Southdown Rd, Harpenden

[ES123]

Hi All,

We are thinking about moving to Harpenden. Does anyone know much about Southdown Rd? Schools (primary at present) are of particular importance to us. Any other information would be really useful too (eg. is it a busy road, is it pleasant/ safe etc.?).

Many thanks,
ES

Southdown Road is quite busy but it does have lovely houses with excellent open views over the common. So its negatives are outweighed by the positives. It is very popular.

Presumably you aren't Catholic (as the Catholic primary is on the same road)? You need to put the prospective house number and postcode into the Herts LEA website to establish which is your nearest school, and it will tell you the distance from the house to your nearest school. It might be Crabtree or High Beeches. Then look at Herts LEA http://www.hertsdirect.org/docs/pdf/admissions/U11otr1213ci1 outturn report and see what the distance was last year for admissions under rule 5 (admission to nearest primary) and perhaps do the same for the year before (don't go farther back than that as they changed from quickest walking route to straight line so the distances will not make sense). You can then be reasonably assured of whether you stand a good chance. Nothing is certain with school admissions, as it is possible that the entire cohort of a small school could be made up of siblings, in which case there would be no available spaces, even if you lived immediately next door to the school. It is pointless hoping to go to any school other than your nearest (non church) primary school, as you will see there are very few admissions to Harpenden primaries under rule 6 (distance but not to nearest school). Wood End and Manland increased their intake last year (bulge classes) so the circumstances of their rule 6 admissions are something of a one off.

Good luck.

www.hertsdirect.org/docs/pdf/admissions/U11otr1213ci1

better link

Many thanks for the advice. The busy road and the train noise is what is holding us back, the houses and the common are lovely.

I am catholic and have read good things about the school down the road so we would probably end up taking our children there if we made the move, but would not discount the others either. I quite like the look of Crabtree too but having looked at the admission statisics recently we probably would not get into that one.

Thanks again.