Moving to Worthing

[iamamyp]

Hi there, me and my family are hoping to move to Worthing or nearby next year to be near my family in Hove. If anyone has any advice on nice areas to live and schools of course, I would really appreciate it. We live in Leeds at the moment and have lots of lovely friends here but really want to be near family and out of the city. Am very daunted about moving somewhere I hardly know and don't have any friends though! Thank you.

Hi! I live in Hove at the minute but am in the process of buying a house in worthing - i'm born and bred worthing too so i know the area well :)

There are lots of nice area's. Goring is generally quieter and you get more spacious houses/gardens - more older people too! Durrington is probably one of the cheaper areas to live as it's further away from the sea, behind the railway tracks.

I would look at Worthing, West Worthing, Tarring and maybe East Worthing too (although it does tend to get a bit rough the further east you go) - then you are pretty close to town too. There are lots of nice period houses and generally the south side of the railway is a bit smarter.

Schools wise I'm not 100% sure as still looking myself but generally they are good/ok. Thomas a beckitt in Tarring seems to have the best reputation!

Good luck with the house hunt - What age are yur kids? x

Hiya!

I am in Worthing :-)

Katiecubs has explained all the areas pretty well. How old are your children? my lo is 13 months.

Katiecubs when are you moving to Worthing?

Elm grove is a lovely school, as is thomas a becket (houses are pricey in these catchment areas)

We live in West Worthing, and love it here :-)

Thanks for your replies, that's really helpful. My kids are 5, 3 and 1 and we're hoping to move by next Sept so will need to find Reception and Year 1 places for them. Coming down in Oct half term to have a look around. Good luck with your move Katiecubs

Hi

Sorry to hijack your thread iamamyp but I too am thinking of a move to Worthing (from Brighton) and was wondering where kids tend to go after Elm Grove? There doesn't seem to be a middle school in West Worthing or am I just being an idiot?!

Custardo lives in Worthing, she can advise, I am 20 mins away. Come to our Brighton meet at lunch on 8 Oct!

Hi Smogwod,

If they attend elm grove, they tend to go to west park middle school or thomas a'becket middle, but generally its west park

Worthing has many primary schools, but not many middle schools, some school do have have primary and middle all together like, ferring, thomas a becket, west park.

Hope that helps. x

You're right about the lack of middle school in West Worthing though. Loads of the schools are really good, especially the first schools. The school system is a bit more complicated as there are still first and middle schools, which means that generally children don't start secondary school until Year 8. (with a few church-school exceptions).
Lots of recent new families have come over from Brighton (after being priced out of the market there or deciding a garden and somewhere to park might be a good idea). There is a wealth of differing housing styles, from Victorian/Edwardian to 1930s art-deco, to good value new-build in Durrington. South of the line is generally more popular, apart from if you go really far north to High Salvington. If you live in walking distance of a station, you can commute to London in less than an hour and a half - lots of secondary school children take the train to their schools if you want more choice at this age.
Good luck.

oh hullo.

Another West Worthingite here.

I'd say for families, Broadwater, Tarring, West Worthing and Goring are the nicest IMO, East Worthing and some parts of Durrington can be a bit rough - but it depends what you define as rough, I grew up in S.London and don't think any of it's that bad

Lynzie's right about Elm Grove, West Park is the offical feed school though kids do go to others.

It's a very lovely place to live, no really bad areas though some are nicer/rougher than others.

Maybe there should be a Worthing meet...

custardo has tried to arrange a Worthing meet before but no interest :( go far it! i am half way btween worthing and brighton so i would try to come

meet with wine, food and no kids??

Sorry for slow reply not been on for a while!

Not sure when we will be moving, we are waiting for the vendors of the house we are buying to find somewhere themselves so it will be 2/3 months at least :( We live in a flat at the minute and i'm dpesperate for more space and a proper home!

Am up for a worthing meet before then anyway if others are too x

Thanks so much for all the replies about middle schools. We had our first scouting mission at the weekend and now feeling a mixture of excitement and confusion! I had thought about looking for somewhere south of the railway line between durrington and worthing but now wonder how on earth I'd manage to drop dd2 at elm grove, dd1 at west park and then get over to the station for my commute back to Brighton (assuming they'd get places in the first place of course!). Nicer looking houses further north around Broadwater but is it worth it if we're that much further away from the sea?!! Agh, decisions, decisions...

Came down to Worthing over half term to have a look around, it seems great, we're def going to try and move down next year. Will have to try and get both my kids school places next summer, hoping that won't be too much of a nightmare! Found a council doc about which schools were over subscribed last year, seems like there were a few good ones that weren't so hopefully it should be okay? Went down to the playground on the seafront, it was absolutely mobbed so it seems like there's quite a few other families with young children!

Hi iamamyp, I was just wondering if you had the link to see which schools were over subscribed.

Thanks

www.westsussex.gov.uk/learning/schools_ages_4-16/school_admissions/school_admissions_for_2012/starting_school_or_transfer_to/contact_details_and_pans_for_p.aspx

Click on the contact details for south area.

Thanks so much for that :)

Hows your house hunting going?

You're welcome : ) Okay thanks, had a good look around in the easter hols but can't buy until we've sold our place in Leeds. Want to rent first anyway as I don't know where my two will get into school and want to buy nearby so we can walk. So going to rent from beginning of June and hoping the school places won't be too much of a nightmare! One estate agent we talked to in the hols was having trouble getting her daughter a reception place. : ( Any info on schools etc much appreciated!

Hello, I don't usually post here but was looking for info and stumbled upon this thread. I've lived in Worthing for 3 years, moved here from Brighton and before that lived in London. I love it here and wanted to speak up for East Worthing as it gets a bad press but is not at all the horror people paint it to be - especially if you've lived anywhere else in the UK! There are perhaps two large council estates with a mixture of residents - some go to my child's school and are nice, decent people. The Ham Road area is diverse and friendly with large Victorian houses at the seaside end, lots of families around there and artists who open their homes during Artists Open Houses in June/July.

There are good primary schools in the Central-East Worthing area too:- Lyndhurst First is very popular, Springfield is lovely and Whytemead is also very good. Most children go on to Chesswood or Downsbrook Middle School. Chesswood went into special measures a year ago and now has a new head, new teaching staff and looks set to become a very good school. It is extremely popular (even after failing the Ofsted!) and has a great, diverse intake, from those estates in East Worthing to the leafy large houses surrounding Homefield Park. Lovely people send their children there and it is a great community. For secondary schools we have Davison's for girls, St. Andrew's for boys (both very good) or Worthing High School within walking distance.

There is a Facebook group for Worthing parents and that may also be a good place to ask questions www.facebook.com/groups/111736362237194/

Good luck!

Thanks very much for your reply. It's good to hear someone say something nice about East Worthing! After looking around we really liked East Worthing and Broadwater, they had a really nice feel to them. We live in Harehills in Leeds at the moment, which is pretty dodgy (although great community wise), so can't really understand why people are so down on it!

I'm not sure if we're going to end up buying there though as the schools admissions have told me that the only primary school places for Year 1 and reception in September are at Hawthorns and Laurels in Durrington. So if we lived in East Worthing and they went there we'd have to get another car. We're going to have another look at half term then decide. We can stay with my folks in Hove for a bit but can't really afford anywhere big enough there. Hopefully we'll work it out soon!

We are in sompting which is very close to Worthing. We don't have children yet but sompting village primary has a good ofsted report.

Another defense of East Worthing... I've lived here for 7 years and arrived via the London/Brighton/Hove route. We have an affordable 3 bed house 10 mins walk from the beach and 20 minutes walk from town. It's not chi chi but its solid. Our neighbours have mostly been here 20 years plus and its quiet and safe. There are some pockets of local authority housing but nothing I would call an 'estate'. I have to say that anyone who calls East Worthing 'rough' must have led a fairly sheltered life. Yes, the far east bit of it is solidly working class and there are some social problems but its hardly a ghetto. The most westerly and northerly parts are v naice.

Hello.... Have you moved yet? I've only been in the area since may but love it! X

Just bought a house on Ham Road in East Worthing, fingers crossed it all goes through, very excited! Thanks for all the advice everyone, can't wait to move down, hopefully Aug/Sept time x

I think I may have saw the house you brought in Ham road, as we was thinking of buying it :-)

Hope it all goes through for you. x