Moving to Tunbridge Wells

[mumien]

Hello! My husband, daughter (2 and a half) and I are looking to relocate from London to Tunbridge Wells (preferably before baby #2 arrives in April 2017) and I would be grateful for any/all advice re:

the area / moving to TW
nurseries – and possibly nannies too
schools (and school catchments!)
classes for toddlers
commuting to/from London

…and any other tips and info.

I appreciate that similar threads have covered some or all of the above but it would be great to get an up-to-date perspective and info and hopefully meet some TW mums.

Thank you :-)

I hear that Brenchley is a really sweet little village school with small class sizes that is starting to offer breakfast club for people wanting to work in London and who need to get rant early train... They have a sweet little pre school as well and a nice community.

You probably need to give a vague idea of budget because to a certain extent that will determine where you will be able to afford a house. The most highly sought after schools (which doesn't mean that they will be right for your child ) are Claremont, St James' and Bishops Down, all of which have houses which are very expensive around them. Skinners Kent Primary is the newest school to have opened and seems to be doing well - there are a range of houses on the Knight's Park development, but that is a little way out of town and isn't in TW 'proper'. If you want to be in catchment for the grammar schools down the line, particularly TWGGS, then you would need to think about being in the St John's area, where you have a choice of St Augustine's (Catholic), St John's (CofE) or St Barnabas, all of which are good schools. The Wells Free School is fabulous but you probably need to be on the Berkeley Homes development to have a prayer of getting in because their intake is only 24 and there will be lots of siblings - and houses there are expensive. Sherwood School has been rebranded as Temple Grove and has been getting outstanding results but some people are sniffy about the catchment demographic as traditionally it's been less 'middle class', but the school is doing amazing things. Be careful of estate agents saying you are "in catchment" for schools - there is no such thing (aside from St James, which I think publishes roads on its website somewhere). It is last accepted distance which changes every year depending on birth rates. With the number of flats that TWBC are approving the catchments are bound to shrink again, even though they say that the number of people living in flats and sending their children to school is tiny

There are a bazillion classes for children - you just need to get hold of a copy of The Grapevine from the library and there are listings for every class you can imagine. Also TWKidsontheGo is a great website with lots of info, and the My Tunbridge Wells blog is full of fabulous gems and comes out every week.

Nurseries, my children are a bit old now, but Little Cottage, St Georges, Little Rascals, Papillion, Woodside, are all ones that are mentioned often. And if you join the Tunbridge Wells Parents FB page, there are always loads of helpful recommendations.

Hope that helps a bit, happy to help more if you want more detailed info.

Hi, have you moved yet?
Manna café is a great place to meet local mums and there is an NTC group meeting every Friday. I met some friendly mums there when i moved here last month. Good luck

Hi, I'm looking for some advice regarding nannies please. I am deciding whether to take a promotion at work (great news but never great timing!) but have struggled in the past with reliable childcare. I would need to work 4 days a week but one of these would be from home. I would need afterschool childcare on 3 or 4 days and full time on those days in the holidays. In an ideal world there would be some flexibility to cover mornings too. My experience to date has been to come home to a chaotic house, nanny leaves almost immediately leaving a mess, haven't been able to find anyone to help with laundry, ironing etc. Am I being unrealistic in my expectations? How can I find someone who actually does these tasks? Everyone says they are willing to at interview! How much should I be paying? Should I be looking at an agency or au pair? Would really value any advice to make the experience more successful. I don't think I can take the promotion if I don't have good reliable childcare.