HITCHIN

[pearlym]

Hi we are looking to move form London and like the look of Hitchin.Any comments on the following:we are older, me 41 and him 46, 2 girls 4 and 3, will we be the oldest parents in the playground?alos are there any bad primaries there? as we will prob bowl up mid year, i know we may not have a lot aof choice in terms of school places, so it could be damage limitation.any commetns gratefully received

Lovely town,loads of kids activities/groups,some nice restaurants,zillions of hairdressers but sorry I haven't a clue about schools-am sure omeone will though.

Thanks for this, really paranoid about the age thing as had friend who moved form london to dorset and turned out to be the only mum over 30 at the school!!!!!!!!!!!

Age not a problem at all.
Not so clued up on primaries as we're in a village nearby, but have a couple of friends with 3 year olds who are in Hitchin itself, who I'll point in the direction of this thread.

A good choice of relocation IMO .

I'm one of those with a 3 year old in Hitchin! Don't think there are any wildly bad primaries, but I do know that William Ransom, Mary Exton, Samuel Lucas and St Andrews all rank very highly with OFSTED - William Ransom was voted second in the country in The Sunday Times Parent Power league table this year. I think that entry can be quite competitive though if you don't live particularly close to the school.

Hitchin is a lovely place to bring up children, as Doors says, loads of groups for pre-schoolers to help you get to know other mums and you'll get a lot more house for your money than in London

Thanks all, you do get wildly bad primaries here so am a bit paranoid, maybe see you in hitchin in a year or so!

I used to work in hitchin I live next town over. Its lovely, there are some bad area's to aviod but no madly bad school tbh. You might want to aviod the area behide the pub called angels reply, they have some trouble there.
The villages just outside hitchin are lovely and well worth a looky.
HTH

can you tell me more abut which are the bad areas? villages do look nice but a bit relacutant to be so depoendant upon the car where is angels reply?

Angels Reply is on the Bedford road. It's a pub that has a soft play frame inside, so very popular with families.

Lisa is referring to the Westmill Estate. I think that the Purwell estate is also one to avoid, although I've never been there. What sort of property are you looking for? Lots of period properties close to the town centre, or more family friendly areas a little bit further out although still walking distance to town. We're on the far eastern edge of town and can still get in in 15 minutes.

You will see estate agents referring to the SG4 9 postcode, which is traditionally the catchment area for the Girls School, although think it's more of a lottery system these days. SG4 9 or SG4 0 postcodes cover most of the primaries that I referred to in my earlier post (except Samuel Lucas, which is on the "highly desirable west side of town" according to Estate Agents!

I have looked at the herts admission docs and it would appear that if you need to apply mid year, or indeed at any stage after reception, you have very little chance of getting into anything other than 4 schools, Purwell,Oughton, Highover, Strathmore which appear to have more places than children, all the reset look to be full, even if you live next door to one of the more "desirable" schools, in terms of SATs and Ofsted,
so really where we want o be will be driven by schools really,
probably looking to go up to abuot 400k, ideally period,, but i seem to think from what i can see on rightmove etc, the period stuff neare town is either georgian and outside prce range, or looks a bit tatty, ie vistorian terraces - my impression may be completely wrong and it is based on one quick drive by, so please do not be offended if i have inadvertantly dissed your street!

Is there no chance of you arriving before the start of the year? Or would you also consider private education? Kingshott has a good reputation.

There are very few period properties close to the good schools - hence why we're now living in a 1970s house having always been in Victorian properties until 2 years ago. For £400k you can get a modern 4 bed detached close to the primaries I mentioned - these 2 are both just down the road from Mary Exton and St Andrews.

If you want period, you could get this if you don't mind a a project, but you will be in the catchment for either Oughton or Strathmore, which as you can see are not so popular. The street it is on is a mix of "done up" and "slightly tatty" properties, which is fairly typical of that part of town, but is still a "nice" place to live and just 5 minutes from town via a really pleasant walk. Parking is a nightmare around the period streets though!

i saw that and in fact thought i really must get to hitchin as it looks like an ace house!
the school thing is a bit of a nightmare, pplaces have already been allocated for this academic year, so already too late!
thanks for that insight though, as to kkingshott, looks lovely, but with 2 kids, just not really doable i don't think!
actually those 2 modern houses look lovely

Yes, unfortunately you are too late for September as the places were announced in early January. I live round the corner from William Ransom and I know that families that have moved into a rented house across the road from me have had to go to another school, so I guess you really need to be able to apply ahead of the next academic year. You should be applying for your 3 year old in around September / October time, so would have a better chance for her if you are already in the area, although I know that you'll want them to go to the same school if at all possible.

The house near St Andrews would probably put you in with a good chance of getting into William Ransom too, and is a on a nicer development than the first one.

A bit late to the conversation, but to see local things to do for young children, you can look at www.fununderfive.co.uk. There's a lot of groups in the area doing all sorts of exciting things.

Just wanted to say hi and let you know you can't go wrong moving here! We came here from London 7 years ago with our 2-yr-old and have never looked back. It is a great place to bring up children - we have 2 at a local primary and are very happy with it. To be honest schools as a whole are very good here, so wherever you go to you'll probably be fine. And don't worry about your age - there are loads of us 40-something parents around here!