Relocating from Melbourne to Bristol

[snaggle100]

Hello there,
We are looking to relocate from Melbourne to Bristol and would like some advise on where to live. Dont really want the city centre, would be happy with a large village or on the outskirts of bristol / bath. Prepared to travel up to 15-20 miles from the city centre if required. Concerned about primary schools as we have two primary school aged kids (4 yrs and 6yrs) and so we need to get them into school. We will be relocating in December and hopefully get them into start school in Jan 2014.
Would REALLY appreciate any advise on good schools, the likihood of getting into these schools and areas to live.
Kind regards,
:_)

It may make sense to start with the school places - on the outskirts of Bristol, there are three education authorities / counties, who should be able to tell you where has spaces - South Gloucestershire, Bath & NE Somerset, and Somerset. I live in South Gloucestershire on the northern outskirts of Bristol, but I know there are no spaces for those ages at our village primary.

Where in Bristol centre would you need to get to? The traffic can be v bad and publics transport unreliable, so it's worth considering the route in.

Hi Snaggle,
I agree with ManicMinor, your first place to start is with the local authorities listed above, plus Bristol itself. They will be able to tell you where school places are available. Well regarded schools are highly likely to be oversubscribed. Actually I think there was a shortage of places in Bristol over the past few years, so even less well regarded schools might be full.
I would be able to help you more if you say whereabouts in Bristol you need to get to for work, and what sort of budget you are looking for for housing. Manic is right in that the commute, even for a few miles, can be horrendous. It used to take me around an hour to get to work in the city centre at 9am, from my house which was 6/7 miles away....
We live in north west Bristol which is a lovely family friendly area, but the schools are all very full.
Bristol is quite a diverse city - some areas are very studenty, some very multicultural, some very middle class, some more hippyish/environmentally aware - it just depends on your preferences really. There are some lovely villages in the outskirts - Chew Valley area, Almondsbury/Thornbury area, Backwell/Wraxall area but it just depends on your commute.

The 4 local authorities are: Bristol, South Glos, Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset.
If your 4 year old is 5 before September then Yes they should be in a reception class soon after you arrive. However if they aren't 5 until the end of the year i.e. between 1st September and 31st December, you will need to apply for a school place starting in September 2014. The deadline for applying is 15th January.

You can't apply for a school place before you have an address within the relevant local authority, though you may be able to get some information about where there are spaces. Almost by definition, the good/popular schools don't have spaces, they have waiting lists of children hoping for a space if someone moves.
We live on the Bristol/South Glos border and there are lots of pleasant areas for families on the North side of the city (Staple Hill, Downend, Mangotsfield, Emersons Green, Pucklechurch, Winterbourne).
As others have said traffic is a nightmare. I'd seriously think about where you need to be for jobs and how you are going to get there, and what bus/cycle routes might be useful. Distances that don't sound far at all can take a LONG time in rush hour.
Crazymum you have to be in school the September after you are 4, so the younger child will need a reception place part way through the year, starting in January. They will both need in year admissions.
South Glos in year admissions ,Bristol in year admissions , Bath

I wish you luck - Bristol is a fab place to live but education is a bit of an issue here. My DD1 is older and has just started in year 7 in a school we are very happy with. However, I have worried about where she would go for the last 11 years, and we have been very lucky that she got a lottery school place in a school we were very happy with. Hope it works out for you.

Bakingtins We do mean the same thing. In Australia the school year starts in January so all children born in a calendar year start school the same year. Am trying to point out to the OP that it isn't the same here because the school year starts in September.
This may also mean that the 6 year old won't be in the same year group here as in Australia (depending when their birthday is).
I agree that you cannot apply for a school place until you have an address and there is such pressure on school places that it is unlikely that there would be space in the most popular/best schools.

If you can cope with the commute into Bristol (not done it myself but know several people who do it) then I can wholeheartedly recommend Alveston/Thornbury and the surrounding villages. There are several good primary schools in the area that have places available and good secondary schools too.

We are in Keynsham which is midway between Bristol and Bath. It has several good schools and neighbouring Saltford has an excellent primary. Wellsway, the secondary in Keynsham is very good as well.
I would highly recommend Keynsham as it is an easy commute by car, bus or train into Bristol and Bath and the schools aren't bursting at the seams so you may well have some luck getting your two in. We come under Bath and N E Somerset for school admissions.

I applied to Somerset council for a reception place in an infants school with them reciving my application on the day we moved in, in mid August. Two days later I got a letter in the post offering DS a place in our first chioce, starting in a few weeks time. We were with in the catchment area. Last year it was full, it may not have been this year. For any children that have started school you will need to fill in an in year transfer form. If your youngest is due to start in september you need to fill in a normal starting school aplication. Ether way when you get an address look up the council website find the relivent phone number and in my case have a lovely chat and find out what you need to do. Good luck

We are outside Bristol, actually Gloucestershire (just) and DS (age 6) goes to a brilliant primary in South Glos. My friends in Bristol struggled to get their children into poor schools because of the pressure on places, which was particularly bad that year, whereas DS school has space at every level despite being the top of the league table for SATs in 2012. Apparently, its partly recession based because 'usually' people would move out of Bristol and fill the outlying schools but recently they haven't been able to move - hence schools being over or under filled. The good news is that there are lovely places to live which are easy to commute to Bristol and access to good schools. We live in the Cotswolds and DH has a standard 30- 40 minute commute to central Bristol. If you fancy the countryside, look in the Badminton/ Hawkesbury area. Lots of nice small primary schools. But if work is eg south of the centre then the commute across Bristol could be a bit much.

I'm in Saltford so south of Bristol towards Bath. Nice village full of young families & an 'outstanding' primary school. Highly recommend it here!

SalTford is a nice area, but I have heard that the school has classes with 37/38 pupils in it, so it may well be over subscribed?

Hi all
Thanks so much for the info. My husband will be working in the city centre. The issue we have is we will go into temporary serviced accommodation near his office when we arrive in November. Our furniture from oz will not arrive until late jan . We had planned to stay in the serviced accommodation until our furniture arrived but if you have to be in the catchment for schools that changes everything. Finding furnished short term accommodation could be a bit of a problem. We do not want to live in the city centre really and so while we were thinking to be based there initially it was not the plan to stay there after our furniture arrived. But if you have to be in the catchment .......

On budget, our top top rental per month would be £1500 for a 3 bed house. Happy to live on outskirts of city or nice village (as long as has decent amenities), also would consider Bath. Not really wanting commute longer than 30 mins if that's possible in bristol.

Have heard traffic a nightmare esp. in the north of bristol.

Although hubby not keen would consider private education as guessing this makes it easier to live anywhere and not be restricted by zoning, although no idea if that makes it easier to get into decent school, also no ideas on costs.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Also would consider Bath if reasonable commute.
Any advice greatly appreciated
Thanks :)

If his off is near Temple Meads station, then living close to one of the stations in Bath (Bath Spa or Oldfield Park - more trains from Bath Spa) would work - loads of people do that commute. Don't even think of driving it, though!

Schools in Bath are generally very good.

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You can commute by train from Bath or Keynsham in under 30 minutes but driving would take longer because of the awful Bristol traffic. Bath rents are expensive but the schools are much better than Bristol. Don't know how it'll work for catchment areas though sorry, mine are not yet school age

Hi there - have you considered Bradford-on-Avon? It's a very pretty market town east of Bristol and Bath. It has excellent schools including a very well thought of Secondary School (St Laurence). It has 2 primary schools (Christ Church and Fitzmaurice - both excellent). It's in the county of Wiltshire, just over the border from Bath and NE Somerset.

The town has a good range of independent shops, restaurants, library and swimming pool. We relocated here from Bristol 8 years ago and have no regrets. We loved Bristol and still visit regularly but we wanted to be a bit more rural.

If you live in the town your DC automatically get a place at the Secondary School - no stress at all with place allocation. Very different matter if you live in Bristol for both primary and secondary schools.

Lots of people have moved to Bradford-on-Avon from Bristol/London and it has a train station so easily commutable to Bristol (30mins) and Bath (15mins). Traffic does get clogged up so a lot of people use the train instead. Have a look at Rightmove for renting - 3 bed houses go for about £850 to £1000, 4 beds from £1,300. Bath is also fantastic and maybe investigate a village called Backwell - it's close to Bristol and also has very good schools. Good luck with your move.

Hi all,
Thanks so much for your insight, will look into all you suggest. Have looked around the keysham area, it seems to work well. Looking also more into Bath.
Have been in touch with all 4 local education authorities, all need a catchment area address for the schools. So we need to move into a rental (or at least have the paperwork )before applying... argh.
Thanks loveinthemis for the Bradford on Avon suggestion, will also look into this. Had not looked that far out but DH fine with 30 mins on the train, are the trains reliable and stick to their timetable. Hoping different from OZ, as they most definately are NOT reliable!

Thanks again