moving to manchester with family-needing urgent advice

[schatzu]

Hi, we are moving to manchester very soon and wanted some advice on a nice area to live. We are a young family with 2 kids (2 yrs old and 4 yrs old) so wanted a nice family friendly area with good primary school as my 4yr old boy will soon attend school. My husband will undertake a post at the University of Manchester so we wanted to have easy access to the university.
Please if you can give me some advice where to start from would be great
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Schatzuthis is in cheadle Hulme and in the hursthead catchment. Hursthead is one of the most sought after schools in the area. Vastly oversubscribed by this house only .3 away.

It's also in catchment for cheadle Hulme high school. This school is getting excellent results that are rivalling the local big independents. I know two teachers there both of whom say it's a fantastic school to work in and really innovative. That always bodes well for pupils IMO.

So that house would get you into two of the most sought after state schools in south Manchester. Our schools here in Wilmslow are good too but probably too far out for you.

A lot of academics and postgrads live in Fallowfield - it's affordable and very convenient for the university and hospitals. Your husband could walk to work.

Or is it too close to the students for comfort ?

I would avoid Manchester itself inc Fallowfield, Withington and cholton. Mainly because the schools are very hit and miss and the lea is considered less than ideal to work for so high staff turnover in schools. Didsbury schools are better but massively, and I mean massively oversubscribed.

I'm a mature student at the university (what area will your husband be lecturing in), I live in east manchester and either get he train or drive in.

Look at Mottram in longdendale, Broadbottom, glossop area.

On the train lane out this way there's Bredbury, Romiley, Marple, New Mills. On the Buxton line there's also Hazel Grove, Davenport, Woodsmoor.

Agree re Cheadle Hulme High - just got outstanding from OFSTED. Bramhall is RI.

sale or altrincham would be handy - fairly easy by car or public trnasport to the university. Fallowfield is not great if you're not a student - it's a nice buzzy area but has huge amounts of HMOs with all the usual difficulties. Heaton moor ok too although the traffic to the university is horrid along the 42/50 routes.

didsbury overpriced and a bit up itself IMVHO and the high street there is horrid now - too many chain bars.

south manchester has a shortage of primary school places though so you may need to be very careful where you go. prestwich or whitefield are an ok commute by tram (awful by car though - I always use the tram if I've a training session at the university) and the school situation is a bit better up there in terms of places given that you'd be a late application.

Nancy I thought Wilbraham was the best state primary in Manchester? We're going back a few years but it regularly used to get kids into MGS, MGHS and Withington, many with scholarships.

Andadietcoke, marple is nice but issues with primary schools IMO as a teacher. Not that they're bad but all the reorganisation has affected staff morale and attainment (again, IMO) Bramhall high suffers from being in bramhall but taking kids from more challenging areas such as Adswood. It also suffers from massively high expectations being set for it due in part to the bramhall primaries achieving so high. Yet lots go to either SGS or CHS. I supply taught for a term in one bramhall primary and was stunned to learn that around 60% of the previous Y6 cohort had gone private at 11. But yes, if I lived in the area I would def be aiming for cheadle Hulme high especially now it has a 6th form.
I would not send my children to school in bredbury but Hazel Grove has some very good schools. OP, again these areas at Stockport LA. I still think if good schools are your priority it's either Trafford or Stockport.

Wilbraham is an excellent school, graded outstanding I think. It still only achieves average results, but
From the point of entry those children achieve very very well. So that is a real outstanding school.

And my point remains that the schools in Manchester LA are hit and miss. Some really are shockingly bad.

What about one of the Cheshire towns or villages a bit further out? Places like Frodsham, Helsby and Delamere would get easy commute either by car or rail, have brilliant schools and are nice communities where people tend to find it easy to settle.

If you are willing to live a bit further out, Bollington (near Macclesfield) is fantastic. 4 excellent primarys and a lovely feel to the place. I used to cycle to Presbury and get the train in, the took car when pregnant and after having kids. By car took me 30mins if I left 7:30 or after 9, at the worst took me just over 1 hour.

Got to disagree that Frodsham etc would be an easy commute by car.... But there are options on train routes and good bus routes.

I agree with wowfudge. I would want to be commuting to the university every day from Frodsham.

Really? I know lots of people who do.

It can take my DH over an hour to get into town from Wilmslow if he tries to leave later that about 7.10!

I think wherever you are, driving into Manchester is bad. Even from a relatively close area, if you don't get into town by about 8/8.15 it is just gridlocked.

Try out along the Leeds Manchester line - Smithybridge, Littleborough and Hebden Bridge are all nice. Schools are good, prices not too bad either. I know a few people locally who either work at the Uni or close by and don't have many issues with the commute. The trains are usually good but tickets are pricey beyond Littleborough as you cross the border.

OP you didn't say anything about yourself? Where you'll be working, or if not working what you'd like in terms of immediate environs.

Key factors to narrowing down an area are direction (does north vs south matter for you), how green an area, schools, distance from Manchester, commute length and car vs train.

Hi all thanks so much for all the infos. I have seen some new built houses in the area of newton health M40. Any comments on this area?

Hi, just saw the second page posts now....
SOme more infos about us. The university of manchester is the only direction to start with. We would prefer to live within max. 10 miles of the city centre/uni and take public transport. The schools are very important as we have a boy who will attend reception in september. Nice parks around would be nice but would prefer to be not that far from the city. Budget for renting max. 900 pcm.

I have to say it is not so easy to find nice available properties in these areas (via rightmove).
I will go to manchester next week (we live outside UK at the moment) to try to find something suitable...Wish me luck!
Following nancy and other trafford area voters I found this house, which is in the radio of 7 outstanding primary schools!
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-49353416.html
Tomorrow I will call to see if it is available...

I see there are also some outstanding schools (Holy Name Roman Catholic Primary School Manchester, St Chrysostom's CofE Primary School) near the university of manchester. I was thinking to keep the university area as a PLAN B (in case I don't find something appropriate in the other areas). This could be an intermediate stage so that we could go to manchester and try to find the right place for us with more time...

Sale is much nicer than Newton Heath.

Just wondering - as you are moving from overseas - whether you know about the school system in the UK? You have missed the deadline to apply for a reception place so your son will be a late applicant, and as such the local authority will offer him a place wherever there is a vacancy - not necessarily in a school near to you. It might be worth phoning up both Manchester and Trafford education departments & talking about the process with them.

I wouldn't move to Newton Heath. Newton heath doesn't have the best reputation and the schools there are not the best. They are rebuilding newton heath and investing lots of money in the area but I wouldn't live there (or anywhere in East Manchester). It would probably be a good area for an investment property though.
Most new houses are being built in regeneration areas. There are some new houses being built in better areas but they cost more, usually £300k+ for a 3/4 bed so obviously the rent will be more as well.