*Moving to Saffron Walden, Essex , in August - does anyone live nearby?*

[SaffyCat]

I am moving from Surrey to Saffron Walden in mid-August with my husband, 7yr old son and 1yr old daughter. We don't know anyone in the area yet and I would love to meet other local mums (am happy to drive a few miles) and also to find out about toddler groups/recomended family activities.

No babysitter tomorrow so no pub.

ES - did you get your male au pair in the end?

yes we got him, really good for the boys.

you know if you need any help then i am here in the village - not going back to work unitl then so more than happy to help.

lots of people in the village look after other people's children - DS1 goes to the pre-school and other mums pick him up and then keep him for the afternoon and then i do it for them - just let me know if you need me

shame about the pub - some other time

thanks for the offer ES. I am that you have met some other village mums - I knew we would lose out on that by not putting dd into the pre-school though.
We must make plans to meet up - just so difficult with the weather being so dodgy!
Have re-booked babysitter for next friday so hopefully we be in the pub then

Wanted to say thanks to 2boysmacca - we have bought our climbing frame (and ordered a trampoline) from Hanchett toys.
We've had friends with kids visit for this weekend and last, and the climbing frame was a big hit.

I know it's a long way off but we are thinking of moving to SF next Summer (2008). We are planning on renting to start off with as we currently live in south essex (near QE2 bridge) and moving to SW Essex is a massive step for us. I have 2 children DD (7) and DS (3). As I have absolutely no idea what part of SF I'll be living in I have no idea about applying for school places. I need to apply for my DS to start school in Sept 2008 and will apply to my local school as I can't see me being able to apply to any school in SF. We will move in the summer hols next year but having to apply for school places so much in advance (October 2007) makes it a problem. Our local area the schools are massively over subscribed. There are not enough schools to cater for the amount of children that live here - does this happen in SF. My DD will be going into Year 4 in 2008 and I know she will prob stand more of a chance of a school place than my DS - but I need them to be in the same school. Has anybody come across this problem.

Hi Clare - Do you mean SW (Walden) or some other bit of Essex?

You're right in thinking that you can't apply for school places until you're living in the area, which is a real pain especially when you have a child due to start reception!

I found that there was a lot of competition for places in the more popular schools..but most of the schools around us are much higher ranked than the London schools we were used to so even an unpopular school would have been an improvement.
I rang Essex LEA to ask their advice and they were able to find a school with spaces so it's worth giving them a ring to discuss things (and they will send you a school application form).
Lots of luck to you (I was driven over the QE bridge weds evening and I was petrified )

I must of been cracking up when I typed that message!! Definitely Saffron Walden. We have driven all over Essex looking at areas that we like. Definitely settled on NW Essex and will prob be Saffron Walden. The school thing scares the life out of me - at the moment I have a 2.5 minute walk to school and back. It's bad enough having to take my DD out of school and start a new one but as we are going to rent somewhere first rather than commit to buying the moving house will be something that happens really quickly and we don't want to take DD out of school - leave her at present school til end of term. I've looked at all the schools websites and they all seem really good to good - I'd be quite happy with any of them. I was just wondering how competitive it was for places - especially reception places.

Hi Clare - well if you read this (long ) thread you will see that I recently moved here - I ended up putting my son into a private school (but not because the state school he was offered a place in was 'poor' but because he is hearing impaired and that school was open plan with lots of kids in one area) - my daughter will be starting reception in sept 2008 so we will be applying this autumn.
It does seem to me that there is a lot of competition, but that the range of school 'quality' is not as great as it is in London. We were able to visit some schools - our 'catchment school' - which had no place for ds, and also the school which had a place but was not strictly speaking our area - however, the catchments are pretty strange and they were both about the same distance from our house.
Are you thinking of renting in SW itself, or one of the villages? We are in a village which doesn't have a village school so there is a school bus to the catchment school - and the LEA said that they would pay for a taxi to take ds to the non-catchment school - so no worries getting to school and back!
(It's a lovely area by the way - we have no regrets about the move)

I have read thru the thread a couple of times but there is so much info that it's hard to go back and find a reference to the part you're interested in. We are going to rent in SW if there is something available. We are not in a position to be able to pay for education - as have DD (7) at school and my DS is due to start school in Sept 2008 too. I know from my area that school places are few and far between. Lots of people never got their catchment school even if they had siblings there already. I have to apply for my DS's school place between Oct 07-Jan 08 but will have to apply for local school and not a school in SW. That is my biggest worry as all school places will of been allocated by the time we move (prob end Jul 08). I hate having to think this far ahead. The thought of moving is petrifying - without having the worry about trying to get 2 children into the same school.
Good to hear that the council were willing to pay for taxis - even though it isn't the right solution for you.

MIL is coming to visit us tomorrow, had originally planned to go for a picnic but as the weather forecast is predicting rain, rain and more rain I need a plan B.

Any suggestions? DD and DS are both under 5, so attention span is not great.

Hope everyone is well, those who were moving have settled in well and those with bumps/newborns are enjoying your little ones. Cant believe Summer holidays are nearly over.

ClareL - you may be lucky, we just moved here a couple of weeks before the end of term and were able to get a school place for our DD. Unfortunately, there's no way of telling. Good luck with it all.

Thanks for the reply. I like the sound of all of the schools apart from one that isn't as good as the other 3. I am not one for having to send my children to the best school etc. as long as they get a good education (rather than full on pressure etc). I am just worried that I will need 2 places.

SusieHughes - did you get a reception place?

Susiehughsie - it's so hard with the wet weather isn't it! I'm off work this week and was looking forward to lots of days out with the kids. so far we have had a shopping trip to Freeport (the kids were not impressed ) and I've thought that we might try Coconuts - but it's probably packed due to the weather. Can't think of anything else that's under cover!
We've booked tickets for Thomas the Tank engine at Chappel railway on Friday so I hope it cheers up soon.

Clare- Sorry you're having so much stress.

Oh I was there today Millarkie. What did you think?

oh this weather is so bad - running out of things to do with the boys.

Glad school is only 2 weeks away and that i have now sewed on all the name tags - what a chore.

hope everyone is well and enjoying their new houses etc.

Milarkie - Haven't seen you in the pub recently!

We're just back from holiday

Thomas the Tank was great (we have been there to see him before and we have been to other railway's Thomas days - Chappel is much better than the others). My kids are young enough to be mostly excited looking at the trains and waiting for a ride - once they are on they don't care how short the ride is.

And haven't been to the pub cos we haven't been around ES! Kids are back at school on Wednesday (and no..I haven't done name tags yet ) so I have Mon and Tues at home with them. Am hoping for good weather so we can get some use out of the garden.

A mysterious message for ES 'Dh isn't in either team but we'll be there this weekend. See you there!'

Just thought I would post on here as it's fast apporaching Chrsitmas and wish anyone who still looks in, a very merry Christmas. We are really enjoying living here in saffron Walden and although we have yet to make many friends, everyone is very friendly - if you know what I mean. Hope everyone else is settling in too!! Bye for now, Laura

Happy New Year everyone, have had to cancel our plans this evening as DD has tonsilitis (again). Never mind, glass of wine and Jools Holland will do.

Hope 2008 is full of love, laughter and sunshine for all of you x

I posted on here a little while ago as I will be moving to SW in a few months with DD (8) and DS (4). We were originally going to try and hold off putting our house up for sale so that DD can start new school in Sept 08 but have decided to do it early now and have estate agents coming on Sat to value our house. My DS is currently in a school nursery and I was wondering if anybody had any knowledge of getting their children into nurseries. I have read previously that I think they are few and far between but will be happy to drive out a few miles - just so that he can go. He really desperately needs the stimulation. It's such a hard decision to take but we thought waiting to sell our house could then maybe mean we don't move before they both are due to start school in Sept!!! I've only ever moved locally before - so find it all a bit scary!!

Hi ClareL, we started the whole moving process this time last year which meant that we moved to SW in June and DD started her new school at the end of the Summer term. It worked out really well as we had the Summer to make friends and then going back to school in September wasnt so daunting. Regarding Nurseries, my DS attends the local preschool for 3 mornings a week and we were really lucky to get a place for him as spaces are limited. I am not sure of the situation regarding private nurseries, maybe worth just calling them and putting his name down now. Moving is scary, but I almost think the thought of it is worse and it'll all be worth it in the end. If I can help in anyway, please let me know x

Hi Clare - Do you need a nursery for childcare (8am t0 6pm) or more of a preschool type? My dd goes to the nursery attached to a private school (so it's more expensive than a pre-school but cheaper than a day nursery) - where there are generally plenty of spaces. We also have a preschool in our village (Wendens Ambo near Audley end train station) which I've heard great reports about but not sure about spaces there.
Do you think you'll move to SW or to a village nearby?

Thanks for your advice. I think my DD (8) might end up having to do a similar thing re starting school at end of summer term. But will be really hard for my DS (4) to go back to a short week. He attend the local school nursery at the moment and loves it. I only want him to go to a similar type of environment (not private). As it might end up being so close to the end of the year then I might just have to keep him at home for the end of term/school holidays. He will really miss the stimulation of nursery though. Then my next worry will be applying for a reception place for him later than I should and hoping I get them into the same school. There is no good time to move - it will be in the lap of the gods!!!

Millarkie - definitely SW town. We are planning on renting for 6 months or so. We have been looking on the Estate Agents websites and not much seems to come onto the market - plus because of having over an hours drive it's hard to view properties with kids and school/nursery runs etc... I am now really excited. The Estate Agent came and took some photos of our house today so it's now official.

Yes there's very little on the market right now isn't there. Hopefully once everyone is over Christmas and New Year and the new HIPS thing has settled down there'll be a bit more choice.
This time last year we were just putting our London house on the market and were trying to travel up and down to view houses and schools - nightmare! Had visits to 3 schools in a single day (poor ds, very confusing for him), luckily fell in love with the second house we saw (battered old thing but it felt like home)). I totally missed one school out of our research which would have probably been perfect for ds (and saved us a fortune in school fees) but now he's settled in new school it's hard to contemplate moving him again.
Have you rung around the schools yet to see which ones might have spaces? They aren't all oversubscribed and they are mainly very good/excellent. I'm not an expert in Pre-schools (can't think of any except my dd's and the village one) but I'm sure someone else will be along shortly. I think I got a list from the netmums.co.uk site but not sure if it has all of them on it.
Good luck and keep calm - it will all work out in the end!

And Happy New Year to all the other SW Mums and families