West Sussex move -- advice on neighborhood

[nitamac]

Hello Everyone! I've been reading through posts a few weeks now and mumsnet had been a big help. Dont know if I should post under "property" or "education"..confused My family and I are moving to West Sussex area from overseas. DH has work near Chichester area and looking for good place to live with a good sixth form school/college near area. DS1 is 16 and DS2 is 14. We'll be moving next year. We're thinking of applying to Horsham (Collyer Coll), Billlingshurst (Weald), and Worthing College. My question is -- will the 40min travel from these areas to Chi be a big problem for DH? (we're not very familiar with commute in England. In our country, 1-2 hours travel to/from work is normal; but I know in some 20min is considered "heavy" traffic) Thoughts on the neighborhood and knowledge of kids going to school in these colleges most welcome smile

raw results though BHASVIC is East Sussex of course...

Agree with harbinger - traffic at Arundel A27 horrendous at rush hour ( and any random moment in the day i fancy visiting my dsis in Ferring)

Chi is my home town I love it.

As far as I know Pulborough is catchment for The Weald. Just asked dd1 & she says a lot come up from Pulborough either by train or bus.

Pulborough lovely, though some bits prone to flooding... Should be able to check it out on Chichester DC website..

Thanks for that

We are very torn at the moment. Dh's work is now entirely based in Sussex and although it is not far to Surrey, the commute is exhausting him.
Dd is coming to the end of year four at a local satisfactory junior school. She is not 100% happy, she is having some issues with girls in her class and she is quite open to moving house and schools. (as long as there is a riding stable near our new house she will be happy)
Ds is coming to the end of Y8. Finding a place at a good secondary school will be of paramount importance. He is at a good school here and is doing very well. He is also very settled socially with a nice set of friends.
I work at the Junior school dd attends as a SEN and EAL teaching assistant. TA jobs are hard to find, am torn about giving it up.

So we just don't know. We have made a list of pros and cons and those equalled each other so no clear help there.

Aaargh!

We live in a tiny village about 15 minutes from Billingshurst. Very near "Fishers Farm!" so south of Billingshurst. We are in the catchment area for the Weald which has an excellent reputation and is hard to get in unless you are in the catchment area as it is so oversubscribed. Not all of Pulborough is in the catchment as some are in the catchment for Steyning Grammar School. You will need to check. There is talk of changing the catchment area for the Weald-playground gossip-but it would mean that Pulborough would be an obvious village to send towards Steyning IMO.

Think I know where you're talking about shopalot. Lived there myself til a few years ago, lovely spot. And wouldn't surprise me re the changing of catchment boundaries. Billingshurst has expanded so much in recent years.

Thank you both, that is useful information regarding the possible re-drawing of the catchment areas.

Will have a look at Steyning grammar too but have a feeling a place in a good school is going to be hard to find especially as a mid-year applicant...

What is Fishers Farm?

Ignore me, I googled

Could your husband do the commute by train (maybe a bit by bike either end)? Horsham to Chichester is about 45 mins.

I grew up in Horsham and moved to chichester 10 years ago. Best move ever, there are so many things to do and the schools are good. Fishbourne primary and bishop luffa. The A27 can get very busy and there is a bottle neck at Arundel but you learn very quickly when to avoid certain routes!

IMO the Weald s much better than Steyning grammar school.....

The Weald will be impossible to get into though...

Still very undecided. Dh is willing to stick with the commute for a while longer...
Aaargh!

Oh, my post looks like it's hijacking doesn't it? I'll try to get it removed and start a new one. Sorry nitamac, hope you find a good location soon :)

No worries protein
Thank you all for the posts.
Kerrits, seventh, wants.. From my research, Chi is a good place but sadly our school choice not in the area although I still want to stay near bec of dh work and The Uni.
Shop/behind.. saw from some posts that Steyning not as good as the other grammar schools.. Sorry if I upset anybody-- just reporting from the posts i read..
Harbinger/spindella.. thanks for the approx times, now at least I have a more concrete idea
Now I'm leaning towards Weald or Collyers but I know it will be hard to get into. From your posts, tatty/badger.. I have an idea that we really have to move in catchment area of school we want to get higher chance of getting in.

Steyning grammar is not a grammer school and hasn't been since 1968 when it merged with Steyning Secondary Modern School and became a comp. It just holds on to the old grammar school name to try to fool people into thinking they are getting something they are not.

whooops quickly the e for an a in the secondard grammar

I dont know if anyone has suggested looking in the sw surrey/godalming area? The 6th form college is apparently in the top 10 % of the UK, and the drive to Chichester is about 45 mins (give or take), either via the A283 or the A3. I prefer the 283 route as it is usually traffic jam free, but it is a more scenic route than the A3.

lou33 that is our other option - in fact we have been talking about that exact same thing (prompted by the move of one of dd's classmates to Godalming)

I like the idea of not going quite so far away from where I am now. Whilst I don't love Woking (but I do love the village I live in and the fact my house backs on to the Basingstoke Canal) we have friends and family in this area and I am comfortable here.
So Godalming seems a reasonable compromise.

Still no nearer a decision but there is no rush....

Sorry, I haven't had a chance to reply sooner.

I really like living in the Godalming area, I have been here for 10 years this September, in one of the surrounding villages. The local state schools are all very good , imo, and there are also a couple of good private schools only minutes away by car.

Guildford and Woking are both easily accessible, if you need to visit a larger town for shopping, and the A3 is close enough to be really convenient, but far enough away from the noise and the traffic.

Godalming has 2 main supermarkets, and Tesco have just announced they are opening a store just on the edge of the town, though they do have one of their mini stores already in Milford, which is about 2 miles from town. Milford also has a Co-Op, as well as a few other independent stores, like a butcher, post office, chemist, as well as Secretts, which is like an old school village shop on a larger scale.

Hope this has been useful and it helps you come to a decision.

Thank you lou

Will take another trip out to both Godalming and surrounding area and Pulborough and surrounding area at some point in the next few months. See what our 'gut feeling' is.

Thanks for your help!