Moving to Reigate or Horsham

[Kat8019]

Hi, this is my first time posting on Mumsnet as I'm really struggling to make an informed decision between 2 great places to live. Reigate or Horhsham. We are in our late 30s and have a 15 month old boy and need to move out of London for more space. Both places have fab schools by the sounds of it. Reigate we can afford less house for our money than Horsham but a pretty period smaller property versus a larger new build in the centre of Horsham. We love Reigate but worry if we get in a good catchment for primaries then by the time it comes to secondaries we might need to move house? Be lovely if anyone has any pros and cons or Reigate and best areas to look at for school catchments. It does seem full of lots of young families with lots to do which is perfect. Do people tend to stay long term in Reigate until their children have grown up? Would love to settle somewhere now and make a base. My husbands family are from Surrey so it could be ideal despite and worth compromising on what we can afford to buy!

I don't think you need worry overly about secondaries in Reigate yet. St Bedes Redhill is the go-to state option if you have a religious affiliation, Reigate School or Ashcombe Dorking otherwise, with Warwick, Royal Alexandra and Albert also in the area and a new academy planned.There is also Reigate 6th form college. The more pressing issue surrounds primary school places as demand is high and there are often over subscriptions, although this is slowly being addressed. There also used to be mainly separate infant and junior schools, meaning you reapply at 7, but expansion of schools like Sandcross and Parish means fewer have to do so now. Surrey doesn't have catchments btw, although distance is used to rank applications and in practice you need to live fairly close to either Parish, Holmesdale or Wray Common if you want to choose one of those.

Thanks LIZS, that's really helpful! Sounds reassuring about secondaries. Perhaps we need to focus our search around primaries then. So tricky choosing a place to relocate to. At least we've managed to narrow it down to the two. Is Reigate an easy place to make new friends if you don't do NCT in the area and do people generally stay long term so their little ones go through both schools together

I wouldn't guarantee kids progress through schools together , there are so many permutations and it is not uncommon to go private at secondary. Families do tend to stay in the area long term. There is a great park in central Reigate with a playground and cafe and there are lots of activities for children with opportunities to meet others.

We've lived in Reigate for 15 years and like it, however are thinking of moving after kids (older teens) leave school as it has become so congested in recent years. The traffic is horrendous in rush hour and there are 100s more houses planned in Horley which will compound problems of traffic coming up the A217 in the morning.

You might be better looking at Horsham!

I don't live in Horsham but have friends with primary aged children who do and they love it there. Parts of the town have a villagey feel and the parks in Horsham and Sussex as a whole are awesome.
I agree about the congestion in Reigate. My OH used to live in Redhill and it could be awful at times.

Thank you for your replies. We went for Reigate in the end! We loved both areas, but in the end we went for Reigate and have just offered on a house there as felt it was less of a leap from where we live now, which makes the move less scary. Hopefully the right thing to do!! We love the feel of the place. We can imagine our DS being very happy there with so many clubs and things to do for little ones. Luckily my DH doesn't work regular hours so hopefully he'll miss a lot of the traffic. Also the street we are moving to is well off the main roads so hoefully not too much traffic there. Hopefully I'll either be commuting by train to London when I go back to work or preferably I'll find something local which I can walk / cycle to.