The Other side of the World - Newbury

[SkittlesAreFruitGroup]

Not sure where exactly to post this - so starting here!

DH is considering taking a role that would involve us moving to the UK (we are in Auckland,New Zealand now) - and the office is based in Newbury.

WHERE does one live around this area with a 3yo and 10mth old? I have been poring over GoogleEarth all afternoon, trying to get to grips with the distances, villages, towns etc.. but would just love someone to say - "move to ***, it's got lovely families, great playgroups, friendly people and if you're trapped here for a long time the schooling is great too".

We would be renting, and want our own space, so an area with homes/houses rather than apartments/high density.

Awaiting your advice - I'm terrified!

Vodafone possibly?

What you have with Newbury is a town with many surrounding villages, so if you like something a bit rural you can live out of town a bit, or there's the town itself. Thatcham is the neighbouring town, small, has its own shops and banks so you could do all your day-to-day business there. Then Newbury's the place for clothes shopping and so on.

The two towns are really close, it is walkable.

I have 2 young ones myself, I'll help if I can.

when DH lived in Newbury we lived in a village called Kintbury for a year, and then moved to Hungerford

both were in around 4 miles of Newbury and easy to get to

You can also try Thatcham as well

We moved before we had any children so not sure how helpful i may have been

if it is Vodafone you are going to working for then they will help with the re-location so i would speak to them as well

telecommunications may well be involved.....!!

Didin't think I'd get away with the company,, I'm aware of it's large presence there!!!

I have just torn myself away from a terrifying thread in the Education section and am hoping that I never have to send my kids to school in the UK (or maybe it's just London??) - the choices seem overwhelmingly contortd by money/class/location/snobbery etc... Or perhaps I was trapped in the thread of terror.

Anyway.......

JNB - I really liked the way you described the location, it's all quite different to NZ. I would love your help - how nice!! We are very much at the 'what if this all happens?' stage, so as the hyper-vigilant mother of all I'm trying to give myself a framework to locate my thoughts

What sort of things are there to do for SAHM and bubs?

contortd contorted

Well, if you have a car the world's your oyster

DD1 goes to pre-school (which we don't have to pay for), so she's busy mon, tue, fri mornings, and all day thursday. Monday pm we go to the library for storytime (lovely ladies there, and a few times a year they put on parties with crafts and games). Tuesday pm DD1 has swimming, then Wed am it's DD2's turn. Friday am I take DD2 to toddlefit at the gym. If we want outings we have a couple of farm parks here, we have an annual membership to one of them, there's a living history museum we go to in Basingstoke, there's a choice of soft play (our favourite is a good drive away, but worth it!). There's playgrounds and parks, and a lake with a nature discovery centre.

There are all sorts of mother and toddler groups, but I've never been. We prefer going out for treats on our own.

Only just started looking at schools. Applied for DD1's primary school place last month. The village schools tend to be small and have good reports, there's a few that aren't doing so well, but most are chugging along quite happily. I was quite content to put the catchment school as first choice.

A quite nice thing, I think, is the community things that go on here. We've just had Christmas light ceremonies, Hungerford has a Victorian evening with a parade in December, carnivals in the summer, a raft race, arts and comedy festivals. All small scale stuff but nice to have going on.

Oh and horse racing if you like that sort of thing.

We used to live in Thatcham - 9 years ago now.

It was quite small then and we live on a brand new housing estate on Foxglove Way - just off the main road.

Hungerford is nice. Friends of ours (who worked in Newbury) lived in Burbage, Wiltshire which was also very nice - about a 45 minute drive to Newbury.

DS1 was only a year old when we moved back up North so I had no dealings with mums and tots as he went to a brilliant childminder who took him.

From what I can remember, they built an indoor swimming pool in Thatcham.

There is also a train station.

They did build an indoor swimming pool

I understand there was a Lido years ago, but all gone in a fire.

Is Foxglove Way the Dunstan Park development? There's a massive development by the station now, where the army used to be.

There's to be a Surestart centre, within the year I think. Not sure what they'll do there, but it's something to do with preschoolers (anybody know?)

Yes Foxglove Way is in Dunstan Park.

Joy - do you live in Thatcham?

this thread from August may have some ideas for you about Newbury here

I ised to work there pre children, it was good, central and easy to get to and from.

Just so happens I do live in Thatcham

What is it like now Joy? Dunstan Park had just been built and we were the first in our house. We were there 3 years.

A lot of houses being built. Little patches of land get half a dozen houses put on them. There's retirement homes being built in the centre of town, in what was a big old barn. But shops are closing. You can always get a takeaway, baguette or haircut, but we've lost the butcher's, greengrocer's, toy shop, clothes shop. Gained Waitrose since you left I think, and the market on a Friday. Newbury of course, is no effort to get to for anything I can't get here.

It's a shame the station is so far away from the centre, oh, and that pesky level crossing is still there

Wow - thanks for the responses. I checked out the additional thread re the Newbury area, lots of good info there. Hungerford seems to get lots of votes?

I like the idea of DS (3yo) getting out to preschool a few mornings or days a week, as he does now, and we are usually not 'playgroup' people, however I guess it might be a good way initially to meet other families.

After living in Sydney and Auckland, access to shops is probably something I wouldn't survive without, so too too much villageness might do me in. Need my coffee and sweet cake of a morning!

www.upmystreet.com is a good place to start. Punch in the town name and then have a look at property, schools etc.

I've just spent HOURS looking at The UpMyStreet website, and also reading loads of Ofsted reports on local schools - not particularly impressive tbh. Although as a teacher myself I am pernickety about such things.

Several of the village schools do seem to be doing things right. Can you let me know what you mean by having to 'apply' for a school place, and what is a 'catchment' school? Is it similar to a school enrolment zone?

I should qualify myself - some of the schools in the Thatcham/Newbury inner area didn't come up well in latest online Ofsted reports. I'm still looking, and loving every minute!

Catchment is probably very similar to an enrolement zone. It is the area you are automatically earmarked for. You don't have to use that school, you can choose another, but if you apply and are refused (because they are full etc) then you lose the automatic entitlement to your local school. With me so far? You also get no support regarding transport if its needed, and it doesn't entitle you to a place in the High School (linked to the prefered school) that all your childs school friends will go to.
When you move go to the nearest school or contact them before you move and ask for an admittance form, fill it in and they sort out things from there. With you being from another country I don't know what other hoops you will have to jump through. Maybe you should start another topic in the education section specifically asking this and a teacher or administrator will be able to answer better.
Private schools are another matter entirly and I havn't a clue about them.

Hungerford is lovely. There are some nice small shops, a new library, a swimming pool, ducks to feed, train line, easy motorway access etc and within about 20mins drive of Newbury. DH could cycle to work easily along the canal tow path.
Schools...Hungerford Primary is OK, but if you can your kids into Chilton Foliat then great. It is a lovely small school with a good reputation. Baydon also has a good reputation but I haven't had first hand experience of it.
This is a good area- you will need a car though. Personally I would avoid Thatcham!

omigosh - thanks everyone. I might pop over in to education for more info on that - we are having a dilemma (read heated discussions) about standards of education compared to NZ now.... these things would be so much easier to decide if one didn't have babies in tow...

Happy New Year!

hi skittles
just seen this
I have 2 LOs and live in newbury itself and love it- walking distance of town, supermarket, parks etc.

I find people tend to fall into two camps- those who prefer Newbury or thatcham for the amenities and those who like the villagey feel.

re schools, newbury does have some good primaries. The 'catchment' areas can be found on www.westberks.gov.uk in the education section. Basically each address is allocated to a catchment school. You're pretty much guaranteed to get a place at your catchment school. However, it is possible to apply to a non-catchment school and many people do. After the catchment places are allocated the non-catchment applicants are sorted according to various criteria. This process is also descibed (far better than I have done) in the attached link.

Sorry, have just noticed discoverlife has already anserwed this question. Will still post this anyway in case the link helps!

Kingsclere is very nice too - on the edge of Watership Down. Not a huge place but very nice I am told. Can't vouch for the facilities but I think the schools are pretty good and there are a couple of private ones nearby.

I live in Basingstoke which is about 18 miles from Newbury. Not the prettiest place in the world but easy access to Newbury doen the A34 and it is great for families.

Thanks for the catchment area website pendulum, I was wondering if such information was available on line.

We are going to find out in the next few weeks if the offer of the job is definitely there, and if the package is right for making the move (we will have to cover a sizeable mortgage back here that renting out alone will not do).

I sometimes wonder if access to more information with the www is a good thing or not - it seems to raise as many worries for me as it addresses!!! Thank goodness for mumsnet!!!!

Skittles, I've just done a presentation at Uni comparing Early childhood provision in NZ and the UK. If I were you I'd stay in NZ. I was hugely impressed with the ethos of the Te Whariki framework. Our new curriculum starting this year is much better but it doesn't have the ecological/whole society based background.

If my children were little I'd move to NZ just because of the thought put into hearing the childs voice in education.

Hugely, hugely impressed.

I'm sure that doesn't help at all.