Primary school in Crowborough - East Sussex

[pandapanda84]

Hallo dear mums and dads, we have just moved back from Australia and looking to settle in Crowborough area (atm temp living with in laws in Tombridge ). We have 2 boys , 6 years old and 3 years old. So our priority is finding house according to primary school and nursery location (ideally in one place together) .
Could you kindly recommend good state primary schools and nursery/ pre school in the area as Ofsted scores are good to check but locals knowledge and their opinion is sometimes more valid. Heard good things about Sir Henry Fermor , St Mary and Ashdown primary .
We would appreciate any advice .
Also what do you think of the area, is it safe for children , good community and neighbour spirit ,shopping, kids activities etc anything and everything that would be of relevance for family with young kids .
internet is good source of information but as said earlier , input from locals is valuable. Many thanx in advance for your kind answers

Hallo dear mums and dads, we have just moved back from Australia and looking to settle in Crowborough area (atm temp living with in laws in Tombridge ). We have 2 boys , 6 years old and 3 years old. So our priority is finding house according to primary school and nursery location (ideally in one place together) .
Could you kindly recommend good state primary schools and nursery/ pre school in the area as Ofsted scores are good to check but locals knowledge and their opinion is sometimes more valid. Heard good things about Sir Henry Fermor , St Mary and Ashdown primary .
We would appreciate any advice .
Also what do you think of the area, is it safe for children , good community and neighbour spirit ,shopping, kids activities etc anything and everything that would be of relevance for family with young kids .
internet is good source of information but as said earlier , input from locals is valuable. Many thanx in advance for your kind answers

Hi there,
I live in Crowborough and have 4 children (8, 7, 3 & nearly 1) so I’ll help you if I can!
I have friends with children at all the schools you’ve mentioned as well as Rotherfield and my own go to Jarvis Brook school.
You can’t really go wrong with any of the primary schools in Crowborough, St. John’s has the best reputation and, sorry to say, JB and Fermor have the worst. However, I personally think JB is a fantastic school and its reputation is historic. Last year it was the 5th top rated primary in East Sussex. We loved St Mary’s when we looked around but didn’t really like Ashdown (our nearest school). I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them really so just have a look and see what you like and see where has space.
And the secondary school, Beacon, is fantastic.
Let me know if I can answer any other questions you have.
Catheric xx

Sorry, to answer the other part of your question. We have found it a wonderful place to live with children, although the shopping is dire (except for the number of supermarkets we have 😆). My children do Cubs, Beavers and ballet and I volunteer at various toddler groups, including at local old people’s homes. I also volunteer at the brand new ScrapStore just opened off Crowborough Hill. I’ve found people to be very friendly down the Jarvis Brook end but have heard that the Ashdown mums are a bit more clique-y. That’s just hearsay though.
Wrt nurseries, my 3yo goes to JB Preschool, of course, but again I’ve had friends at most of the others and they’ve all been happy. Lots of people rave about Chapel Green, and I used to run a toddler group on the same site, which feeds into Fermor school, which doesn’t have a Preschool on site.
I think that’s all I can think of for now 😁

Dear Catheric, you been amazing with all the information you gave me , thanks so much . That gives me even better idea and picture of the schools and pre schools. Do you mind me asking how did you get involved in volunteering as that's something I would like to look into for the start and bit later when we settle bit more look for a job . And whats your opinion of Crowbrough in general for raising young kids regards safety , community and neighbour spirit , activities for kids . What are the cheap / cheaper supermarkets locally or do u need to go to TW ? Is there like community happenings where locals can get together and get to know each other ?Thanks a million again for your amazing reply really appreciate. Hope we meet one day

Catheric , what is Cubs and Beavers ?

Hi Panda,
I’ve messaged you but to answer a couple of these questions, I got into volunteering by attending toddler groups and being asked to help out, that led to me running a couple of groups. I’ve sent you the name of the groups, check out the website.
We actually have better supermarkets than TW because we have a Waitrose (local joke 😆), but really you’re well sorted for those here, Lidl is probably cheapest but we’ve got them all except Aldi.
Beavers is for boys and girls, aged 6-8, and Cubs is 8-10 (I think). Rainbows and Brownies is the equivalent, I think, but they only take girls. They have weekly meetings and do all sorts of activities and they earn badges for their achievements, which my boys love. They are very involved in the community and do processions for St. George’s Day and Remembrance Day.
We have never had any trouble here and love the area for us and the kids.
HTH xx