Moving from somerset and need help with primary schools!!

[vithi]

Hi all,
Me and my family are deciding to move closer to family ( west croydon & surrounding towns) from somerset. Husband and I are both originally from croydon. Both of us moved to somerset after marriage in 2009 and now have two children (boy 5 and girl 2). My son is in a very good state primary school in reception. My daughter will have to be in nursery /pre-school when she gets there. We are ideally looking to move this summer so my son can start yr 1 in September but obviously don't want to rush either. So the main question is which area? Both of us are not too keen on moving into Croydon, but another town with easy travel distance to croydon is preferable. We will have to start from scratch making friends with families with our children's age, getting involved in the local community and school, etc. So a nice village type of town. A lot has changed from the days we were in school so looking for latest information. Any advice would be appreciated.

If you are thinking Surrey / Croydon border be prepared to have to go on waiting lists as demand is high. Several schools are adding additional classes for this year's reception intake - Chipstead Valley for example - but that won't help your elder child.

Thanks LIZS. Yes I understand i have to keep that on mind too. But we actually are struggling to choose an area to move into in the first place. I was thinking of Shirley, Purley, south croydon. But Hubby is thinking around Banstead, Sanderstead. We both drive so logistics is not an issue. However both of us will also be working so need to at times rely on the grandparents to do the school run. Both set of grandparents don't drive and heavily rely on public transport and live in croydon. We are not very sure of transportation at this point.

Woodmansterne might fit the villagey bill, and the school sometimes has spaces as it is a bit out of the way. Public transport may be a problem, not sure how well served the area is by bus. Banstead is lovely but £££. Woodcote in Coulsdon takes 90 a year (going up to 120 for reception in either 2017 or 2018 I think) and is Ofsted outstanding - as it is a large school you may get more turnover, but there is a lot of new residential property going up in the area so hard to judge.

I think public transport access to many of the towns and villages, especially to the schools, would be an issue. Woodcote is at least nearish to the mainline station , if uphill , and within Oyster zones but others are further afield. You might be better looking at tramlines/bus to wherever they live and go from there.

Thank you for the advice. We may have to move into Croydon for a bit and then move to wherever it is we want as must be able to get grandparents around when needed. Having said that a lot of schools in Croydon seem to be full? I am looking from sort of between Thornton Heath and west Croydon as I am familiar with bus services there. Any suggestions of schools there?