Possible relocation to Basingstoke

[lifeistooshort]

Hi fellow mumsnetter

I have been offered a job in Basingstoke and will have to relocate. I am now in questions overdrive and would be so grateful if you could attempt to answer some of them and share your experieces with me. - My very long list is:

• which areas would you recommend;
• which areas are to avoid;
• which are the best school;
• which are the ones to avoid;
• are there any romain catholic schools and how do they fare compared to other ones;
• DS is supposed to start reception next year, are school oversubscribed;
• when is the deadline to apply for a reception place;
• Do you enjoy living in Basingstoke and if so what makes it special.
• If you do not enjoy it, why not.

Anything else I haven't though of yet that I should?

I would be so grateful for any information.

Thanks in advance

How exciting!

Whereabouts will you be living? I'm really glad you liked the school. Which year will your DD moving into?

Let me know if you want to meet for a coffee (if that doesn't seem too weird )

Hi lala

We'll be living in Beggarwood. DD will be in Year 2. I can't remember which year you said yours were in. And coffee (on me!!) would be absolutely lovely if only to thank you for all the useful replies. It would also be nice to know at least one friendly face in Basingstoke considering I will leave all my friends behind and won't know a soul. Thank you for suggesting it. Feels really weird at the moment quite real but at the same time quite remote

Hi life sorry I didn't see your thread earlier! Welcome to Basingstoke. It sounds like you have organised yourself remarkably quickly!

Thank you for the welcome *smileitsunny" I still would appreciate any tips as I haven't been to basingstoke much yet. Any useful information much appreciated. Also would either of you know if there are some children irish dancing classes. The only ones I found so far are in reading which is a bit far

There's The Irish Centre in town. They might hold dance classes?

www.wheresbest.co.uk/venue/115657/Basingstoke-Irish-Society/

Hi, hope you enjoy basingstoke, I moved further out last year but have friends with children at St Marks who love it, which nursery did you choose? Kiddicaru?

Irish dancing is held at the Irish centre, Council road in town( opposite Fairfields school) Thursday nights is beginners 6.00pm and Tuesdays are for the more advanced 6.30pm. I can give you contact details, dd is an irish dancer!

Hi Life - welcome welcome welcome. I did the whole move to this area this time last year. We live in Oakley now and love it. There is so much to do around here especially for the DC.
As I'm fairly new still, I don't have much advice to add but I know there is a stage school that does dance classes and there is actually a lot of info on I even found my childminder on there. There's quite a bit of info on www.activbasingstoke.com/ too.

I hope the move/ packing goes well.

no idea about the dancing I'm afraid. the Corn Exchange seems to have lots going on. hope you settle in well.

Hello! just spotted this one - welcome! I see all the school bits have been covered but I was going to recommend St Mark's (have a DD in Year 4 and one to start reception next September)

St Anne's & St Bede's are apparently fab schools but St Anne's in particular is hard to get into as it's so small. And St Bede's is a nightmare to park at, my friend has to do her share on the parking duty rota in the morning! (If you are driving to St Mark's, park at the community centre and walk through)

We will probably bump into each other sometime :)

Hi ladies

Apologies for not returning to this thread for so long but things have been a whirlwind since I moved.

Thanks so much for the tips re Irish Dancing NK and yes please, the number would be great a the number on the site doesn't seem to work.

Yes mummyEmu DSs are going to kiddicaru and liking it.

So far everyone seems to be settling in well although I do feel a bit lonely everynow and then as I don't know anyone outside work. I have not had a chance to see much of basingstoke yet though.

Drove through Oakley the other day and it looked lovely.

Thank you all for the warm welcome

Silchester has one place for year 2! They are a fantastic little school, my son had thrived with them since we moved here a year ago! Hope that helps! x

Oh pants, just realised I missed a load of messages and your are all sorted! Whoops! Hope you are happy here! x

Thanks DooDoobyDoo. I hope we get to stay here for a while, we have move so much in the recent years it would be nice to settle somewhere!

ah, Oakleys nice. My dentist's used to be the one next to the pond.

There's a Lego exhibition at milestones next month which I'm the DC's are excited about.

Hi- have been following this thread ,as i am in a similar position probably moving over the summer.We really like the Fairfields area, but the school ofsted (fairfields primary) is not that great.I know ofsted can sometimes be misleading- doea anyone have children there who can comment ? One of the big things seems to be alot of movement in and out of the school- is this because kids/parents are unhappy there- or something less sinister !! I have a 4 and 7 yr old who will be in yr r and yr 4.

Hi lifeistooshort, hope all is well, I always forget to check local board! I have probably passed you at nursery and not known, my ds is there and my dd was also though now yr1, i love kiddicaru and kept ds there even though i have moved nearly 20 miles out! :)

floppydog We looked at Fairfields but didn't pick it for the following reasons;

No playing field. Not their fault as it's an old school but I wanted my DC's to have some space to charge around during playtimes.

Nightmare for parking, drop offs & pick ups. As it's the town centre there's not much space in that area. I knew I would have to drive about 50% of the time so didn't want to battle for parking space.

When we looked around the school none of the teachers introduced themselves, the year 6 kids gave us a a tour. They were lovely but I got the impression if they wanted people to go there the head or a teacher would have quickly said hello and answered any questions. It didn't feel very welcoming IYSWIM.

Thanks for the info- same question for St Johns ? - we are looking to move into that general area, so I don't think parking would be an issue- it just depends which side of the ringroad we end up on !

Hi floppydog we visited St John when we first came here too but didn't like it so much as St Marks. The head was really nice and the school had a lovely feel to it but in terms of academics they seemed to be a bit behind which would not have suited DD.

St Johns is nice , although like lifeistooshort says it's not as academic as some others in the area. Very friendly and good parent / teacher relations IME. Small school, nice surroundings, seems fairly organised. And the head is so enthusiastic, (almost) always outside greeting the children by name in the mornings.

Hello

I got a job in Basingview Business park and have to relocate, can anyone tell me which are the areas i can consider for residence. It should be easy to commute.

Thanks in advance.
Chan