Moving to Harpenden

[Minimummee]

Hi all

We are looking to move to Harpenden with a budget of u to £1.3 million. Are there any areas to avoid re primary school catchment issues etc as our little boy will be joining reception class in 2014. We have just missed out on a fabulous house in Dalkeith Road near Crabtree School - is this school really as good as it sounds? And roads near roundwood school - could you walk to town/station from there

TIA

N xx

You have to be really close to Crabtree to get in at the moment due to all the siblings. To be fair most schools in Harpenden / Wheathampstead and St Albans are going to be pretty good. There isn't such thing as a bad school really especially not in Harpenden or Wheathampstead.

Most parts of town, other than the extreme South (Redbourne lane and beyond, or parts of Southdown) will not have a problem with schools.

Crabtree catchment area is now down to 400 yards, I hear.

Roundwood is a bit far to walk to the station

Super gutted we missed out on Dalkeith Road :-( wasn't meant to be - widened our search to Radlett too now as in laws live there but Harpenden still our fave :-)

Radlett is nowhere near as nice as Harpenden, and the train service is rubbish. Stick to Harpenden

Most people in the Avenues and Townsend Lane area walk to Roundwood primary and it's a v easy 10 or 15 min walk to the station.

HarpoBoy - you seem to know v little about the area and Harpenden in particular.

Radlett is on the same train line as Harpenden.

You can do a brisk walk from Roundwood to the station in 20 minutes or so.

Trains from Radlett - superfast ones don't stop at Radlett, so service isn't quite as good as from Harpenden. My ex-boss who lived there never bothered to upgrade her ticket when she was p/g to first class as there was no chance of getting far enough into the train to be given a seat anyway!

Southdown's fine, most kids there go to the Grove infant/junior which are now very sought-after. Can be a slight issue on the very far side of Southdown with secondary schools - every year local paper reports a handful of children getting the worst school in St Albans instead of any in Harpenden, but I think it gets sorted out in the end, just stressful appealing and being on waiting lists.

Roundwood - but you can live the town side of the Nickey line and walk to the station in much less time than 20 mins brisk walk (and still get into Roundwood primary school).

Just as you could live a 10 minute walk the other side of the school.

With schools it is important to know what is your nearest school as that determines a higher rule than just living close to a school.

You could live roughly half way between Roundwood and Wood End school for example, but marginally closer to Wood End and you could apply to Roundwood being 800m from the school but not get in, whereas someone living in Park Avenue North who lives 812m from the school would get in as it is their nearest school.

YY but Wood End's a jolly good school too by all accounts. (Sounds as if we live near each other, Avenues - you weren't a football-related name previously were you? Just grabbed Roundwood when new MN local started and it insisted you had to have a different name to the main site, in a panic of 'oh Good Lord, what word might I stand a chance of remembering...)

YY to Wood End being a v v good school but farther away from the station, or even farther.

Roundwood - No previous football-related name.

@ Avenue

I've lived in Harpenden for 10 years, so would beg to differ with your assessment.

To say that it's a 10 - 15 minute walk to the station from Roundwood primary is complete tosh.

It is easily double that length of time:
maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=Roundwood+Primary+School,+Harpenden&daddr=Station+Approach,+Harpenden&hl=en&ll=51.818564,-0.362592&spn=0.013503,0.037251&sll=51.818914,-0.362583&sspn=0.013503,0.037251&geocode=FUnAFgMd2U76_yFhoxfu26SoFSklkyiCejh2SDFhoxfu26SoFQ%3BFTuiFgMdeaD6_yn9dFocXDh2SDH78vDmlbXX7Q&oq=harpenden+statio&dirflg=w&mra=ltm&t=m&z=15

As for your comment about Radlett being on the same line as Harpenden - well that is beside the point as only the painfully slow stopping service goes through Radlett.

To be honest, I wonder if you live in the town at all. You seem to know nothing about it.

Harpoboy - I didn't say it was 10 - 15 min walk to the station from Roundwood. I said you can get into Roundwood schools and live within a 10 - 15 min walk of the station. You need to read more carefully.

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