Skint, slightly hippyish single mum moving to Bristol, area help please?

[MsJJ79]

Hi, sorry that this has been done to death but I've been reading the other moving to Bristol threads and they all seem to be people moving from London with a small fortune to spend on a house somewhere naice - unfortunately I am not in that position!

I'm moving from Swindon to Bristol (yay!) but will continue to work in Swindon for now at least. I have 2 children of 10 and 8 with whom I share residency 50/50 with their dad. We do a week on/week off. As I will be commuting to work in Swindon they will continue to go to school there for now, although I will need to consider secondary schools for the future.

I really want to find an area where the kids can play out, a quiet residential street ideally with green spaces. Somewhere multicultural and vibrant with a nice community feel and lots of families. I'm not that bothered about naice, which is just as well as I couldn't afford it anyway!

I was thinking maybe St Werburghs? Or Easton/St George? Would love to hear from anyone who knows the city and has any suggestions!

Thanks so much

St Werburghs sounds like a good match, though I have no idea about secondary schools (mine not old enough yet!).

From what I've heard schooling is a bit of a nightmare in Bristol, with lots of people paying to go private. Just have to hope things improve for everyone, not just the rich although with the Tories back in i doubt it!

Secondary schools in Bristol have inproved enormously over the past few years OP but the "best performing" secondary schools are very oversubscribed. From St Werburghs you may be close enough to have Cotham as your catchment school which has a very good reputation. Other secondary schools e.g. Fairfield are now rated as Good. There are also lottery system academies e.g. Bristol Cathedral Choir school (co-ed) and Colston girls School (all girls) and faith schools both C of E and Catholic so not all catchment based.
You will need to apply for a place for your eldest child on or before 31st October 2015 if they are 10 years old now as it is very hard to be allocated places at the most oversubscribed schools outside the main admissions round.
I am not sure how Bristol City council treat families with 50/50 residency so that would be worth checking for the future.

Thanks, that's definitely worth considering. I don't claim benefits but I do claim tax credits and child benefit, although God knows what's going to happen to those anyway!

For now I'm going to keep them at school in Swindon, and try to move them to a Bristol school in a couple of years, as the eldest starts secondary in September.

does it need to be Bristol....?
south glos (Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Bradley Stoke, Thornbury etc) have some fab schools, open spaces, greenery, fab amenities and is very reachable from the M4 for a Swindon commute.