Moving to Swansea

[TurkishDeelite]

Hello, we are planning to Swansea in the next couple of months, any suggestions for nice areas to live with good primary schools? I hear Mumbles is a nice area to live, can anyone living there tell me a little bit about life in Mumbles?

Mumbles is very nice, especially in summer. Still quite village-like. Nice shops. The immediate thing that comes to mind though is that during term time it is full of uni students doing the Drunken Mumbles Mile on a Saturday night!
It also has Joe's Ice Cream parlour and I would give anything for a Joe's right now! The best in the world!

hello, if you look at Swansea West you have lots of decent primary schools and comprehensives.

Mumbles is nice and doesn't seem to have the Mumbles Mile thing so much these days as a lot of youngsters head into town, I am told. I don't know what it's like to live there, though I imagine it's pretty busy on a sunny summer's day.

I am happy to talk about things off-board if you want more info. How old are your children?

Cerys- My daughters are 3.5 and 5. Where do you live? I need to go and explore the area a little bit I guess but just trying to get an idea of where to go. Swansea West- what villages are there there? Sorry

was going to say sorry if the question is a bit silly- I know very little about the area from what I have researched over the internet!

Hi Turkish! (Slouchy here, met you on worcs meet-up once)
My sister lives in swansea. They live in Dunvant which is on the very edge of the city (Gower side) but aspire to Mumbles really. Mumbles is lovely and less studenty thanj it used to be cos of rising prices. The bits just on to the Gower are fab - 3 crosses, etc, sweet villages often with own primary schools etc.
be aware that schools are usually bi-linual in welsh and english (majority teaching in english).

You are so lucky moving to Swansea - I went to Uni there - its fab. And yes I used to do the Mumbles Mile on Saterday nights. Didnt even realise it was by the sea until the second year as I never saw it in daylight!

Mumbles is a great place - and all the little villages on the Gower. Killay and Dunvant are nice areas with good schools. Uplands and Sketty where a bit more studenty when I was there and not very family friendly.

Hope this helps.

Mumbles is lovely. I was brought up near there (West Cross to be a bit more specific).

I would love to go back there to live although I dont' like Swansea itself. As a place to live I would like to go to Bishopston or Pennard.

oi! turkish and slouchy - get yourselves over here

Thanks all- it is all very good information and makes me feel a lot better about moving... SOunds like most everyone had a good experience around this region!

AttilaTheAntiHUn(gosh thats a mouthful!) - I can't imagine my little girls learning Welsh- how funny is that!

Furball- YES MAAM! be right there!

Mumbles is a great place to live but the traffic in summer is a real pain. Personally, if I had to move back then I'd look at the Sketty area. The houses are cheaper, schools are great and you're walking distance to the city centre, the beach and Sketty shops. Bishopston is a lovely village but it depends on what you want, really.

Schools-wise, I'd recommend Olchfa or Bishopston. Avoid Morriston, Cefn Hengoed and Daniel James.

If you like shopping then Swansea isn't the right place for you. But if the outdoor life is your thing then you'll love Swansea. I miss the beaches, the parks and Joe's Ice Cream Parlour.

I would say that in my experience, they don't so much teach bilingually as teach in English but say certain key phrases in Welsh too. My DDs know more Welsh than I did at that age, but are certainly not fluent. Maybe this varies from school to school?

I'd disagree about Sketty not being family friendly. There are some student areas but they are quite removed from the family areas. My father and step-mother have a lovely house in Sketty with views of Swansea Bay. It is a wonderful place to live, although the hills are a bugger.

Oh, and it rains a lot.

if it's not raining in swansea then it is about to rain

My niece attends a bilingual school but is in the english stream. She knows lots of welsh and is being taught far more than I was in primary. There is only one school in her village so there is no choice over the bilingual aspect. They live outside Swansea though.

wellies...I grew up in Swansea and we used to joke that we had as many names for rain as eskimos have for snow.

me too (growing up there, not the eskimos)
how about the one where if you can see devon then there is rain due but if you can't see it it's because it's already raining

Yes, in fact my father can see Devon (or not, depending on the rain) from his bedroom window and his view influences his dress for the day.

I read somewhere that Swansea is the wettest part of the UK.

Someone mentioned that Swansea was not good for shopping. Oh dear. What will I do with myself? Hope Cardiff is not too far away! Kidding aside, I do like the countryside/beach but like my retail theraphy as well!

It sounds like a nice area to bring up children, which is very important for us.

Can anyone please advise on how good is Ffynone House School. Is it worth spending money to send a child there instead of, say, Olchfa? I am concerned about education quality but also friendliness of environment. Thanks so much for advising.

I went to Ffynone!!! Years ago though, no idea what its like now. Uniform used to be dreadful.

Mmmm..... Joe's

Olchfa has always had a very good reputation.

I don't think Ffynone is as good as it used to be, there has been some upheaval in the past few years. If you are interested in private schools, you could look at St Michael's. It's in Llanelli, but there are school buses from Swansea.