Primary schools/where to move to in Guildford

[Judez99]

Hoping someone can help with some advice/guidance! We moved to Guildford from London last summer, currently living (renting) on the edge of Onslow Village where we've been very happy.

However we have to move again in August as our landlord is selling up (a real pain). We need to start looking at primary schools for DS, who will start in Reception next year so obviously we need to bear those in mind when looking for somewhere to move to. (Here I was happily thinking he'd go to Onslow Infants or St Nics!)

We need to stay close(ish) to the A3 as we both commute down that way so can't really move across town to Burpham/Boxgrove areas, much as we'd like to - although actually Burpham is close to the A3 come to think of it.... Rental houses often seem to come up in Stoughton but I've read differing opinions of that on past MN discussions - what's the general feeling now about it? It seems to be like an extended housing estate? Does anyone know what Stoughton Infants is supposed to be like? Someone also mentioned Fairview being nice - whereabouts is that or did they mean Fairlands? What about the Queen Elizabeth estate? There don't seem to be that many primary schools around that area?

Also, when do open days tend to start - is it around September time? I think our landlord is fairly flexible about when we move but obviously I'd rather know the area we'll be in sooner rather than later so we can start going to open days etc. We'll be renting again, for the time being.

Farncombe/Godalming could also be an option, although not many rental properties in Farncombe.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated!

TIA

What about the villages near the A3 - both Puttenham and Shackleford have excellent infant schools, and have good access onto the A3, and serve the other local villages (Seale, Wanborough, Compton etc) Puttenham has an Open Morning on Monday 30th June, and will almost certainly have others in September. There's also St James in Elstead, which is a bit further out, and Elstead is a larger village and more likely to have properties to rent. Do you want to live in a village, or would you prefer a town? What sort of place are you looking for? One in Elstead here - www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-46440071.html

Thanks BlueString. We'd probably prefer a town or somewhere in the vicinity of a fast train to London as DH will be looking for a job there next year. I also should have said, DS goes to nursery on the west side of Guildford and as he already had to change nurseries when we moved from London last year, I don't really want him to have to change again, and only for a year, so I'd need to still be able to pick him up/drop him off. I actually use the A31 to go to work - A3 just for a little bit. So anywhere in between the A3-A31 would be ideal....Puttenham does look nice from driving through it but I have a feeling not many rental properties come up there! Elstead again would be ideal location-wise but I'd have to change his nursery. That's the kind of house we'd be looking for though, so thanks for the link.

Talk about swings and roundabouts!

Stoughton Infants is excellent but you'd need to be VERY close to the school to get in - because of the high volume of housing in the area the catchment is tiny..

think open days are October/November time. My boys will start reception Sept 2015 too - I had been planning to start visiting schools during that Autumn term

have a look at this: new.surreycc.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/5140/Information-on-Primary-Schools-for-2014-15-Guildford-V5.doc.pdf

will give you an idea of how many places each school has and the criteria to get a place. might help you narrow down where you want to be and which schools are hard/easier to get into

good luck!

Thanks Suitcase! Very useful - will have a look.

Well I'm considering looking at houses in Burpham now....but one house that could have potential is apparently 0.6miles from Burpham Foundation and a tiny bit further to Boxgrove/Weyfield primary schools. My question is, would I stand a chance of getting DS into Burpham Foundation or any of the others?

Also, how do people get on to the A3 from Burpham if you're travelling south? I can see how you can get on to go to London, but to Portsmouth? It seems you'd have to cross town through Ladymead etc and I imagine that must get very busy at rush hour?!

TIA again!

A3 yes you have to go to ladymead to get to a3 south traffic horrendous both morning and evening. I would think that moving nurserys should not be a huge problem transport links and schools are key.

Ok thanks Sixlive. I might not go for Burpham then! I don't really want to go through the whole hassle of changing nurseries again as it took him a while to settle into his current one plus it suits us very well with very flexible pick-up times and fees etc.

You could go north on the A3 to Burntcommon and come off there but join back on again to go south. I see plenty of people do that on the way to work so assume it must be quicker than going across town.

you would have got a place at Burpham Foundation last year - distance was 1.74km. Boxgrove was 2km.
No guarantee that it will be the same this/next year but chances are you'd be OK with one or other of these two schools.
Agree best way to do the drive south would be up the A3 to Clandon junction, round the r-a-b and back on again. Occasionally the northbound route gets jammed in the mornings, but that's rare. Definitely faster than going through town anyway :-)

Sorry but the a3 towards clandon often v slow in the morning I know as do it the other way. I would think onslow/godalming/Farnham/Elstead better option.

I think any route around Guildford can be slow at peak times. Generally the drive between Burpham and Burntcommon is clear, the slow spots Northbound are usually further back at the A31 slip road or further on at Ripley services. Unless of course there is an accident on the A3 or any of the surrounding roads which then means chaos like yesterday morning! Either way it was just an option for the OP to think about.

Thanks guys - although I think going all the way up to burnt common and back again would add on too much to my journey which already takes around 50 mins from where I live now! I don't understand why they don't want people to exit burpham onto the A3 going south!

It took 2 minutes today at 8am to get from the Burpham slip road to the Burntcommon slip road. It then took another 3 mins to wait at the roundabout and then reach the slip road back on to the A3. Only timed it as I was intrigued to know how long it takes ??