Good primaries in Rochester, Medway and surrounding areas?

[confusedperson]

We are looking into buying a house in Rochester and obviously, we would like good primaries for our boys (one is in Reception, another is 2) which would set a good standard for getting into Medway grammar later. We can consider Catholic or Anglican schools as well, I don?t know how oversubscribed they are?
Basically, I noticed that there are plenty of good schools in Rainham but I prefer Rochester long term and not sure if I can get in the best schools while living in Rochester? What are common catchments in these areas? I am currently in London, where catchments are less than 0.5m or very oversubscribed, so cannot really compared if Medway is the same.
P.S. Ideally we have to be close to train station or on a bus route, due to daily commute to London.
Any advise would be very much appreciated!

Kent county council publish their applications and distances for primaries online so pouring over this may help you glean which are the popular schools.
mapping this out alongside rightmove houses for sale is where I would start.
I haven't lived there for years so can't comment particularly. Rochester is on the whole a nice town.
Beware crossing the river to Strood, a less popular area.

Sorry, just remembered Medway are separate to Kent so strike whatever was irrelevant! Probably all of it!

Thanks MaydayChild! Medway still has not published their Primary Admissions Booklet, so I cannot find any distancies to schools.
It seems that the most good schools are in Rainham, but it opposes our idea to live in Rochester, so it is really a dilemma.

You can call them though to get all info or ask for the email address hopefully they will respond quickly.
Also ask for last years stats as at least you could start to see the picture
Good luck

Here you go

There are plenty of good schools. Balfour school would be one of the main ones to aim for the Rochester area and had a 1.1km distance. My sons school was c600 m this year and 500m the year before.

Most good schools are quite full though as I know when I called around at the end of last year when I was thinking of moving him, schools that are even deemed as less aspirational were full.

Sorry balfour is actually 1.5km so quite big catchment

Thank you everyone, especially for the link! I was very worried that if we buy a house in Rochester, we won't have a wide choice of good schools, but the catchments seem to be wide and I shall not be worried! That is reassuring.
Sorry a bit off topic, but if you are locals, how is the area between St Peters and Delce schools? (nearer Maidstone road than City Way road)

Or any better areas within 1 mile of Rochester train station, please....?

I live in Chatham which isn't the most sought after part of Medway so for me those houses and roads are fine but it is all about what your expectations are. We moved from a flat in Thornton Heath near Croydon so are v pleased with our school and area. If you are moving from a more well off area in London, then you might feel that those roads are not for you - quite small houses, lots of steps up to the front door, difficulty parking, narrow roads. We looked at one on Rochester Avenue and it just felt too small.

If you can be on the other side of Maidstone road the houses are bigger and it is more well off IMO. We chose this house in Chatham for more room than the same £ in Rochester. We still go to Rochester and my parents live in Rainham. I would personally chose Rainham over Rochester as I prefer it's atmosphere and it has shops for actual people rather than tourists. You have Rainham Mark Grammar and two good single sex schools.

What's the budget?

And how many bedrooms

Thanks Ben10... we actually also moving from Croydon area, and I do not expect anything posh, just safe and quiet :) We are looking here or similar, but still undecided.. When I visited, Rainham felt to suburbian to me, but perhaps I am wrong? Going to visit the area again next week..

grrr I just deleted a huge response!

Rainham feels very safe with children and coming from S London, that is something that I crave!

I like the area that house is in. Near to The Math which is the most popular boys grammar school. I think that the Delce school is quite big so it depends how you feel about that. It is a flat road which is important in Medway so that you don't have steps up to the house or down to the garden. Depending on where you work in London, the coach is a good option which you can pick up from Bluebell Hill and it is straight into Canary Wharf. Much cheaper than the train.

We've been here 5 years now and there is no way that we would go back at all. Friendly neighbours that we know by name and they know everthing about us! So different to Croydon

It's great how much you get for your money isn't it :)

One of the best schools in Medway is St Nicholas C of E School in Strood. Bog standard average intake, brilliant HT, brilliant staff, brilliant results (I'm not on the payroll [hwink].

Just remembered though, it's only infants.

Another very good school in Strood, is Hilltop. Strood is about a mile from Rochester Station (just over the bridge).

HMedway KS2 scores sorted by CVA I'm very proud of our schools score on here :)

Might help you make your choices as well.

Ben10... your post is very reassuring. Five years in the area, you must know everything by now! Would you have chosen the same area (Chatham) if you had your knowledge now?
I want the best for my kids, and Rainham defo has best schools in the area (thanks for the link!) but I am a bit of town girl and Rainham didn't feel right for me (no offence, I do believe it is a nice area). Chatham seems to have some good schools, but a bit further out from the station, and I prefer to stay reasonably central... The Pillgrim school looks good on the table, and I am off to looking at their catchment.
I hope I am not making a mistake by sticking to Rochester....

The area in between Chatham maidstone road and City Way has nice houses off it too as well as the Rochester Maidstone Road (took me a while to realise that there were two different roads!). It is not far from Chatham station.

We live in a cheaper part of Chatham and we bought this house as it is basically next to a primary school that is very good. I think TBH I would have chosen Chatham again given the neighbours, the schools, walking distance to the town centre and the supermarket etc although Chatham town centre takes a bit of getting used to .

We also had to choose houses based on distance to the train station so couldn't live in quite a few of the other areas like Walderslade and Lordswood which are very nice too.

Rochester is lovely - we always take our relatives there and will be there on 3rd December for the Dickensian Christmas - you'd love it, processions of people in Dickensian costumes, snow etc.

It is the lack of "real" shops that bothers me in Rochester. You have to go to Strood or Chatham for shops.

It feels much much safer here than Croydon/London. You won't regret it. There are no yellow police incident signs, you don't see the gangs of youths, DH doesn't worry about me being out at night.

Don't forget for shops you can drive to bluewater in about 15 minutes from Medway which is far more comparable to Croydon shops.
Don't discount any of the Medway towns for the shops! they have always been rubbish!

15 minutes You must drive a lot quicker than me . I work at BW and the quickest I have ever done it is 25 mins at 5am. The thing with the towns is it depends how close you are to the motorway as that can put 15 minutes on your journey easily.

I agree that it is not exactly shopping heaven in Chatham but sometimes you want to buy a bar of soap rather than organic lentil woven soap like you can buy in the shops in Roch high street :)

we used to live on the esplanade in rochester, and i loved rochester during the day with the kids - just went there the other day. chatham feels a bit grim sometimes, but bluewater is fab, plus the outlet centre isnt too bad.

Thanks everyone again, especially Ben10... for very useful information. I wonder, which school have you chosen so it is close to the station. For us, Walderslade or Lordswood would be too far from the station. I was looking between Maidstone Rd (Rochester) and City Way, but will have a look between Maidstone Rd (Rochester) and Maidstone Rd (Chatham).

I'll PM you

Hello
just moved to Chatham and my daughter got admision into Luton Infant school. I live in Stevens Close. Me4 5NG. close to the Sure start children centre.
can anyone please recommend a drop off service or is any parent willing to help. I can always pick up.
Thank you