Moving to Bristol... Whitehall area???

[lullabymummy]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could help us out with some local knowledge. We're thinking of moving to Bristol with two pre-school children, with a budget of around £350k. We currently live in South-East London. I have part-time work in Bristol, and my partner has just accepted a job in Bath. We would like to buy a 3 bed house with a garden.

We've looked at several areas (Horfield, St Werburghs, Southville), but rapidly rising property prices seem to have pushed them out of our price range, particularly homes in catchment areas of good secondary schools.

A Bristol contact has just suggested having a look at Whitehall, which seems to tick the boxes in terms of good schools, affordability, and access to transport links.

If anyone knows the area, and has any personal experience/thoughts about Whitehall - or any other areas that might meet our requirements (budget, schools, access to transport) - we'd be really grateful for any ideas.

Thanks very much.

I can't advise too much about Whitehall itself as I don't know that area of Bristol very well - however looking at it's location and surrounding areas it's probably not where I would choose to be from an education perspective. The secondary school's are ok I think, but there are definitely much better ones on offer in other areas, the closest 2, Bristol Brunel and City Academy still achieve less than 50% 5 A*- C's at GCSE.
Where are you going to be working, as traffic in Bristol is pretty awful? Would your husband rather commute a long way each day, as Bristol to Bath is quite time consuming, or could you go half way between? Or use the train? Keynsham is quite a good family orientated town, with a great secondary (Wellsway), and you could afford what you are looking for in their catchment area no problem. On the northern edge of Bristol, Winterbourne and Frampton Cotterell are also nice areas with good schools. Bradley Stoke is another good family area, although only modern housing so not to everyone's taste. These areas are all much more suburban, so it depends what you are wanting.
There are plenty of good primary schools all over Bristol, but secondary schools are much more variable. Of course you could move again when your children are older - but I'm guessing that isn't the plan! People will say that it's a long time until your children are of secondary age and school's can change - however, I have been in and around Bristol for 30 years - and the schools which were good then, are still good now, admittedly some have made strides forward more recently.

Hi Lovinglapland,

Thanks very much for your help and suggestions. I would share your concerns about the GCSE pass rates at the Whitehall secondaries - their Ofsted ratings looked more encouraging. Thanks for highlighting this.

I will be working part-time at the university campus near Clifton, whilst my husband plans to take the train to Bath. His job is at the RUH hospital on the west side.

We have also considered Bradford on Avon and Weston/Newbridge - but coming from South London, wondered whether we would feel happier in Bristol's more diverse social mix. You're right that ideally, we would like to move to an area with decent primary and secondary schools, avoiding the cost and hassle of moving again further down the line.

We'll definitely check your suggestions on the northern edge. Ideally, we probably be a bit closer into the city - and in a vibrant area, but with house price rises - we have to be realistic and compromise on something. The quality of schooling isn't an area we'd wish to compromise on.

If we did opt for Bradford on Avon or Weston/Newbridge, we would be grateful for any thoughts on the sociocultural mix in these areas. We have visited a couple of times, and it's difficult to scratch beneath the surface initially. One possible concern was that both areas felt predominantly white and upper/middle class. We've come to feel at home in a pretty diverse London mix, and ideally wish to find something similar. Any reflections on this would be gratefully received.

Hi lullabymummy nothing to add but watching with interest as we're moving to Bradford on Avon next year from London and I'm worried about the lifestyle change!

Good luck making a decision, let me know if you do choose BOA as I'll be new and friendless!

Good luck with your move Pizdets. I think we've decided on Bristol over BOA. Such a beautiful place, but feels too small after years in the city. We've spoken to a few people who live there, and everyone seems to love it.

Ashton park results are way below national average and it requires improvement. Not sure would move to be near it, the opposite would apply.

Thanks for your thoughts 34DD and givemeaclue,

Bedminster and Ashton both seem to have some nice properties for sale. Bedminster in particular looks interesting, and with good proximity to Temple Meads. We'll look into this further. St Mary Redcliffe indeed looks a great school. Onwards!