Moving to Surrey: need advice on schools, where to live... WAAAAHHHH!?

[teamthiedeman4]

My husband has just got a job with ENI in Basingstoke and we are relocating from Perth, Australia. I would like our two boys (7 and 5) to go to ACS Egham, I think. (Feedback on school welcome!)

So we have a few issues. My husband needs to get to Basingstoke in the morning (he likes to start work early so a 6am departure is fine). I need to get boys to and from school in the day and I want to know where to live that doesn't mean any of us have to drive for hours on end.

I like the idea of Woking (a decent sized town with things to do and good train links to Basingstoke and a 25min journey to Egham) but are there other towns that would offer the same convenience? And are there parts of Woking we should avoid? Camberley has also been suggested. Is there anywhere that we should absolutely avoid? Or equally, somewhere that we absolutely must consider. We will be renting.

I would like to avoid the more expensive parts of Surrey (unfortunately, that is near Egham) and focus on a place where our 1K/week rental allowance will buy us some decent space in a nice, safe area.
I do a sport called Crossfit and it would be great if anyone had any advice on the best crossfit gyms around the area?

All advice welcome! TIA.

Are you having your school fees paid? ACS is great but expensive. Woking is right between ACS Egham and ACS Cobham, they do run school buses, including door to door, so I would look into that. Woking can get very clogged up in the morning.
Woking isn't the prettiest place.

And there is no way that you can get from Woking to Egham in 25 mins in the morning rush hour. It can take 30 mins to get from Old Woking to West Byfleet at that time! If your dc will be on school transport this is not such an issue for you but beware if you have take them to school yourself.

Is your budget 1k a week in sterling or Australian dollars? If sterling £4k a month is plenty to get you a spacious house in a very nice area including Egham!

Would suggest you look at places on Basingstoke train line. Are you fixed on ACS - is the American curriculum similar to Aus?

Staines might work. Woking pretty grotty tbh.

Thanks so much guys!! I need all the advice I can get. School fees are paid by company (thank god!) and ACS Egham has been chosen, a) because it is the closest school to Basingstoke and b) because we are keen on a school that can handle the transition of international transients but doesn't have a massive majority of non-English speakers at the school (whereas ISL in Woking does). I like the IB program too. I think! I'm new to all this. But I liked the school when I visited it on a reccy a month ago.

Petalmum, thanks... I kinda thought that may be the case. I did drive up and back a couple of times but not in rush hour and the return journey from ACS to Woking took about 31mins. And that was at 4pm. I can't stand gridlock. And not with two kids in the car! So that's a consideration.Youngest little man is only 5, so I'm not keen on the bus thing just yet...

Woking does offer a direct line to Basingstoke though.. 19mins direct. So that's a plus. Maybe consider somewhere north of Woking but en route to Egham? Any ideas?

Staines might work, but I've not heard awesome things about it. Also not on the train route to Basingstoke. Any other advice welcome!

I would really suggest you consider looking at the ACS school bus routes, these are proper school buses just like small children in the US would use to get to school. One option even does door to door.
Is you Dh working near the station in Basingstoke? If not he might need to drive.

Are you likely to relocate again? How long are you likely to be in the UK?

You could look at Brookwood - trains take 33 minutes to Basingstoke, (slower direct trains than Woking) but its a nicer area.

When I suggested ACS Cobham - that is not the same as ISL Woking, and I think it is the school which considers Woking to be its catchment.

If you contact ACS they can give you advice on housing and transport, including commute times. It is quite a community feel.

However if you are likely to be in the UK long term, you might decide that you would do better at a local school - they are quite used to overseas pupils (even the fee paying ones).

I have visited the ACS and they have been very helpful with information. I just don't feel comfortable, at least straight off, sending my 7 and 5yo on buses. I know lots of people do it and I'm not judging, but I like that time with them. But I don't like long trips!

The contract is for 'a minimum of 12 months' in Basingstoke so the ACS offers a good option there. I don't know how long we'll actually be there though.

DH will work opposite the train station so that's a bonus!

Not much for rent in Brookwood just now... I'll keep it in mind though.

Are you going to have two cars? If so Chobham (not Cobham) might be worth looking at, or areas like Knaphill or West End. There is a road from Chobham which goes through to Sunninghill (or is it Sunningdale) and isn't too far from ACS Egham then on the fast road. If your DH can get to either Brookwood or Woking Station by himself in the other direction.
ACS can sometimes help with housing as well.

A lot of housing won't really come up until closer to the summer. Apparently they do Crossfit south of Guildford (Pew Corner) and in Aldershot. There are a lot of other Gyms around though, and a pretty thorough Sports Park on the edge of Guildford by the University.

Good luck!

Towns/villages close to school with good access to the M3 are Windlesham, Lightwater, Bagshot, Sunningdale.
Camberley has access to Basingstoke via the M3 and is one junction closer than those above, although the A30 from Camberley to Egham is very busy in the morning and evening rush hour. There is a back road route that I take which isn't too bad though.
Although these towns have train stations, they are not on the Basingstoke line.
Nearer to Brookwood station are Deepcut, Lightwater, West End, Bisley (they are still not bad for ACS Egham) but you would have to drive to the station, would be under 20 mins though.
Close to ACS are Englefield Green and Virginia Water. With a £4K budget you would still get something nice to rent.

I should have said that even though Farnborough is an excellent station to get to Basingstoke from, if you live near there and were thinking that it is only one junction on the motorway up the M3 heading toward London to get towards Egham, that stretch of road is hideous with slow moving nose to tail traffic in the morning so would be a really rubbish drive for you and the children to get to Egham. Avoid.