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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Moving to Guildford or nearby

18 replies

Isabelly83 · 12/05/2014 18:12

Hi, hopefully somebody can give me some advice.
We are looking to move down to Surrey this summer, currently we are in Glasgow. The main reason for moving is that my husband has his own business and he is working a lot with other London based companies. We are thinking Guildford or nearby because of the train links (He needs to travel to Kingston relatively easily but not daily).
The biggest issue is that our eldest is starting P1 this September and she is currently signed up to our local school here. If we are moving we need to do this before the school year starts but I am aware that being so last minute it will be hard to get a place in a good/oversubscribed school. I was looking at Boxgrove primary as I have heard really good things.
Any advice on what other nice areas with good schools there are? Thinking that maybe a smaller village will have a good school and be less oversubscribed. I would like to try and avoid finding a place to rent and then having to travel to get her to school.

Thanks for any advice

OP posts:

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TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 12/05/2014 19:03

When does/did she turn 4?

Original poster

Isabelly83 · 12/05/2014 20:09

She is turning 5 in June so due to start Primary 1 here in Scotland. I think in England its slightly different as they start a year earlier?

OP posts:

OldCatLady · 12/05/2014 20:13

Guildford is lovely, but if I were you I'd go for the Esher/weybridge/Cobham/Walton-on-Thames area. All approx 15 mins drive to Kingston and lovely. All lovely little downs with lots of nice schools.

springrain · 12/05/2014 20:39

You will be looking for a current reception place/Year 1 place in Sept. I agree with Oldcat re areas. Why not call Surrey County Council and ask where they have current reception places in that area and work back from that?

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 12/05/2014 21:08

Ok, so she will miss reception (early years) and go into year 1.? You could start applying to go on waiting lists from your current address, if a place comes up and no-one else is on the list (possible as those who haven't yet got their preferred school may now be happy with their reception allocation)

homebythesea · 13/05/2014 08:52

Guildford to Kingston is a pig of a journey in rush hour - no direct train, so would have to drive. AVOID!! Agree that you should look Esher / Cobham way although those areas are v spendy

Original poster

Isabelly83 · 13/05/2014 09:23

Thank you all for the replies. I will call Surrey council today and find out what schools have places free. Great idea!! Thank you :)
And will also look at those areas you mentioned. The Kingston commute wont be much and he doesnt drive so we will certainly avoid that ;) The reason for choosing Guildford was to avoid getting back into London after having lived there for 5 years it can get pretty hectic so countryside without being in the middle of nowhere was the preferrence. Plus in Guildford we have friends so socially it would be good I think.

OP posts:

homebythesea · 13/05/2014 11:25

Isabelly - do you drive? I hope so as I would think it is v difficult to get DC's around anywhere in Surrey without 4 wheels - v different to London in that respect.

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 13/05/2014 11:36

You could try the MN LOCAL board for Surrey too.

mummytime · 13/05/2014 11:41

Is where he needs to go more Surbiton than Kingston, or could he walk from Surbiton station (I have done that to the shops before now)? Because then Guildford will be more commutable.

You will be lucky if you get a DC into Boxgrove. I wouldn't set your heart on one school in Guildford, but they are all pretty good (despite OFSTED ratings recently). I think the schools are all pretty full, but there is always some movement, so you might be lucky.
If you are going to be in Guildford long term then I'd look at secondaries when deciding where to live.

Most/all schools are oversubscribed and there is a lot of pressure on places. However DON'T PANIC, Surrey CC will have to find you a place, and there is movement.

Tea1Sugar · 13/05/2014 14:19

I live in Kingston borough and am a teacher in a local school so if I can give any advice, holla

denialandpanic · 13/05/2014 18:51

There is no direct train from Guildford to Kingston.He would have to change. It can take stupidly long. I would look at areas on the Kingston train lines personally.

Original poster

Isabelly83 · 13/05/2014 19:14

Thanks everyone. The Kingston commute doesnt worry me as much as it's a very occasional thing but I am considering ooking at areas within easier reach as well as suggested. The main thing is that we want to live in a nice leafy area not too close from London. He works mainly from hime so shouldnt be a problem.
I called Surrey council today and they have advised me to put in a in year application with a cover letter explaining our situation. Once I have done that they will get in touch to advise what schools have places left or are more likely to have places available. I just hope the suggestions they have aren't for very rough schools. Fingers crossed!

OP posts:

springrain · 13/05/2014 20:18

Good luck. Come back when you have been given some suggestions. If you look in the Cobham, Effingham, Horsley area I would expect you would get some places at some good/outstanding schools as current reception year was not as big a year as some other years/areas. However the house prices will be a little interesting versus Glasgow.

pea84 · 24/05/2014 14:54

Have you looked at West Clandon? Clandon Infants is a lovely small village school that was recently judged as Good by OFSTED. They have spaces too!

suitcaseofdreams · 24/05/2014 15:01

Agree lovely school but West Clandon very expensive to buy in though. And still got the horrid A3 drive to Kingston...

Original poster

Isabelly83 · 30/05/2014 11:12

Quick update here. I never heard back from Surrey council regarding my application so I called them up again. They were lovely and super helpful. He had to look for each school individually but he managed to tell me how many children are in the waiting list for some of the school I had in mind. Boxgrove has 9 children in the waiting list, Onslow village only has 1 child on the waiting list. He also said things change quite a lot o they dont have a list with all the schools.
Summertime is the most popular time to move for obvious reasons so he said that Onslow I would probably get a place and it is likely that some pupils move out of the area.
He also suggested I would be much better focusing on secondary school as time flies and it's much more important to get that right. But because we dont know the area to well and are renting for the time being I will leave this for now until we decide to buy a house.

West Clandon I have checked but unfortunately there is not much up for rental in that area. I will keep looking though. Thanks for the tip!

Planning a house hunting trip next week, wish me luck!

OP posts:

Moid1 · 31/05/2014 07:36

We moved into the catchment area for HTPD in July and because of proximity went to the top of the waiting list. Got a place in August. The number of children on the waiting list is irrelevant, the important info is how close you needed to be to the school to get to the top.

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