Sevenoaks - state primary, Caterham and grammars

[Zig10]

Hi mums,

We are hoping to move to Sevenoaks and have children in primary and secondary.

We would like the you youngest to go to state primary and maybe grammar for secondary.

Our eldest will go to Caterham school.

We are considering several areas: Riverhead, Montreal Road, Amherst Road, also the more leafier south side near Grassy Lane/Kippington.

Any tips on areas to avoid, any red flags related to any of these areas?

Sevenoaks Primary seems super well located centrally so if they have spaces, could be an option. Has anyone got children attending this school?

We are not worried about having a huge house or huge garden but would like to be somewhere safe, low crime and not too noisy (i.e., not too close to big busy roads).

We have a preference to 20min max walking to Sevenoaks train station but south of Sevenoaks is a bit further away - have any of you made the choice of smaller house but more central vs more space and more green but need to drive to station?

Also, does it matter for getting a grammar school place where you are located in Sevenoaks (as distance to school is measured to two schools in TW, not their annexes in Sevenoaks)?

Thanks a lot !

TW schools catchment areas don't habitually include Sevenoaks hence the annexes in Sevenoaks. If you want TW Grammars then you'd be better off going towards Hildenborough/Tonbridge.
Tonbridge Grammars will consider Sevenoaks including Judd if your DC is male.
There are no unsafe/bad areas in Sevenoaks but Bat and Ball/Bradbourne is considered down market vs other areas just because that's where the ex-council properties are.

If you are looking at Kippington then your budget won't be an issue. Lady Boswells primary is excellent and the area between the station and the school is lovely (The Drive, Hitchen Hatch etc.)

Thought I had responded to this before today. Suggest you check out where the C dedicated shuttle bus stops and look within easy walk of there. (They often have bulky kit to take to and fro). Even if you don't plan to use it from outset it can be useful later on when you are juggling school runs or as a late bus.

www.caterhamschool.co.uk/about/transport/

Many thanks. Could I please check what the “Bradbourne area” would be on the map? There is Bradbourne Road (is this ok and streets around it ok too?) and Bradbourne Lakes and Bradbourne sandlots so I’m trying to gage the area!

We really want to be in Sevenoaks but I guess my question around the Grammar schools was, that if academic results are tied and they take into account distance to schools as part of the oversubscription criteria, are you at a disadvantage if you are further away from TW or Tonbridge because they measure distance from the main school not the annexes in Sevenoaks?

thank you