Woking, Guildford or Reigate? Moving to Surrey with 2yr old - can anyone recommend best area for all-round schools...?

[Doryzurich]

Apologies for throwing a needle in a haystack, but my DH and I are moving to Surrey from abroad with our 2yr old and 11yr old. Hoping to get 11yr old into private boarding school so that he can settle down in one place for the next 6 years and we're not under time pressure to decide on area to live as he needs to start this September.

So my energy is now turning to the 2yr old. I know there are a gazillion web sites I could trawl through, but can anyone give me a heads up on the areas that are well-known for their good state primaries or pre-prep schools? Ideally (although might be a step too far) leading onto great grammar or secondary schools.

Any advice, gratefully received as not sure where to start my search. Both of us also need to commute into the City (Ldn Waterloo or Bridge).

I wouldn't recommend moving to Reigate. Yes, nice schools and lovely town, but not enough places each year, with schools across the town taking it in turns to have the bulge class each year, and they just won't fork out to build the new school that's desperately needed. And what happens when there aren't enough places, even with a bulge class allocated? (Will find out Monday, I guess!)
The problem knocks on to secondary of course, and a fight for places at the 2 favoured secondaries.
Unless you can afford private all the way, I really wouldn't bother.

The scrap for places at schools is a very common theme in many desirable parts of the country. Careful homework of areas can help if you are fortunate enough to have sufficient funds, however unfair that may be.

ImNotaCelebrity - hope you get the news you are hoping for regarding school allocation.

Can I ask what are the two favoured Secondaries? And presume if you get into catchment for primaries, that it might not be for the Secondaries..? Not sure if this is an unfair question to ask - but what type of budget would we need? 600-800k for 4 bedroom in the right area? Or more for Reigate?? Still in Switzerland and no idea of new UK salary so could be too rich an area for us for starters...SO hard trying to do this all remotely from an internet! Thank goodness for you guys...

The two favoured secondaries would be St Bedes and probably Reigate, currently running close with RAAS. St Bedes allocates the vast majority of its places to those who meet religious criteria, with about 20 (less than 10%) on distance (pretty much Carlton Road and a little beyond) and SEN/looked after. RAAS is about half a mile north from it so broadly similar area but also towards Merstham. Your ds2 is so young thought that things may well change in the interim. 500k plus for Reigate area would get a 4 bed, more for St Bedes catchment if you can find a porperty for sale, and then the sky is the limit ! Would ds1 still board if you move into the area ?

Plenty of choice at your budget. From a quick look at right move there are currently a number up for sale that would in all likelihood get you places at Holmesdale , followed by Priory and then Reigate. St Bedes needs to be considered separately unless you have a very strong commitment to attendance at church. There is still a section of people who suddenly feel this very strong commitment when their DC's reach year 4! Reigate school had a massive shift in it's reputation a number of years ago and is very much a school of choice now. The small catchment area issue really only applies at infant level currently. Primary place allocations are notified tomorrow so now is a good time to assess where you will need to be.

Thanks Kandinsky. Junior for us this time, and not worried myself. However, I happen to think ANY school in Reigate is good, so I will be happy with either of my choices.

Redhill does have its own car park with season tickets available but whether you can find a spot in the morning depends on how early you go and how busy it gets - sometimes it can get very full. Not likely to be able to park elsewhere because it is a town, not a suburb. You can find the prices on the national rail website. Look under information for individual stations.

I think the west part of Surrey could possibly have more choices of schools - Guildford, Camberley, Farnham. The problem for Redhill and Reigate is that although they do have lovely schools, the area is fast becoming part of the urban sprawl - too few schools for the number of families and couples starting families moving in. And quite a few families already living there have many chidren, so their siblings would get in first. You almost have to live next door to a good school now to get the one you want (you can be rejected just for being 0.1 mile too far), so just be careful about the school postcode lottery business.

That said, the commuting time for places like Redhill and Woking can sometimes be faster than commuting within Zones 1 to 4 of Greater London. However, bus services in London are generally more frequent than in Surrey, where it is sometimes only 1 bus every half an hour on weekdays and hourly at weekends (even in town).

To be honest about secondaries, I am not v hopeful - had friends whose children went through the system. If your child is not an academic superstar, you might find that the schools tend to have the attitude, well he got into some kind of uni, so we've done a great job - although your child might have not have gotten into the subject or institution of his choice....or even his first 3 choices. Of course, London or other cities could be worse - I don't really know to compare as the only friend who went to state school was a brilliant student in a school not known for being brilliant, and the rest went to private schools. Also, the system could have changed by the time your children are old enough to go, and there are also bursaries and assisted places at private schools.

NB please also check the routes - they might go into Victoria rather than Waterloo (I think Guildford goes into Waterloo, probably not Woking, certainly not Redhill/Reigate). Redhill does go into London Bridge (more so at weekends and off peak) but most trains during rush hour are direct to Victoria; for Ldn Br you need to change at E Croydon, which at rush hour is always a mad crush.

Merstham Station car park or Gloucester Road, Redhill - both pay and display - are alternatives to Redhill station. Merstham is about £4.60 a day, but has slightly fewer trains stopping but at least half go direct to London Bridge. dh has commuted that way with few problems.

Woking and Guildford both go into Waterloo. Woking in about 23 minutes.

We used Gloucester Road, Redhill pay and display car park for a few months while we waited for a station car park season ticket a few years ago when I still commuted. It is only a few minutes walk from the station and there is always parking space. Don't know what the current cost is but will have a look if you like next time I go past. I know I have said in previous posts that one advantage of Reigate is, although the trains aren't as frequent, there are some nice residential areas within an easy walk of it's station that also puts you firmly within outstanding state school catchments.

Have just come back from Redhill. The car park I mentioned is £5:20 for 10 hours and at 12:00 was half empty.

Thanks for all the info, ladies - especially info about Redhill car parks. Apparently there's a waiting list for season tickets at the moment though.... The whole school lottery thing is weighing heavily on my mind, so we're toying with the idea of renting for a bit before making a decision on buying...and it will obviously be easier to look for a house when we're in the country - although moving twice in short succession isn't great .

Just as an update, we accepted a place at Caterham for our DS1, so it looks like we're going to focus energies on housing in the east of Surrey, rather than West (although I must admit my heart is still in Guildford - but it's not THAT far from Reigate ...

Now need to look at nurseries for DS2.....!!

That rightmove house is lovely!

There are two very good nurseries in Caterham that friends sent their sons to, sorry, I forgot the names. If you find the names I would prob recognise them (I think one could be Asquith or something like that). Need to apply early because the good ones all have long waiting lists, or they might offer you just one day a week at first. One of the primary schools in Caterham is v well rated (I think it's just called Caterham School or something like that - can't remember if it was state or private). Caterham also has a nice, if small, Waitrose, if you like that sort of thing (more variety anyway)! Renting is a good idea. A big purchase and mortgage is a massive burden to take on if you haven't been in the country/area for some time, so best to rent first before committing. Also, you can compare C vs Guildford to see if you'd prefer to move back to Guildford. NB East Surrey to Guildford traffic can often take ages - but try it when you get back and see. It depends a lot on what time of the day and which day you want to go there.

Mine all went/go to Asquith Court Day Nursery in Caterham and we have always been happy with it (If you want me to do a recommendation we can both get some money off ). We also live in Reigate and commute from Redhill or Merstham (or Reigate for one train time). There is also an Asquith in Reigate but I dont know it. Lot of one of my dc classmates elder siblings go to Caterham (day, not boarding). As long as you have a healthy budget for housing (500K+) the whole Caterham/Merstham/Redhill/Reigate scenario works out very well for family life, commuting into London, etc etc. You do, however, have to be able to afford private school on top (or RAA which is my great hope ) of housing as the good state schools are very tricky to get into. I went to school in switzerland funnily enough so if you have any compariosn type questions please feel free to ask!

For your little one there is a pre-school (as opposed to day nursery so only 2.5hr sessions, no good for if you working) called Reigate High St Playgroup which is v v nice from about 3 but, again, way harder to get into than any that you have to actually pay a lot for (crazy I know) and you have to get his name down very quickly and live close.

HTH

BTW, to someone that posted further down - which road for catchment for Holmesdale and RAA!!!!! Surely not! And also Priory? Come on, it cant be done can it ! (Am currently trying for RAA and priory and I think it is impossible)

Can I throw a cat amongst the pigeons and suggest you look a few miles west - Dorking?

Several good primaries, two excellent secondaries, a lovely friendly town too.

but too far to drive to caterham? - or will eldest be staying boarding at caterham even if you are fairly local??

Sorry for delay in responding - just been off on hols for a week. DS will be boarding, but my DH has also thrown my well laid plans into disarray....he still hasn't been given a package/confirmed contract by our company, although we're supposed to be moving back in November now, and so has said that he wants to move back to our house in Surbiton (currently rented out to lovely family who have been there for 5 years)!!! I know that this is the sensible option on the cash side, but a) I've never liked the house b) it's too small for our furrniture, so alot (including my beloved grand piano) will have to go into storage until we move out into bigger house, c) I'm going to have to start looking at bl**dy primary schools and nurseries AGAIN. Why do husbands do this (perhaps it's just mine!)??!!

Have spent soooooooo long on researching areas, I can't quite believe that plans will have to be put on hold for a year or so...

Thank you for all the ladies who have posted to this thread. I will use every scrap of information once I'm settled in the UK, and start looking for a new house in earnest.

I agree with CointreauVersial!