet to see not nice part. It's all very green and beautiful.
Re schools... any opinion on South Lee and Old Buckenham?
Thank you!

I think Fairstead House in Newmarket could be ideal for your younger two. (I'm not sure about your eldest but could be worth a look).The villages between Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds are lovely.

Frankly, your No2 sounds like a very good fit for Culford. Our Dc (similar age) goes to prep there. It is a beautiful school, with superb facilities and a wonderful caring ethos. The kids have fun, have lovely friends, lots of healthy exercise and really good teachers. Its mixed ability, not too pushy and also has the international content you're interested in. They are starting up their own Scouts group this year, but there is also copious amounts of afterschool activities to keep an energetic child busy.

OBH has a very good reputation, but is more expensive. South Lee's reputation is patchy. Not in the same league as Culford or OBH.

As for villages, I'd stay away from anywhere on the A14 corridor. All those areas are prone to large scale development. On your criteria, you might want to take a look at places like Hartest, Lawshall, Cockfield, Rattlesden or Lavenham, or the many smaller villages near these.

Thank you.
We definitely did like Lavenham!
Coming to Suffolk again soon.