Moving from NZ to St. Albans

[lexlees]

My husband has landed a job in St. Albans. He will be arriving first and my daughter and I will join him by Christmas. We have one daughter who will be turning 10 in October.

I have been reading through the boards. It seems that most areas and schools are quite good. St. Albans looks like a lovely place and we are looking forward to moving.

Our daughter is currently in a very academically rigorous private school and she is two years ahead in maths and a year ahead in Literacy. Half her class is the same - she is not at all unusual in her school - its the norm.

I have some questions. Are there any particular schools that cater for bright kids (accelerated programs). I don't want her to get bored/go under the radar and we just cannot afford private school.

Also is it difficult to get into a school after Christmas and in Year 5? Has anyone experienced it?

Are there any areas to live or schools to avoid?

There doesn't seem to be many properties to rent (We definitely can't afford to buy yet) - has anyone gone through renting a property?

Sorry for the many questions - I am a worrier by nature!

Thank you

Hi
I've recently moved to St Albans ( I'm from Australia); although I can't answer your questions re schools( my Daughter is only 19 months old). I can speak for finding a rental.

We just secured a property; we were told that August( when we were looking) is a fairly quiet time as a lot of people are away on holidays and more properties come onto the market in Sept/Oct. What I can suggest is downloading the right move app or otherwise setting up alerts via email as everything seems to be on this site.

From everything the real estate agents have told me-people rent/buy properties to be in the right catchment areas for the government schools…which apparently are all very well regarded.

good luck with your search-I'm sure something will come up soon :)

All good primaries in St Albans are oversubscribed, you will have to take a place in a school that has a vacancy.
In your position I would start looking at private schools now and see whether you have a chance to get in there.
Secondary applications are closing in October, although you might be able to submit a late application.

Do not trust estate agents, check every rental house's catchment in the Herts school guru website.
Houses in good catchment areas sell/let very quickly and you pay a premium.

If I have read this right your daughter is turning 10 in October so will be in Year 5, so need to worry about secondary applications for next summer - although it would be a good idea to bear secondary school preferences in mind when you choose where you will be living, as you will need to apply Autumn 2015. As has already been said, it will be down to where there are spaces so far as primary schools are concerned.

Oops, can you tell that I am a little preoccupied with secondaries at the moment?

St Albans is lovely but you pay a high price for that, especially with families from London looking to relocate for more space, good schools but maintaining commutable access.

There is a good choice of private schools in which case catchment area becomes less of an issue.

The Abbey CE VA Primary School is ranked very highly but is hard to get into as a result with a very small catchment area and a high level of commitment expected. I don't know how they would be set up for intake of a new student at the age of 10 though but worth contacting them of course.

Ofsted ranks schools in England & Wales with there being 4 levels ranging from Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate. You may also see these displayed as Grades 1 to 4 respectively.

We moved from out of the area and were shocked that even half a mile could mean half a million difference for a similar sized property. We have two children so schools and space were an issue as they are for most families moving to St Albans.

St Albans is small by comparison to many towns and cities so provided you're within a 20 minute walk of the centre you cant go far wrong. We settled on the Cottonmill area due to local schools being ranked outstanding or good, easy access getting out of St Albans for trips away (traffic is a nightmare centrally) and I can still bike it to the City station in 10 minutes via the Alban Way (fully pedestrian/cyclist safe route which runs from Cottonmill through St Albans all the way to Hatfield).

At the Sopwell House end of Cottonmill are picturesque open fields with cows and sheep, and the general feeling of green open space is complimented by the nearby golf course.

It is very suburban and quiet though, so if looking for a bit more life I would recommend the city centre (if you can afford it) or Fleetville which has numerous independent shops and cafes and is also 10 minutes to the City station. Fleetville also has good schools locally for catchment area purposes.

Best of luck with your move.

Well the good news is that primary schools in St Albans are mostly outstanding with lots of children being ahead of the national average. The bad news is that you won't get to just pick - it will be down to which school has a place. I think - though do check with Herts County website- that when you have an address/rental agreement you can then put down your child's name and wait to see what places come up. Any spare places will be offered to who is nearest on the waiting list.

You will need to be all ready for the start of Y6 for secondary school applications.

If you decide to go private for a year then it won't matter where you live so that might be an easier option.