Do your dcs attend a happy and decent mixed comp? Can you buy a 4 bed house for £300,000 within walking distance?

[SusieP40]

Hi, name changer here so I dont out myself and fuel local (smallminded here!) gossip.

We have decided to move away and after months of discussion we know exactly what we want but are not sure where we can find it.

We would like dcs to attend a decent HAPPY properly comprehensive school - so preferably a grammar-free area. DS12, is so unhappy at his current school :(. We are really disappointed with the lack of provision (mild SEN) and lack of care (that's a whole different thread).

We want to move from the snooty area we currently live where the neighbours are so up their own arses noone speaks to anyone else! We run an internet-based business and dh works 16 hour days and more to meet mortgage payments on our house. I want us to be mortgage free so we can actually spend some money enjoying life. We can move ANYWHERE but would like to be in a friendly neighbourhood with a sense of community. Maybe in a market town? Our budget would be around £300,000.

Ideally I would like dcs to be in walking distance of school - its healthy , sociable and good for independence.

Any ideas?

I don't think Grammar always impacts negatively. I went to Arthur Terry in Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, its one of several really good comps in area as well as quite a few grammars, and you'd get an alright 4 bed for 300k. Buses/trains into centre of Birmingham very regularly.

Its a great school, very good results, and very happy I think.

How about East Anglia area? Lots of good schools and homes for that price around there? North Bedfordshire, East Bucks or south northamptonshire are very nice too!

Gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne.
£300,000 will get a decent house (although not in the top roads but def a decent 4 bed in one of nice ones - central wouldn't necessarily have much of a garden but a bit further out would)
My DS is only in reception but neighbours and friends at the middle school & high school (operate 3 tier system here) say they are good, friendly and I believe they are Outstanding. All walkable distances with generally good crossing points.
Although part of the city (walkable to city centre + buses + metro), has it's own high street and loads of amenities.
If you a running an Internet business it might also be useful to know it's a cable broadband area (I work online from home)
Friendly, nice & Newcastle although a long way north is well connected to London (east coast mainline) & has a fab airport too. Easy to get to coast & countryside too.

Have pm'd you

Pootles, that's interesting to read. I have been avoiding areas with grammars because of my experiences here. Ds has 2 sisters who are both much more academic and might well suit grammar. I will have alook now. Thanks.

MissPB, can you identify specifically any schools in those areas? I wouldnt know where to start!

Yes, I've just checked on RightMove and there are loads of 4 bed properties for sale in my area for £300,000 or less. My children go to a very well regarded mix comp. South Gloucestershire.

Malvern, Ledbury, Hereford reasonable schools in all of those. Lovely bit of the world.

An increasing number of southerners here. I am one, but in Scotland for 30 years.
I think that many people are doing the same as you and having a big rethink of their life options. You could have a very good life here. Scots are very "fair minded" on the whole.
Bearsden is not like an island or a small village.
The weather is a huge negative.

Charlton Kings in Cheltenham. This is a grammer school area but the local comp is really one of the best smaller Comps. Houses to come on the market in your price range but there doesn't seem much atm.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E6063&maxPrice=350000&minBedrooms=4

Really is a top notch locationn

There are 4-bed houses here, and we've got a good comp. Wiltshire, any good to you, or is that where you're trying to get away from?

Forgot to say, market town too.

We moved from London to Stockton Heath which is in the north west early last year. I grew up near here but dh is from Kent and has had no probs fitting in.

My kids aren't secondary age yet but the local mixed comp is supposed to be great, it's called Bridgewater.

We love the area as we are close to Manchester and Liverpool. Stockton Heath and surrounding towns are lovely. We are also right in the heart of the Cheshire countryside and the coast is close too. There really seems to be the best of both worlds here. You would get a small 4 bed for £300k here. There are a few threads on mumsnet about moving to Cheshire,there are lots of good places ranging from large towns to small villages.

Good luck with your move!

I was going to say east Anglia, we are in Norwich my ds1 goes to a high school that matches your op and is good for sn's (have van outstanding dyslexia unit) and its small. He gets the bus but depending on where you live you could walk. Pm me :)

Newton Mearns or Clarkston in East Renfrewshire

The best schools and easy reach of countryside or seaside

I'd say gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne too. Schools are great (and DS1 is happy a school for the first time in years) and the SEN provision is good (in his middle school at least). You can buy a 4 bed within walking distance of the middle schools/high schoolfor well under £300k. It's a lovely place to live.

Or you could go with clarkston/mearns as the previous poster said. Or Eaglesham if you're looking for a sense of community. It's a village just beyond clarkston. You get the same schools (school buses are provided, so not being in walking distance isn't a problem)

I have researched this extensively and concluded Sutton cold field in the midlands or I think it's Taunton the school is called kings.
However getting a place in year 8 could be a whole different matter. We were all due to move to Cheltenham and missed a date by a single day and that was it no place, even at appeal.

Arthur Terry was the school I was thinking about in Sutton, it is a grammar school area though

South London?
The 4 bed house is modest, though - but on the edge of one of London's best parks here

Richmond, North Yorkshire. Great schools, picture postcard place and full of generally nice people.

Nice 4 bed cottage for £295,000
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40367492.html

Arthur Terry is excellent, also Fairfax & Plantbrook to a lesser extent I think.

Doesn't Ilkely have a grammar school though and the children who don't get in there tend to go to the ones in Skipton or elsewhere?