St Hughs, Oxfordshire - need advice on areas to live

[mumcf1987]

Hello, I am a single mum and I am looking to move from Berkshire to Oxfordshire (Cotswolds area). I like the look of St Hughs prep and the house prices look reasonable. I am looking for recommendations of areas within 10/15 min drive of the school that are good for families (my son is 7 and daughter is 4), safe (as I'm a single mum) and affordable. Would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who currently has a child at St Hughs as to where most of the families live so it's convenient for playdates etc as I will have no family near. Thank you.

Sounds very pernickety, but what you want is to be able to turn into the traffic the right way - the junction for St Hughes on the a420 is horrendous and the queuing parents to leave the school in the morning and evening to get back onto the a420 can take them 15 mins or more.

So, with that in mind, you want to be based towards oxford, not faringdon.

That means in the morning when driving TO st hughes, you'd enter the turn off slip lane, and be able to wait for just one lane of traffic to cross. On the exit, it would mean you'd turn left coming out of St Hughes, again, meaning you only need to wait for the break in one lane of traffic, not try an cross 2.

Sounds ridiculous, but having passed by this traffic and seen the poor sods queuing each morning and evening for the last 3 years, that is the major consideration I would have

Villages such as wantage, kingston bagpuize, longworth all very lovely, and the right side of the traffic!

We’re not at St Hugh’s but we’re in Faringdon and really like it. Lots of St Hughs families here.

Town centre is small but has a couple of nice restaurants, cafes etc. There are some nice community events, a music festival every summer, Xmas lights turn on etc.

Lots of new housing, reasonable prices, nice community and plenty of other single parents. It’s quite mixed socioeconomically, which I think is a plus, but I’m aware some other families don’t.

You might have thought this through already, but the reason that we aren’t at St Hughs is that the ethos didn’t feel quite right for my single parent family kids, so I’d recommend visiting if you haven’t already.

Agree with @OneOrTheOtherabout the morning traffic being a pain, but you’ll need to brave the junction either going in or coming out, so not sure the side makes a huge difference!

Just means if you're going the "correct way" you'll only have to wait for one lane of traffic for break, and not crossing 2 lanes which will double the wait time.
Of course that school exit should be a dual turn exit which would at least help the cars turning left back towards Oxford not have to wait so long for those turning right!

Agree with all posters turning left out of st Hugh’s makes life much easier and safer! All the villages around are lovely suggest Bampton, Clanfield, longworth etc Also agree with other posters there may well be very few single working mothers at St Hugh’s, and your children may slightly suffer socially due to that e.g play dates etc.
So many good local schools to chose from and most are now co ed try and visit as many as you can and talk to current parents as they all have plus/negative points and each has a very different feel.

True, although I think lots families turn the not-crossing-traffic way morning and evening and then turn round at the garage to keep the queue moving faster.

Thanks so much for your reply and sorry I’ve taken so long to respond. I didn’t get any notifications for some reasons. I am due to visit the school in January. Please, if you don’t mind, could you elaborate regarding the single parent issue? Can you recommend other schools in the area that may be more suited? At the moment we are at a very elitist school in Berkshire and that’s one of the reasons why I need to leave. I feel very very much in the minority and don’t want my children realising they are ‘different’. I would love a private school where there’s families from all different walks of life….if that exists 😞

Thanks so much for responding. Again sorry for the delay in acknowledging your message. I’ve only just seen it. If you wouldn’t mind sharing I’d really like to understand a bit more about the ‘very few single parent families’ at st Hugh’s and if you could recommend any schools locally (or within half an hour or so) that have a more diverse spectrum of families. Thanks so much in advance. Really appreciate it.

There will be very few single parent families at any fee paying school simply because most can’t afford it on one salary. It can be very easy when they’re young to think the school has to suit you but it really only has to suit your children. St. Hugh’s is a great country prep but diverse it’s certainly not. If you want more professional working parents you could try Abingdon prep or the Manor. If you give us a housing budget and whether you’d rather be in a town or a village we can probably help with where to look. Faringdon and Wantage are both fine but both fine but both have fairly rough bits especially Wantage. Bampton, Clanfield or Stanford in the Vale might suit.

Thanks for your message! Really appreciate the help. For context, I will be moving from Berkshire with my 2 children alone however their dad does contribute to the school fees which is why I’m able to send them to a private school. Having said that, he doesn’t contribute to anything else and I’m really noticing how ‘different’ this makes us at our current school. I don’t want my kids to be the ‘poor relation’ any longer if that makes sense? The majority of the families at our current school consist of the father who works and a stay at home mum or neither of the parent works. Very few working mums and very few families (if any) going without to pay the school fees. I absolutely do not care about myself in this move and am doing it solely for the children. We had a play date recently where someone asked my son why our house was ‘stuck to another one’! I want to get them out of the circles we are currently in as I don’t want them growing feeling inferior or not being proud of what we have as I know in many ways we are more privileged than most. At the moment we are living in a warped sense of reality! My budget for a 3 bed is £500-£550k and would just like it to be as safe an area as possible and close to a suitable school that is not as elitist as the one we are at. For context, the royals attend our current school. Thank you again from a desperate mum trying to do the best by my kids with little to no help from anyone else.

Hi lovely, I’ve visited a fair few of the private schools in this area. St Hugh’s is lovely, very pastoral, but I would say it’s very traditional and there does seem to be a certain type of parent there (obviously, go and see it yourself, i am just one opinion!!). I would recommend you have a look at Cranford too which had a more relaxed feel to me when we visited. The fees are less, maybe that is a factor. We chose St Helen St Katharine which is another reasonably smart one in Abingdon but my daughter’s friends do come from all walks of life including single parent families. It has a ‘work hard play hard’ ethos that has been good for our daughter.
We live in Wantage which is much more reasonably priced than villages to the east - school buses go from here to St Hugh’s, Cranford, and to HelKats.

Happy to expand more if you have any other queries

Abingdon Prep.

@snowdrop2011Thanks very much for taking the time to respond. Very overwhelmed by it all and don’t want end up at the same school we are at now but a different area! Your school looks lovely but I have one of each. Did you visit any schools closer to the Cotswolds way?

Looking ahead, I think of Abingdon School very positively as I have met a couple of people who went there and they were really nice friendly sorts. It’s going increasingly mixed from next year, so I would look very closely at Abingdon Prep with a view to settling nearby. I don’t know if any Abingdon Prep people live in Abingdon, I know some people who really like the town but I’m not a huge fan, though I go there a lot and it’s relatively affordable for the area. An alternative to live would be Cumnor which is a small village really but has a great feel and is not far.

St. Hugh’s sounds more like your current school. It’s very much so the dinner party set. You’ll end up being on lower end of the scale at any private school. I’d aim for one that gives out more bursaries. Abingdon prep is far more academic and doesn’t have the same country prep feeling. The parents choose it for the academics and there’s far more diversity in the parents although still not much! If you chose it you could look at a house in Abingdon (although the prep is in Frilford, they run loads of busses). If your children stayed on for senior school they could ideally walk to school.

Looking at your budget, that would buy you a reasonable 4 bed detached house with a garden on a nice estate in Faringdon.

Yes, I echo others’ suggestions re Abingdon Prep and senior school which is much like HelKats in terms of demographics - lots of professional highly educated working parents (working mums very common).

Others that may be of interest to put on your radar: Cokethorpe near Witney, takes them all the way through from reception to 18, non selective (unlike the Abingdon schools mentioned), more ‘outdoor fun’ than the tweediness of St Hugh’s. Struck me as somewhere that kids could have a roaringly good time at but wasn’t sure about how great the academic achievements would be. Set in fabulous grounds.
Prep schools also have a look at Chandlings. Similar to Cokethorpe. Perhaps a bit more tweed. With these two, and with any smaller schools, ask hard questions about the state of school finances. The collapse of OLA in Abingdon a few days before the start of the autumn term has made it clear the reality of a changing business model for private schools. (This is why you’re seeing a lot of change to co-ed and taking on more year groups as per St Hugh’s)
There are more schools in Oxford which will have a slightly more diverse intake but then the house prices are absolutely stupid and the traffic is diabolical going in and out.
Further into the Cotswolds I am less familiar with the schools but obviously the more you travel away from London the house prices are more reasonable for some very lovely villages.

Generally FWIW in your position I’d be looking at the more selective schools because they attract parents who value merit over connections and who want to see bang for their fee buck. There will also be scholarship kids. I hope in these types of schools the culture is that people (kids, parents and teachers) value ability not how big mummy and daddy’s house is. Although I’m sure that pool does exist in every private school…

St Hugh’s…. Diversity….. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I would also look carefully at their accounts. They seem to be turning a substantial loss annually and I’m not sure how long they can continue to do so.

They have lost a lot of pupils to Pinewood as of late (but that’s much the same as St Hughs demographic wise).

So many great schools locally I would look at The Manor, Abingdon Prep, St Helens.

We’ve had two through Abingdon prep. It’s worth noting that especially in the upper years it’s not a feel good school. It’s very much a hot house and pastoral care is minimal. The kids at St. Hugh’s are far happier with better mental health.

We’re a St Hugh’s family, if you want a village I would recommend Longworth, Bampton, Clanfield, Stanford-in-the-Vale, Buckland. All an easy commute to the school but vary in terms of amenities. For towns I would look at Faringdon, Witney and Wantage. I would personally avoid Abingdon or Oxford, house prices are much higher and the traffic is an absolute nightmare! You’ll find more two-working parent families in the upper years of St Hugh’s. Lots who started in the pre-prep with us 10+ years ago were stay at home mums, now there are much more two working parent families and some single parent families. It is not a diverse area so this is reflected in the intake, much more diversity in the Abingdon/Oxford schools if that’s important to you.

If you are only looking 10 minutes away then Faringdon is your best option. Traffic is minimal, it’s just out of the school gate. Or Kingston Bagpuize, Stanford on the Vale, etc. all very safe and nice villages.
I have 2 DC at St Hugh’s, started this year. There is a range of backgrounds for the area. It’s not like it was 10 years ago, it’s much more diverse than we thought because we were also worried about it’s reputation but haven’t had any problems. DC are loving school so much more.