DDs social life-ruined if she goes to a primary school 8 miles away,not local one?!

[TwoPeasOnePod]

Hi just a quick summary, I am a single parent and I am finally managing to move out of the horrible place I live with two DDs- we move on August 1st, but eldest DD starts at school near my current shitty dump house this September.
However, the new house is 8 miles away, would you look into putting your child in the school at the new place, instead of the one she is currently enrolled in?

I am worried that if she doesnt go to the school in the tiny town we are moving to, she won't be able to make friends as easily there, or if she stayed at the school where we would have to drive 8 miles, she might miss out on socialising with those children becasue she isn't living in their town?! Or am i overthinking this massively?? Do kids make friends if they live in the same town but go to different schools? pfb alert

I would put her in your local school. You are right in that you will spend your life ferrying children around and she is likely to miss out on the after school activities/friendships if she is not nearby.

I would move her, we did when we moved just 1.5 miles, even though the dds had moved school only 6 months before. It's so much easier being local, we tried the commuting to school for just a couple of weeks before we realised what a drag it would be for the next few years.

But we are particularly resistant to commuting I think, and my children were quite happy to move schools again.

She should go to the school where you will live. It is important to have friends near you as a child.

Thanks for replies, I would be commuting the eight miles anyway, as my job is there too, but not sure if I would be working school hours or what just yet, so that may be irrelevant in terms of being useful for fitting the school run in with

I think I'll go look round the school in the new town and see what it's like. I think the reason I'm not sure what to do is because being a single parent means I have no one to talk the pros and cons out with, I'm worried about doing the wrong thing. There's so many factors to think of, like not even being able to be 100% sure I will afford my car for the duration of primary school years,if the petrol/insurance/etc keeps rocketing up. The main reason I'm erring towards keeping her at the school in the old town is because it seems a really lovely school...Aaagh! But I don't want her being an 'outsider' in the new, really small, town