Moving to Brighton - need some help with schools & areas please!

[Pip]

We are planning on moving to Brighton & Hove. We moved to northern Spain over four years ago but have found ourselves missng England! We have very good friends in Brighton and have always enjoyed visiting. It seems like a good family-friendly place, I can´t think of anywhere in England I´d rather live.

I´ve been through a few old threads on here. It seems that finding a place at a state school is almost impossible! We have two boys, they will be aged 5 & 7, so we´re looking at infants & junior schools. I like the sound of Stanford infants & junior, also Balfour. For those of you who live in the area, if you had to choose your top three schools, which ones would you choose?

The areas I´ve been looking at (online) are Seven Dials, Fiveways, Preston Park & Hove (specifically Poets Corner). We will be visiting next month so at last we can get a real feel for these areas. Any thoughts on these areas? Would you say that Brighton is a good place for families?

Thanks in advance!

It seems like you're doing really well. I have three kids at Stanford and one will be going in September. I love the infants particularly, but it's over subscribed so you need to get good and close.

Balfour's pretty good too, as is Downs. Really, you're spoilt for choice with primary schools in Brighton. It's when they get to secondary level it starts to get harder because there aren't enough places.

Seven Dials is lovely and close to town, but VERY expensive and it's hard to get a garden. Preson Park and Fiveways are also nice and you may well get more for your money, but harder to walk into town.

I think Poet's Corner is a bit built up and over rated, though I don't really know it that well. Only from driving through.

Basically though Pip, you can't go wrong. This is a truly fantastic city to bring kids up in. I wouldn't live anywhere else. I used to miss London, but I'm over it.

Best of luck.

To be honest, I think getting a place in a good school would be very difficult, and getting 2 places nearly impossible. I moved to Brighton a couple of years ago. I had a child in y3 and y1 and didn't get a school place for them I'm afraid. BUT we were a bit crap about planning etc, and you may be more organised than we were. I don't know how it is done really as you need an address to get on the waiting list for a school (you need to be very close to the popular schools to get a place), but you wouldn't move here without a school place.

We sort of assumed there would be no problem getting a school place, and then were shocked when we were offered 2 completely different schools, miles away, that were crap.

I suggest you could contact the family infomation service and I think they can give you an idea of where there are vacancies. You could also phone the schools direct and they will give you an idea of what the waiting lists are. They also will know if anyone has said they are leaving at the end of term.

are you over London Spidermama? I was hankering after London before Christmas as there is a possibility of dh working there again.

(sorry to hijack Pip - I really love Brighton at the moment, but it has definitely taken me 2 years to settle here).

Have you thought about Lewes Pip?! Depends if your heart is set on city life....

Pollyanna is right and much more practical than I am. When I moved here my children were 3, 4 and in utero so I was starting from scratch applying for a school at reception level.

Sorry Pip to continue the hijack.

This page might help - it's a list of all the primary/infants schools with the admissions numbers. Your DCs won't of course be starting school, so the admissions numbers are not directly relevant, but it might indicate which schools are over subscribed and which ones are less popular.

It's hard to go too far wrong with the primary schools, though. The real problem comes as Spidermama said, with secondaries.

Pip in my view you would have to approach it like a military operation. Pick one of the bigger schools, visit it, get to know the head etc and find out what the possibility of a space is and how big the waiting lists are. If you live nearest to school on the list, then you would be top of the list. However someone does have to leave - I know someone who has been waiting forever on the top of a waiting list at one popular school.

(I didn't do this, I just moved into an area we liked (7 Dials) in the summer holidays and then was surprised that I didn't get a place!)

I do really like Brighton and think it is an excellent place to bring up children.

Thanks for the quick replies! Pollyanna, you have scared me with your honest answers! I knew the schools were oversubscribed but I never imagined not being given a place! Or being given one that is really far away and crap. Spidermama, I really really like the idea of Stanford, I spoke to someone who has two children there and it just sounds so lovely. The schools issue is huge for us, as our boys are pretty timid, and will be coming from a tiny Spanish school. Youngest has quite a spanish accent bless him (even though we have always spoken English at home), so I really want a small, friendly school that won´t scare them to death on their first day! They live a pretty sheltered life here so I´m sure it´s going to be a shock. I hate the thought of them at different schools though. Still, we´re prepared to make some sacrifices, I think it will be worth it.

It seems so impossible getting a place as we don´t have an address yet. We can´t buy right now as we have to sell our place out here (not a great time to sell either!). Our first thought was that we HAD to buy somewhere with seaviews (which is what we have here), but reality has now set in! Has anyone noticed house prices falling with the credit crunch or not? I´m wondering whether Brighton is so popular that house prices won´t be affected that much.

You all sound pretty happy with Brighton though. There aren´t many places like it I think.

Right, off to study that schools list... thanks again. x

yes, house prices have really fallen here - about 20% I'm told. Alot of the prices on rightmove are completely unrealistic and nothing is selling. I wouldn't buy if I were you, as many people think the prices will still go down for at least another year. It is a good time to be buying in Brighton.

Come and have a look around! Like spidermama, I don't have good feelings about Poets Corner, but I don't live there and don't have much to base this on. We didn't want to live in Preston Park as we wanted to be able to walk to the sea and town centre. I live in 7 Dials which I really like, but I also like alot of Hove.

some friends have a boy at Peter Gladwin school, which is one of the less popular ones.

They say it is the epitome of small and friendly. Fashions in schools come and go, and actually being less popular does NOT necessarily mean less good.

The school my DCs go to was undersubscribed for several years but is raved about by all the parents, and is now oversubscribed on first preferences.

Pollyanna, that´s really good news! I´ve been looking on rightmove and houses do still seem quite expensive. It´s definitely a good time for us to buy as the euro is pretty strong against the pound. Just a shame we have to wait to sell our house!

Is Poets Corner a studenty area? I have no idea what any of these areas are like really. Can´t wait to see them. I really want a family area, whether there is such a thing. As where we live right now, is so rural, I really would like some life around us - just some shops and cafes - and to be within walking distance to the sea (we live opposite the sea right now). That´s why I liked the sound of Seven Dials. Do you know if houses around Seven Dials would be in the catchment area for Stanford? Do you mind me asking which schools your children finally got into? How long did it take to get into a decent school? Gosh, I´m going to be home teaching at this rate!

iheartdusty, whereabouts is Peter Gladwin school? It doesn´t ring any bells.

What age do they start teaching languages? When I was at school it was secondary school, but I´m hoping they´ve changed this. Does anyone know if Spanish is taught, I´m presuming it´s more popular now?

Questions, questions!

Ooh, I really can´t wait for some culture though, I am SO excited!

yes, the area to the North (maybe?) of Seven Dials is in the catchment area for Stanford. I think some houses to the erm west (?) are also in the catchment.

We ended up going private for our older 2, but managed to get the younger ones into a local school.

I don't know what Poets Corner is like. I go to a toddler group near there and all the mums seem really nice, but I don't know if they live there. The houses are quite small there and i think it probably is quite expensive for what you get as it is quite close to Hove Station. If you don't need to commute, you do get more for your money further away from the stations.

Peter Gladwin school is towards Portslade. You certainly get more for your money there, away from Brighton, but it's less atmospheric and away from the action.

Poets Corner is extremely family oriented, not at all studenty; it surrounds a small park and there are hosts of cafes around, and it's a short walk to the sea. I know people who live there; they are respectively a TV producer, a stressed out SAHM, a former journalist now in education, and a chef. Does that tell you anything - I don't know! The houses are pretty small and the gardens are tiny, but that's true of a great deal of B&H.

I recommended Lullington Avenue & roads around to someone else on MN, it's just through the railway tunnel to Poets Corner but the gardens and houses are quite a bit bigger. Also have a look at the area known as Benfield, south of Hangleton, in HOve.

We won´t need to commute, but it seems all the areas we like are near the train stations anyway!

I get the impression that the schools in Brighton are more popular than those in Hove, what do you think?

Sorry, I´ll stop asking questions now!

sorry, meant to add - my DCs' school does Spanish in the Juniors, but I think it's up to the school what they do and when. There are opportunities to learn/speak spanish out of school at clubs and groups, eg there's a Spanish Families group at the Phoenix Community Centre, I think.

I think that the demographics account for that - there are more schools for the numbers of children in Hove. In fact the least popular schools are in Brighton AFAIK, so perhaps they account for the relative popularity of the others? Also Brighton is more densely populated than Hove.

The Spanish families group sounds good, iheartdusty, thanks for the tip.

Roll on next month, I can´t wait for our trip there...

would love any advice on Lewes schools from Sparkletastic, tried to CAT but was bounced back? Sorry to hijack thread (if it's still going, I may be too late?) thanks