Sevenoaks - what can you tell me?

[Doozie]

Hello MNers,

I'm looking at Sevenoaks for a potential place to move to and buy a house. Does anyone live there and can tell me about it? What are the best areas, what are the schools like (I've a baby and a toddler); how is the commute into London; is there a decent high street?! Anything you can tell me would be much appreciated.

Thanks very much!

Commute from Sevenoaks amazing - 23 mins to London Bridge. I think trains go into Cannon Street, Charing cross and even Victoria and there are trains every 10 mins or so. Several reputable private primaries but can't help with state

@cominghomefinally
In Enland, children go to Reception (Primary School) at 4. The school places have already been allocated for this September. When you come over, you'll need to contact the council who will advise you of available spaces in schools - the might be close by or far away.

In terms of deciding whether to live in Sevenoaks vs village, it's basically the town vs Village debate. Mind you, the town is pretty compact so you can be in the countryside in no time. One thing worth considering is how long it'll take you to get to the station, parking etc. With both of you commuting into London, you'll need to make sure the commute isn't too long and you're able to do the drop off and pick up.

I don't know about Sevenoaks but my way Forest School would be a non-starter with both parents commuting. It gets dark in the UK early in winter and the forest school finished at 4pm.

‘If you have a bright child, they will go to a grammar’ - well, no! Grammar entry in Kent is largely dependent on whether you have had your child coached or not. In the last 3 years in our district, no non coached child has passed the 11+. There have also been questions on the test that have not been covered by the national curriculum. So the reality is, unless you are prepared to pay for coaching or oversee it yourself (and the parents I know who have done this themselves have all been graduate level) then it is unlikely to get through. Not surprisingly then it’s been the nice, middle class kids who have gone off to the grammars, that doesn’t make them the brightest and quite frankly, those from less affluent backgrounds or without very invested parents are disadvantaged.

My DH has particularly strong views on the fairness of the 11+ so youngest DD didn’t take it. She goes to Hillview which so far we’re very happy with and her strong SATS results have her in the top sets. The attainment 8 scores at Hillview are good and the GCSE 4-9 scores on national average. Not that it means anything at all but it was in Tatlers Top 10 State School recommendations in 2017.

There are other decent Secondary schools in the area so to write them all off as ‘rubbish’ isn’t strictly fair. Wrotham for example is decent. Knole historically has had a poor reputation but has worked on this and has a grammar stream which the two parents I know with children in this stream at Knole are very, very happy with.

Sevenoaks is lovely - the shops are crap, you have to do quite a bit of research if you’re not going the private or grammar route but it’s not a clear black and white case.

Hi anyone know a good dentist?Not too expensive