Relocating in Northampton: help!!

[pinguina]

Hello all,
My husband starts a new job at Northampton hospital in June and my daughters and i plan to join him and relocate after school ends in July. Dd1 is 5 and started reception last september; DD2 will be 3 in august. We plan to rent for the first 6-12 months so as not to be in dreadful property chains and to get to know the area (we are in Herts now and have only visited once). The problem is obviously thefact that schools have already been allocated...
If the worst happens and we are allocated - wherever we'll happen to be - a crappy place, I'd be tempted to try a private school for a year and then apply again;of course then it will be crucial to choose wisely the area where we'll live. Can anyone help, please?! We'll be looking to rent (and eventually buy) a 4-5 bedroom house, with a decent garden, and spend £1500 a month circa. Somewhere friendly and not too remote and decent access to the city. Am looking at rightmove obsessively but nothing helps like local knowledge! Many many thanks

We are wootton fields. 3 good primary schools and a good secondary school that they lead in to called Caroline Chisholm. Houses are slightly more expensive here because of the schools and that is why we chose here. A ds year 1 and 2 year old twins.

Thank you - have looked and there are good houses there. Do you like the area, apart from the schools?

Hi I live in Wootton also, it is lovely, we have a small shop, co op, hair dressers, opticians, nice butchers, pharmacy, community centre, surestart centre, church with a toddler group and a small library. Just outside of wootton, walking distance is a garden centre with a soft play and they are about to start building a Waitrose there too.
My ds is in reception at one of the primary schools which is really good, he has settled in nicely and the staff are wonderful.
My dd is 3 in October and goes to a nursery called Butterfly pre school which is 5 mins out of wootton just off the London road although there is a private nursery in wootton too.
Her nursery is great.
There are 3 Rainbows groups if your dd is interested in them, all on different days. :o
Tesco is a 5 min drive away and the town centre is only 10 min drive away.
The library in Hunsbury and far cotton do a lot of free craft sessions for toddlers as do the two museums.
Anyother questions feel free to ask. I have lived in most places in Northampton, my mum liked to move around :o
Wootton, Hardingstone, Hunsbury, Duston and some of Kingsthorpe are nice with good schools.

Also there is an Independant Girls school, from 3-18 years just in Wootton :)

Thank you! Precious info. It feels so difficult to decide on an area but Wootton sounds really nice as well as practical. And thanks for pointing out nurseries too - DD2 is currently attending one twice a week so I'll need to enrol her in a new one as well.
As far as the primaries are concerned, will it be possible to find a space for DD1 who will be in year one, but wil apply late, in the summer? The three local ones seem good so I do hope the waiting lists a not too bad... And the Caroline C school is secondary, too which is very appealing - does anyone know how hard is it to get in?

I heard different things wrt the schools, I was told not to bother trying for Wootton Primary as we would have no chance but we got in, so only put it as a second choice, it would of been first but I thought I was wasting my time. :o He will also be in year one in september.
The classes are at 29 and 28 for reception so unless I am unaware of something there is spaces for that one.
Preston Hedges was my first choice and we didn't get in so assuming its full.
Caroline Chisholm is meant to be really hard to get into, but I don't know much about it tbh, I didn't actually like the idea of it being with a secondary, it put me off although it is a good school and I hope my dc will go to secondary there rather than the other nearby secondary.
Another school which you may like to look into is Hardingstone Primary, it is also very good. This was my third choice.