Relocating to Stroud

[mumof4littles]

Hi, Husband has new job in Stroud, we have 4 children ages, 6,9,10,13, currently in Cumbria. He is due to start work beginning of April, I will remain here with children till end of school year in July, then will be moving, however need to find schools and home before summer school hols begin, to get them a place for September. Not sure if we will buy or rent to begin with, depends how quickly we sell our current house. So my questions are: 1. Any advise on Primary and Secondary Schools and 2. As my husband will be travelling with his job and does not need to be in Stroud itself on a daily basis we can live within an hours radius around Stroud, this in itself opens up a larger area but also makes it more complicated knowing where to look!!! Any help or advise would be most appreciated! Also just for info, have rung a couple of State Primary Schools in the area that I liked the look of, however was told they wont even tell my if there will be spaces in September for the children if we don't have a signed lease or have bought a property in the area, leaves us in a chicken/egg situation, do not want to sign a lease and find we don't like the schools in the catchment area, or there are no spaces available! Excited at the prospect of moving but stressed as all kids in really good schools here! Please help!

Hello Mumof4

I'm from Stroud and DP have recently decided to relocate there from London with 4 month old DD.

I never thought I'd move back but now I'm excited. I'm tired of living in London (never thought I'd hear myself saying that!) and we want DD to grow up with a mix of town activity and country on our doorstep. DP and I are looking for a bit slower pace so that we can enjoy family life without having a 3 hour round trip daily commute from our zone 3 flat to zone 1. Also I'm desperate for a garden and some space.

As a teenager I thought Stroud was sooooo boring. But it has changed so much. Now it is arty and there is a thriving community feel to the place. I can't wait to rediscover it and participate in family activities. I think that funnily enough we will have more to do in Stroud as in London there is so much to do it is overwhelming and that is paralysing. It is for me anyway.

I know that Cashes Green and Foxmoor primary schools are both outstanding. Foxmoor is especially popular. I grew up in Cashes green but went to school in Stroud town centre as when we moved I was already settled at school. My school is called Stroud Valley now. Many of the surrounding villages have tiny primary schools with children of different ages in the same class. I had a friend come to our secondary school from Sheepscombe primary school and there was something like 15 kids in the whole school! That was a long time ago though.

I went to Archway secondary school which was great when I was there. I loved drama and they had a very good drama department. I don't know what it is like now but my cousin's 2 children go there and love it.

Stroud has 2 grammar schools, The High School for girls and Marling for the boys. Both are supposed to be good.

If you want a private school there is Wycliffe college in nearby Stonehouse.

I hope your move goes well. Our offer has just been accepted so we are also hoping to move in the summer. Maybe we can meet up once we are there.

By the way there are a couple of other threads about moving to Stroud so you might get some info from them.

Gosh, difficult to know where to start mumof4.

I'm in Stroud and have had children at 2 primaries and 2 secondaries.

I would definitely recommend Stroud as a pleasant place to live and on the whole, most schools are good.

When we moved here , we were in a similar situation to you. The DC were 7. 10 and 13. We managed to get the eldest in to our first choice - Marling - without a local address but the primaries did need one before we could sign them up. We didn't have them refuse to tell us about any possible spaces though - how strange. We unfortunately ended up with the younger two at different primaries for a year though which wasn't much fun.

As well as the Secondary schools that Shazz mentions, there is Thomas Keble, which probably has the best reputation amongst the comps at the moment.

If the individual schools can't help with possible vacancies, it might be worth contacting the Glos County Council education department who might be able to help.

Good Luck.

Hi All,

Coming to this thread a bit late, but was really interested to see your post local.mumsnet.com/Profile?nick=Shazzamattazzerly, as I am in similar position. I grew up in Stroud (although went to school in Bristol) and am moving back after 20 years in London with my son in couple of months time. It would be great to hear how you are getting on and to trade tips on getting involved in Stroud life after London :-)
Thank you!

ps I am also new to mumsnet so have no idea how to put in someone's name in bold?!

Hello Bess
I've just checked this thread after ages and was glad to see your post. We have moved now and love it. No regrets. We have been here about a month now. Dd is now 10 months and we have been to a couple of baby groups and the local sling meet. The other mums were very friendly and I'm hoping that gradually I will make a nice circle of friends. How old is your son? When do you think you will make the move?

Mumof4. How are you getting in? Did you move in the end?

Ps I'm posting from the app and I also don't know how to embolden someone's name. I think you can do it from the website.

Hello Shazzamattazzerly and Bess 75,
I'm really interested to hear how your move went and how you are finding Stroud.
We are possibly moving there this summer from Vancouver, Canada!!
We are from Surrey originally but moved to Vancouver for a change of lifestyle. Now after many years we're coming back to the UK to be near family bit wanted to try somewhere different (and cheaper) then Surrey.
We will have a 9yr old and 4yr old in tow so the school admissions system is stressing me out.
Any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated.

Hi - This is my first ever post on mumsnet so hoping I get it right. We are visiting Stroud in the next few weeks as part of an investigation into whether we could imagine moving there from London. I've got loads of questions, mostly about whether or not we - and our children - would find it easy to integrate and make friends. If we move, my husband would carry on working in London for part of the week. Is that a common situation? Are there any people commuting regularly from Stroud to London for work? Will it make us seem snooty and like city folk who are taking advantage of the green, pleasant and less expensive lands outside the big smoke? Will our accents mark us out as non locals? For that matter, is there even a local accent in Stroud?? Will our kids find it hard to make friends if we are from outside the town? Do kids in Stroud have their own iPads to play on? I'm asking because all the kids where we live in London do and I massively disapprove of all this screen time and consumerism training so our kids don't have them and won't be getting them any time soon! So many questions... Any input is welcome.

Hi Dogrington,
we are in a similar position - my family are relocating to near Stroud at the end of May. I met my husband in London in 2001 then we moved to Paris in 2007 where we have been ever since. This will be a big move, but we already have friends in the area and have visited a lot so have a good feel for it. My friend's husband works in London and stays there Mon-Thurs every week, returning to Stroud Thursday nights. It works for them and he really appreciates his weekends in the countryside. There are a few people that we know of who do the same thing without any issues locally. People are no different than those you would find anywhere else, it is not a closed community of locals only!

As for the kids, I haven't noticed any significant difference between our kids and my friend's children. Hers do have iPads, ours don't, but it's not really the done thing amongst those we know in Paris - there is a lot more focus on playing outside the home here, given that we all live in tiny apartments so need to get out to the parks for fear of going insane. I'd say it will be what you make of it. The children will fit in, iPads or no, and there are plenty of things to do in the area so you should have no trouble making friends either. Nobody is going to judge you based on your having lived in London.

Good luck!

Hi Dogrington

We are also 'incomers' to Stroud. We moved when the 3 DC were aged between 6 and 13.
They didn't have any problems fitting in - Stroud is quite a mix of born and bred locals and those who have moved to the area. There isn't really a strong Stroud accent these days although I suppose some people have a bit of a Gloucestershire twang.

As to commuters - I know one or two people who commute but they are in a distinct minority. I can't see why it would make you seem snooty though - it's a pretty tolerant town.

I can't speak for all children locally, but I would think they are pretty average when it comes to i-pad ownership. In my experience, it is more computer games and playstations/X-boxes which again, seems fairly universal these days.

Feel free to ask any other questions you may have about the area.

Hello, I know this tread is a bit old now, but I was wondering how it all worked out for those asking advice for the 'big' move. I'm hoping I'm in the right section to see if there is any help/advice out there with regards to Stroud and what it has to offer for our small family?!

We are thinking of moving from the very lovely fun packed Bristol which we have lived in for 8 years. My husband has worked in Stonehouse for the past 7 years, so are looking to move to Stroud to help with the commute and therefore he can spend more time with our daughter. But it's a big step as my daughter (3.5years) and I know not one person in Stroud...eek. And in Bristol we have built up a nice friendship group from mummies groups etc.

If there is anyone that has moved to Stroud resently ish? I would be so very greatful for their thoughts on the area and what there is to do with my little one on our days off, but also info on for next year schools.

We started house hunting this weekend just gone..

Looking forward to any replies.

Thank you, Lucy.