Tunbridge Wells Reccommendations

[Mara2001]

Hi, we are thinking of relocating from London to the Tunbridge Wells area and I was wondering if anyone has any first hand advice about good areas in TW and surrounding areas to start looking (places with good schools and facilities). Any advice gratefully accepted. Thank you.

We are in Tunbridge Wells, having relocated from London too. There are several nice areas to choose from with the two stations if you need to commute. We are in the St James area which has an outstanding school, 20 min walk through a park to a station and 15 mins into town. We have been very happy here, lots going on and lovely country side nearby. We will be applying for primary places next year and I've heard it can be hard to get into some schools. You'll need to be within a tight catchment area if that's an issue.

Hi pookypup, thanks a lot for the useful pointers. We'll bear in mind the school catchment areas and check out the area you mentioned. Starting to hear lots of positive things about the area.

No worries, pm me if you want to know details etc. good luck!

Tunbridge Wells is a lovely place to live and bring up children. There are loads of parks, woods and the common for days outside. Lots of children's groups and great countryside. The only downside is the school catchment areas for primary and the 11 plus for secondary.

The village area around the Grove Park is very pretty, close to high street and station. Downside is the catchment for Claremont has shrunk in recent years but that may change in the future. Also parking is difficult if that matters to you.

St James is lovely with parks nearby and a good school.

St Johns is also a nice area - great park with a sandpit and a well regarded primary school with three form entry. Walkable into the centre of town. It is cheaper than the village area. It is also well placed for the Grammar schools.

Bishopsdown area is nice but Bishops Down Primary only took siblings last year (2014).

Roads off Mount Ephraim - Molyneux Park, Court Road, Earls Road are nice but £££ and close to Rose Hill if you are thinking of going private.

There is a free school which opened a couple of years ago on the old hospital site and they are building lots of new houses there.

Southborough has a good primary schools and is a bit cheaper than other parts of Tunbridge Wells.

Villages with good primaries are Langton Green, Pembury, Groombridge and Frant - all within easy reach of Tunbridge Wells.

Good luck with your search

Thanks so much for all the advice TELETUBBYMUMMY. There are some areas which you mentioned in there which we haven't come accross, so we'll definitely be checking them out. We hadn't considered how tight the school catchment areas are, so this is all really useful to know. Can't wait to get started now.

Another London 'expat' here - it's a fabulous place for families but the downside is the lack of primary places (only going to get a lot worse once the houses are finished on the Kent and Sussex site - I was one of the founders of the Free School there) and the traffic is diabolical....!

Do be wary of EA telling you that you are 'in catchment' - there is no such thing - it's purely distance, so check the KCC figures for last year's intake carefully. And as TTM said, Bishops Down had more siblings than places last year - not sure how people fared last week, but with schools having taken bulge classes and then reverting to their normal PAN, this is normal. And even for schools which haven't expanded, the distances have shrunk significantly...we were on a banker of a road for St John's (0.3 miles from the school) when we moved here - but for the past three years we wouldn't have got in and children on our road get sent all over town, so do be careful.

TeletubbyMummy has done a fabulous summary of the areas - it's a well trodden path so you won't be short of useful advice from people!

I was going to say the same about the primary places, but others have put it better.

I don't think Bishops Down is sibling only for this September, but the class will be about 25 siblings. Because of the four consecutive bulge years the high sibling percentage will probably continue for a few more years.

There is a new primary being built on the Knights park development for the families who move there, I don't know when it's due to open though.

Think the Knights Park primary is Sept 2016.

And the knock on of bulge classes will be felt at secondary - all of them are significantly oversubscribed!

Could give much better information OP if you specified if you're looking to rent or buy and what your ballpark budget is.
What age(s) of schooling are you looking for and what commute you'll need etc.

Advice would change substantially dependent on those factors and also what kind of lifestyle you're looking for because the TW and surrounds areas vary quite dramatically between cafe culture and rural life.

Live in the St. John's area of town. They are redeveloping the parade of shops this end so will look smarter soon. Traffic in town is awful, so for me Im very grateful we are this end and can get out to the A21 fairly quickly and have a very easy walk to town or the station. Southborough Primary school just got an Outstanding ofsted report and that part of town is cheaper so something to consider if you are open on location. I also commute by Coach (far cheaper) and there are pick ups throughout town and Southborough. Ime St John's and St James have bigger gardens overall and less parking issues. Catchment is tight all around but if you contact the admissions office of each school they will tell you whether a road you're considering would have been near enough for you to get in. St James primary schools did use to list the streets you would need to live on to comply with location admissions.

We moved from London. I won't lie, I really miss it but I am happy here. I'm very glad we chose st John's over other areas.

Slightly off-topic, but I am also considering re-locating to TW. I just wondered if people who've moved there from London feel that it's a better place for young children and teenagers to grow up than the capital?

The school situation is terrible. We are in St. John's but at. Our three nearest primary schools are nigh on impossible to get into. The free school 0.39 of a mile but due to siblings from high brooms and southborough driving in (parents too snotty to send children to southborough or St Matthews schools), St barnabas we got 0.5 mile lovely school but catchment 0.2 mile unless church! And bishops down which had 3 non sibling spots this year. It is immensely frustrating when I walk my child to school to see kids being driven (adding to terrible traffic) to school across town! If everyone just went to their closest school they would all be great!