Moving from London to Bournemouth - Advice please

[GetToFalkirk]

Hello
Myself, husband and two children aged 9 girl and 7 boy, will be looking to re-locate from London to Bournemouth in the next couple of years. My husbands family are from there and some still live in Charminster and Wimbourne.
Although I have been to Bournemouth on countless occasions over the past 25 years, I still don't feel like I know it.
I like Southbourne and Charminster but wanted some views from people who live there. What are the schools like, secondary and primary? As I said we live in London so love the buzz and social aspect of living here so I wouldn't want to be too rural. Is there stuff to keep teenagers entertained? Transport, is it good? My husband is a primary school teacher and I work in a school office, what are job opportunities like?
Any help/advice would be appreciated. Thank you

I used to work in Charminster, it has a huge student population and it's not personally somewhere I'd want to live. Southbourne is a very quiet area but lovely.

Winton and Moordown aren't far away from Charminster and are more family orientated, good schools, both state and grammar. I grew up in Winton.

Transport is not great in the whole of Dorset tbh. I used to cycle everywhere as a teenager. There is loads of stuff for kids and teens to do but depends on what sort of thing you are looking for.

Having moved from a big city to a small village in Dorset I found that I needed a car to do pretty much everything. I was used to having buses and trains every few minutes and having to wait an hour for the bus was just a huge shock to the system.

I would suggest you look on specialised job forums for teachers etc as I have no idea about the availability of school jobs but certainly there are plenty of primary schools in Dorset.

Let me know if you want some more detailed information.

Thanks Coffeeisnectar.
I like the size of houses in Southbourne but worry that it's not central enough for when the kids are teenagers. I want them to access the town easily. Some of my husband's family live in Winton and Moordown but I am not as taken with the areas.

Southbourne has a quite elderly population atm although these things tend to change as the older people die off and new families move in.

Southbourne is lovely and it's not far to the town on the bus from there or can get a train. Or you and dad can be taxi drivers! Locally I have no idea what's available but the beach there is lush.

I think you need to think about what's best long term. You can drive the kids to town etc but buying a house is the most important thing so maybe you should concentrate on which area you actually want to live in rather than where best suits the kids.

We live in a village on the other side of Poole. Bus services are utterly dreadful. No trains at all. DD is 18 and is learning to drive. Most youngsters learn to drive as soon as they are old enough here, just because everything is so far away. Living in a city you get so used to amazing public transport, it's such a shock to find that there's only a dozen buses a day, not a dozen every 15 minutes!!

Your kids will make friends locally and you'll probably end up taking your turn with driving the kids to places with other parents. It will be fine. If you love Southbourne then that's where I'd buy a house.

The demographic in Southbourne is changing to a younger more trendy population I'd say from the change in shops bars etc. The buses to the centre runs every 10 mins or so and there is a night bus too if that helps! ! Charminster is much more run down in parts, and very international / Arabic - there are a lot of language schools nearby. Hth.

I think Wimborne is lovely and good schools. It is a big change but you adjust and you will love Dorset.

I live in Southbourne and agree with fidget monster that the demographic is changing, there are lots of families and I love living here having lived in Charminster previously. It has the best access to the beach and it's walkable from most parts of Southbourne. There are now several bars and restaurants open in the evening and we have the loveliest high street with some great independent traders. For more choice, Christchurch is walkable (or a 5 minute drive). I certainly don't worry we are too far out of town, buses are regular and run late. It's an easy cycle along the prom too.

There is a FB community page you might want to check out (SOBO) - a recent post from someone new to the area looking for things for her 9 year old son to do has over 40 posts of suggestions of clubs and activities in this area so you might want to check that out too.

Primary schools in the area are all good (though over subscribed). Secondary is more complicated and people have differing views and as we are not there yet (DD in Y3) I can't really comment. There is a great episode of Location Location Location in Southbourne and Poole which is worth checking out if you haven't seen it. I moved here from London and missed the buzz initially but there is plenty going on if you know where to look. Let me know if you need any other help.

Thank you all. It's been very reassuring to hear your thoughts. I will check out the facebook page thanks LaBelleEpoque. My gut feeling is Southbourne (if I'm going to move it would be to somewhere that I hopefully won't move again). I like the idea of Charminster, especially the international aspect of it. I have found Bournemouth to not be very diverse and almost "too white" if you get what I mean. It's just so different from south east london.
Thanks again