Relocating to great abington area, advice needed?

[chumble]

Hello

I will be relocating with my family in the summer to this area (or 10 miles around). Can anyone advise of good towns, villages near by? would probably prefer a town with sutff going on.

Have one primary school age child and one preschooler.

Would be grateful for any information which may help us choose a good family home, in nice are, with good schools etc etc.....

thanks so much

any one?

Thanks

Any one today?

If you want a town but not Cambridge I'd recommend Saffron Walden. For bigger villages - Linton.

Um, Great Abington IS a village, so not sure why you want villages nearby?

Ah -- are you heading for the science park there, maybe?

The village itself has a primary school and preschool, and the science park has an onsite nursery.

Babraham (about a mile from Abington) also has a small, multicultural primary school and its own vv good nursery, but pretty much nothing else.

Secondaries nearby if you're staying long term take your pick, really; most are pretty good. Abington school and Linton Juniors feed into 'outstanding' Linton Village College (which is a secondary, despite the name); Babraham feeds into Sawston Village College, which isn't quite so hot on paper but friends' children go to and love.

Private schools Saffron Walden would give you the handy option of the Friends School again, we know kids there who love it.

Aargh, school run, must dash!

Presume the job is at Granta Park. So, that means Great/Little Abington (smallish one shop village with one primary school with around 100+ pupils); Linton (larger village) - separate Infants and Junior schools and also Linton Village College for 11-16 secondary; Balsham - good primary (Meadow School) again feeding into Linton VC at 11; the Camps (v rural) on way to Haverhill.
Avoid Haverhill if possible, though there is some nice housing (much cheaper than S Cambs) on the Cambridge side. Schools not as good as Cambs schools, though and a lot of children try to get into the Linton VC feeder schools.
To north there's Sawston - more of a small town(and cheaper than Linton), Duxford, Whittlesford, Great Shelford - all with primaries that feed into Sawston Village College.
Then, you also are easily within 10 miles of Saffron Walden - nice town with plenty of amenities, good schools - e.g. RA Butler - that feed into outstanding secondary.
But it all depends how big a place you want to live in, what sort of amenities you expect close at hand and how much you can afford to pay for a house.
All the places I've listed are within 20 minutes drive of Granta Park - and you would also be within 10 miles of Cambridge itself, should you want to look at the southern parts of the city.

Also some schools are v full this year so worth ringing cambridgeshire LA to find out which schools have places/waiting list etc

Yes, town option would be Cambridge (I know - city!) and Saffron Walden. SW would put you into Essex with a different school system though.

Otherwise you would want a "big village", to my mind one with a high st. Don't know Linton, but echo Gt Shelford & Sawston. Sawston has cheaper properties that either of the others I would think.

Have a look through some recent threads - there are some good ones on SW I think. There was a recent one re Sawston & which bits are most desirable and a thread covering Shelfords & Stapleford IIRC. Also see if you can find a thread along the lines of tell me about your village as I think that covered Linton. Would link/search but the baby is just waking up.

HTH.

That is a great help. Just beginning the research process and this helps a lot.

Thanks

Sawston's a good thought, actually, if you need to get to Abington, as there's a cycle route most of the way (lovely and flat apart from the ruddy great bridge over the A11).

The science park nursery is very good. My daughter goes there, and really enjoys it.

Can anyone tell me what they think of Sawston Secondary school in Cambridge? If you are academic will you thrive? Good teachers, happy school? Best points and worst points?

I assume you mean Sawston VC? We have friends whose children are very happy there and call it 'a fab school' (unusual among grumpy 14-yr-old girls, I'd say). Teachers tend to stay for years and send their own kids there.

Music is particularly strong, so is drama. Language are a specialism, I think (certainly they do trips to France, Russia and Germany). Apparently science is also good, with a strong after-school STEM cluband maths is getting a new block shortly.

Bad points? I've been told the DT may be less good (but that's by the above grumpy teenager and may just be her biased view). Some buildings are scruffier than others. Oh, and it's not our catchment school (sob).

You asked if academic kids would thrive there. From our scientific sample of two, I'd say yes -- there is a lot of setting, so possibly the usual problem of upper and lower sets doing better than the middle. 84% A* to C last year at GCSE.

School-to-home communication allegedly better than average, too.

Hi -I'm new to MN and am also relocating due to a new job in Cambridge. trying to get a feel for good areas and wondered if anyone had any views on Willingham, Cottenham, Over, Fen Drayton?
Looking for nice community with good school catchments. Not a massive budget (up to £400k) but looking for 3-4 bed family home....any thoughts gratefully received....thanks!