A should I/where to move in Brighton thread

[Brightonagain]

Name-changing as I’m about to be truly identifying.

DH and I lived in Brighton for a long long time, me from sixth form (Varndean College) and he from university. We each spent over 20 years there, albeit with the last few spent in London on weekdays.

When our first child was born 5 years ago we sold up in Brighton to be in London full-time. It was always our plan to return at some point. I never thought I would find somewhere I loved as much as Brighton but unexpectedly we love our area in London and have found a great group of friends. It’s a lovely leafy part of town that has all London has to offer on our doorstep. I’m setting the scene as this makes it more nerve-racking to make the move. Pollution here is one thing that really worries me however and also secondary schools so we think we will still make the move and we love Brighton just as much.

However our Brighton lives were child-free and about pubs, gigs and going out. We lived near the Seven Dials and loved it. We have no experience of life in Brighton with kids. We still have friends in Brighton but they either have older kids or are child-free.

I guess my first concern will be schools and where to live.

Schools/l – I’m aware there is an issue with oversubscription and also the lottery system. I’m thinking we will move in time for DC2 to start reception so DC1 will be in Year 2. I don’t think we will be able to stretch to private. We would obviously like to try to get in a good school and also not be too far for when they move to secondary level.

Houses/location – we will have a reasonable budget of £925k to £1.1 million. Stamp duty rises to 10% after £925k so it might be best to go at the lower end and find something we can extend/add value to. We would like more space then we have here in SE London where we are in a four bed Victorian terrace of about 1300sq ft. We would also like a decent garden.

I quite fancy somewhere like Surrenden Rd near Balfour/Stringer but DH feels this is too far out. I love Fiveways but I’m thinking the houses might be smaller than we are after (I know they are not small but we are living in houses that look similar and do want more space when we move) so Hove might be another option. I’m not great with schools in Hove so this is unknown territory to me. I’m also aware that we might not get in a school close to where we choose so this is quite worrying! At the moment it takes me ten seconds to cross the road to the outstanding local primary so I am a bit spoilt.

We will both be working but hopefully not full-time and only DH commuting for 2 or 3 days a week. So although the station/s would be quite important they are not as paramount as they used to be.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated. Have you made the move from London/elsewhere? What is life like in Brighton with kids? Where should we live...? What about schools...? Thanks in advance for any replies.

We moved from lovely leafy area of N London about 5 years ago when kids were about to go into year 7 , year 6 and we had a litle one too. It was because local secondaries were rubbish and I didn't want them doing journey to school on the tube, getting mugged on the bus etc - which has happened to almost all the kids of friends still there . . We love Brighton but had to buy in London for DH to live in the week as trains so unreliable and I miss the village feel of London plus all the stuff to do . My advice is stay in London till secondary - you will have an even more massive house budget you can use for private schools if you want to , and London is fab for kids of primary age . Sorry that's not exactly what you asked for !

No that's really really interesting and helpful thank you. We do love it here in London and have a lot of great friends and also, like I said, the outstanding primary seconds away from our house! My concern is moving them to another town at a later age. How has that been for your kids? I was thinking that if we moved when they were younger it would be less traumatic. Like you our nearest secondaries aren't great and they would have to travel on the bus and also their friends will be scattered across various schools, with some probably going private.

I didn't expect to love it here in London with kids as much as I do, we're near massive parks in the SE and also the river and it really is great. To me Brighton was the best place to live in the UK and nothing could beat it. Now it's got competition it makes it harder :)

Interesting point about being able to afford private in Brighton though if we waited a while re house prices here in London. As our eldest is only 4 we still have no idea about either of their educational needs. I went private myself but only because I went to English school abroad. I'm probably more of a state school fan in terms of beliefs but the largeness of some of them and, again as you said, the distance to travel, does concern me a bit.

Don't forget if you move in time for dc2 to start reception you would need to be in Brighton by the January before to apply as an on time applicant to get your preferred school options, or you would be treated as late and be allocated whatever is left.
it would be an in year transfer for your elder child (and wherever has spaces) which may have bearing in your timeline.
The same applies for secondary, to get your school of choice you would need to be in place by the October that your eldest was in year 6 or again be treated as a late applicant for the state school systems.
Schools in Hove are all really good, Aldrington, St Andrews and West Hove would be 3 to look at, secondary wise there's a new free school being built in central Brighton to ease the over subscription but in Hove you would be looking at either Blatchingon Mill or Hove park as it stands. it depends if the houses in those areas match up to your expectations.
Hove is approx 15 mins on the bus to central Brighton and they are v.frequent so it wouldn't feel far out at all and Hove has a real family vibe.
Hope this helps a bit

Also, getting a seat on the London trains from Hove station is near impossible so would be worth looking at proximity to Portslade station if you moved to the Hove area as you would have better luck from there.

Thanks tinki, yes I will make sure we get sorted early enough to be in time to apply. So we at least need to have a sale agreed by those dates.

Is the train that bad from Hove these days? I used to commute daily from that line (although it was 15 years ago...) and I could get a seat every day. They even used to have French lessons in one carriage back in those days.

I've heard good things about those schools. I need to look more at what sort of houses there are. I hope I don't sound too spoiled but we want to get something bigger than our 4 bed Victorian terrace as that's one of thee main points of moving. To get even a slightly larger 1930s style house where we are in London you need to start with about £2m. It's shocking.

Like you Cornelia we will be keeping a foot in London. We have a 2 bed flat that at the moment is rented out and the plan would be to get one room tenanted so we can use the other room for DH for one or two nights for work and the odd weekend for all of us.

Summerhill school might be a good bet, or the Bi lingual school, around the Hove Park area/St Anne's Wells Gardens. Certainly bigger houses that would feel 'worth the move', thinking about it housing around the other schools I mentioned is probably not going to be large enough, well certainly not gardens anyway!

The train is a nightmare, not helped by the ongoing industrial dispute, my partner confirms that getting a seat from Hove is very rare, people do travel one or 2 stops back on the line to avoid the scrum according to my partner!

Ah yes when we lived on Clifton Hill our dream was to be able to afford a house overlooking St Ann's Wells or around sommerhill road (which I'm assuming is there the school is - never paid much attention to schools back then!). Lovely houses. Not sure we could afford them still though! I think I need Kirsty and Phil...

Train sounds awful. such a shame.

I live in West hove south of portland road where there are lots of bigger houses (I don't live in one of them!) that sound like they would be what you are looking for.

Commuting is then from portslade which you can always get a seat from. But it's the last stop on the line to guarantee a seat, they all get full up at hove. Except on fridays!

Schools then are the 2 West hove primaries. The bilingual school doesn't have a catchment area so that all of b&h can apply and equally go into a lottery for places. My DC goes there so we have to drive but it's worth it i think.

Sorry OP I never answered your question - going into year 7 was a breeze, joining year 6 was tricky - but it all worked out ! The timing is tricky though , going private for year 7 was the only way we could get guaranteed decent Brighton secondary by the time we had sold our house - otherwise you need to have your Brighton address in time for applications , as for reception

Thanks for continuing to answer. It's a bit quiet on the local boards. SailorJerry that sounds like a good place for me to look for bigger houses. I realise how that makes me sound but the main reason we want to move is for bigger than our Victorian terrace and a bigger garden!

Incidentally how is the bilingual school? Do your kids speak Spanish? I speak fluent Spanish and have a connection to Spain (but not Spanish). The thought of sending the kids there is a bit daunting as the four year old is struggling to learn to read English let alone study in Spanish, but it does appeal due to our Spanish connections.