Best Neighborhoods in Oxford for Families

[LatinGreekMum]

We are moving to Oxford in the summer, and to think about the neighborhoods, I would like to consider it as if money were no object. I often find this exercise a useful place to start in considering a new place, although it is not necessarily the case for our family. Assume independent schools in the north of Oxford. Also, are there lots of families moving in and out? Where are most of the families moving in from? Thanks.

North Oxford is lovely - round the university parks and Summertown, and Jericho. Lots of roads off the Woodstock and Banbury Roads with some beautiful houses. Wolvercote is nice in parts and has a lovely community (and a shallow bit in the river where kids can play in summer).

I live in East Oxford and love it - there's a real community feel for families, and we have good parks (South Park, Florence Park), Pegasus Theatre and lots of lovely groups. It's cheaper than North Oxford (although not much, and catching up very quickly), and I hadn't realised before moving in just how nice it was - probably because if you're passing through it has a much more urban, buzzy feel to it. @LatinGreekMum, I'm not sure whether to take your name literally, but my dh is Greek, and there seems to be quite a large contingent of Greek families in Oxford. DD (6) goes to the Greek school in North Oxford on a Saturday morning and loves it there. She's also at East Ox Primary, which I doubt would feature as a recommended school from those who don't have children there, but with which we are extremely happy - she's really thriving, both academically and personally. It's very mixed ethnically and socio-economically: lots of children from lower income families and lots from the other end - mostly University academic families, both English and international. All but one of the children in her class are bilingual, speaking Greek, Dutch, Hindi, French, Spanish, Bengali, German and Japanese as well as native English.

I really should stop my advertising rant here - sorry for such a long post!

How old are the kids? I have a teenager and have found being on a good bus route to be an absolute lifesaver. She can get herself around without needing to be ferried everywhere by me. This is of great benefit to both her and me!

Thanks so much for the nice responses. We are not literally Greek but glad to know that there is a Greek community. The kids range from 4 to 12. I would be interested in knowing whether many children ride their bikes to school or are most children picked up and dropped off. Could be a lot of to-and-fro. The schools are all in central oxford or North Oxford, so it would seem we would probably need to live there. Thanks.

I know a teenager who cycled from Woodstock to Oxford High - about 8 miles each way. So very likely that some do cycle - much much faster than driving during rush hour. The cycle lanes in Central Oxford are pretty poor though and there are reckless/aggressive drivers and cyclists around.