Schools in Harpenden

[Qosaclan1]

Hello - apologies as this is a question I'm sure has been asked a million times, but we are considering a move to Harpenden for secondary schools, my children are in Year 4 at the moment. The schools we are interested in are St Georges, Sir John Lawes and Roundwood. Can anyone advise how near to the schools you need to live to secure a place and what price range we would be looking at? We are seeking a 3/4 bedroom home, not worried if terraced and being near the station is not an issue. Any advice would be gratefully received.

If you are in Harpenden you will likely get your nearest one of these though the religious requirement for some of St Georges places complicates matters a bit. The only residents of Harpenden I have heard of not offered one of these schools have been on the southern fringes of Southdown but as the baby boom gets older I guess there will be more.

Herts CC publishes the furthest distance a place is offered on their Web site.

As to houses, well they are expensive. I don't live there now but not far away and I would have thought you'd need a minimum of 350 k for a small mid terrace. You might get 3 beds for that depending on area. If you are in Batford it might be a bit better value for money.

Hello Hertofdarkness, I really appreciate your response. We currently live in West Cheshunt, not far from Goffs Oak; our nearest secondary is Goffs which is OK (grade 2 Ofstead) but if you don't get Goffs then the other choices are not great. We are living in a nice 4 bedroom at the moment and I am trying to weigh up whether a downsize is worth it for the schools in Harpenden, I think it is... Any thoughts on life in Harpenden, what it's like for teenagers growing up there, family life in general?

I don't have any children of my own. I do however live in Harpenden. We bought a 4 bed detached in the so-called 'cheaper' end of town last year for nearly £600,000. If we'd had children we wouldn't have bought in this part of town as children who live in this area typically get offered senior schools in St Albans. There are serious plans to build a 4th senior school in Harpenden as the school place situation for senior schools is so bad. Many many people are moving into Harpenden from London for the excellent schools, pushing the price of property through the roof. Don't forget that the sibling policy takes up a huge number of places at all of these schools. If our house was 3/4 of a mile closer to the schools it would have been about £200,000 more expensive - crazy. Good luck but I don't think you'll get anything much for £350,000 near these schools.

I don't know harpenden at all..it sounds lovely.

I would seriously recommend visiting these schools before you make a big decision about a house..I have looked at a few schools for my daughter with fantastic ofsteds and I would never put her there..go and get a feel for the schools and staff before you spend your money x

101handbags,Rainbow44 and and herofdarkness thank you for your good advice, we will continue to search, as our budget would be £700K max, although I hadn't wanted to go as high as that. Other areas we are considering are Hertford, Bishosps Stortford and Ware, where I think you get slightly more for your money.