Moving advice to Cambridgeshire/ huntingdon areas

[FromBigCityToTinyVillage]

My husband is about to start a new job in Sandy.. we currently rent a house in Amersham but can't buy in this area as we are to be first time buyers and with 3 children need a 4 bed property , which we certainly can't afford here as average house price for 4 bed is in the £600,000 region.
So we are looking at the following areas for easy commute for my husband:
Camborne
St.ives
Swaveley
Alconbury Weald ( we really liked it here!)
Areas we arnt keen on are in centre of Huntingdon.
Our ideal spend would be £350,000.
Really looking for advice from anyone familiar with these areas or surrounding ones with positives and negatives. We have one child in primary school (8) another to start secondary in September (11) and a 13 year old. So schools to avoid and schools to aim for would help too as noticed Rightmove isn't up to date with ofstead results as it had St. Peter's school as requiring improvement but they have just had an ofsted check done this March which was granted " good" .. if we went for the house in Alconbury Weald this would be the nearest for my two oldest but worries me if it's not had the best past.. especially as currently all 3 children are in " outstanding" schools etc. In Alconbury Weald they have a brand new Primary opened on site so my youngest should be fine if we choose to go here but plans for secondary school is promised within a year to two so we have also considered the option of home schooling till then with paying for tutors .. again anyone that's homeschooling advice would be great! Thanks in advance!

You will have more luck on the local board but I would think a commute to Sandy from St Ives would be a pain.

The closer you get to Cambridge the longer the commute and the higher the house prices.

The villages around St Neots are worth a look and Godmanchester and other villages near Huntingdon but be aware there are plans for a new road currently at consultation stage.

Camborne is expanding rapidly which you may want to give some thought.

I wouldn't home Ed secondary school children if you can avoid it so I would get onto the council and see which schools have places available for your 13 year old and start from there. In Cambridgeshire it's primary (sometimes infant and junior schools) and secondaries. Over the border in Bedfordshire it's lower, middle and upper schools. Sandy Upper school has had a bit of revival so although you aren't looking in that area you may want investigate this if school is important criteria.

Personally I've found the state schools in South Cambs (not Cambridge) to be very under whelming. There are some excellent indies if you can afford fees?

Thanks Movingon.. hoping council will be a lot more helpful then the Buckinghamshire one as we moved to Amersham from Australia and they wouldn't let us know about any school vacancies till we had proof of address so we had to chance it to later be told sorry no school vacancies so went through a nightmare..( being offered three different schools in completely different areas.. going through appeals that were very unpleasant! To finally after a 4 month battle getting them all at same school!) so really hoping to avoid this at all costs! We are very open to all areas so will definitely consider Sandy as a possibility .. as for school fees unfortunately as husband will be changing from contracting to permanent we wouldn't be able to fund two children so state schools our only option.
Will try to post this in local thread too but very new to this so had no idea where best to post, appreciate you taking the time to reply!

Have you thought about Biggleswade or st Neots areas?

Entirely opposing what another poster has sad the schools in south Cambs are some of the best! Swavsey and Comberton are both outstanding.

In fact it's hard to find a bad school. Instead of Camborne look at the surrounding villages.

Hi user147 husband is basically saying we are looking at a radius of around 20 miles from Sandy with option if need be to get to London in just over an hour ! We have only just began our search with yesterday first day visiting areas, viewing properties.. we have been told that St Neots is very nice and I'm sure a lot cheaper than properties near Cambridge. As long as the area is nice and has good schools both primary and secondary we would put on the list to consider. Any areas you would advise to avoid?

Hi, sandy schools are currently under consultation to go two tier - from sept 2018 sandy upper will be a secondary and two lower schools will be full primary's, however the middle school and two other lowers are not part of this change currently.
I would second St Neots and Biggleswade for a look, Biggleswade is getting v pricey as expanding and great commuting routes.
If you want any more info please pm me.

Ooops meant to say that the whole of Bedfordshire is mostly moving towards two tier, either now or imminently.

I would look at Cambourne. We Iive in the next village so know it well and there is loads going on there, especially for families. It used to be a bit soulless but has developed a real sense of community. My dc have loads of friends who live there and they love it. Plus it's only 8 miles from Cambridge where you can access loads. It's about a 25 minute drive from there to Sandy.

I personally wouldn't live in St Neots but it depends what you're after. There are facilities like a cinema but you'd have to trek into Cambridge or Peterborough for things like clothes shopping.

I can't believe the comment about state school not being good in South Cambs. Comberton is outstanding , Cambourne Village College is amazing, and I'd honestly be happy to put my dc into any of the comprehensives in South Cambs. St Neots has an ok comp and a dire one.

You can't believe that someone else's experience differs from your own? What a lack of imagination I did say not Cambridge. Perhaps I should have been more explicit and said Cambridge and surrounding areas?

St Neots secondaries are particularly poor. There seem to be pockets where schools are particularly good/bad. I've been surprised to hear people saying Longsands Academy is good when I would say the results say otherwise.

And I said under whelming. Not "poor" or "not good".

Arrietty thank you I will drop you a message.. much prefer hearing people's experiences then looking at stats and figures!
Paxmanfan we did park up at Cambourne and left details with the estate agents there and agree it had a nice feel to it with lots of young families about, with all the amenities you could want our only concern is that all the schools Ofsted rated as outstanding or good seem to be oversubscribed ( according to details on Rightmove) think I'll have to ring council tomorrow to see if they can let me know of schools with vacancies.. unfortunately the ones that were listed as not oversubscribed were all inadequate or needing improvement! We have the added headache that our middle child who is in year 6 will be the hardest to place as everyone has already completed admissions for high school where as we obviously haven't ! Thanks to everyone that's took the time to reply

Sawtry village college (secondary)is very near for Alconbury Weald , that's worth checking out. Small villages along the A1 like Brampton , Buckden , Southoe are all lovely and are in the Hinchingbrooke Secondary school catchment.

I live in Cambourne. Pm me if you like. I really like living here and have children at both primary and secondary. I wouldn't live in St Neots either.

Sandy to St Ives is a complete arse of a journey - no direct route due to river being in the way.

Cambourne a bit better but not much really. You are looking at places a looong way from Sandy if you are looking at Alconbury - he will spend a lot of time sat in traffic at the Black Cat roundabout everyday. Swavesey also bloody miles away over country roads.

Also bear in mind that the new A428 highway will be being built - currently have everything crossed for orange route which seems most popular locally but lots of currently lovely looking countryside may be affected.

If you don't want to look actually in Sandy then what about surrounding villages such as Potton, Gamlingay, Waresley, Abbotsley (at risk from pink and purple routes)

St Neots is um, not nice, but massively cheaper than Cambridge, quicker into London than Sandy and will get much quicker into Cambridge if the orange route is built. Have a look at the propsed routes as they also make it very obvious where new housing developments around St Neots are likely. Schools currently not great in St Neots either but hopefully will change as so many people being priced out of Cambridge.

There are also lots of lovely villages going South round Biggleswade. I don't know Biggleswade so well as I tend to go to St Neots/Huntingdon/Cambridge but it's a reasonable size market town and again a good selection of villages roundabout.

Basically I think you are much better looking local to Sandy or South in Biggleswade as commuting to Sandy/London from Alconbury/Swavesey/St Ives/Cambourne will drive your husband bonkers.

The council were really, really helpful when we were moving. They told us which schools had places in the specific years. If you can get your eldest in to a secondary and there's a sibling criteria the middle one should move up to the top of the list. Most schools seem to have catchments too.

After having children in outstanding schools in London the difference has been quite stark and mine have only been in OFSTED rated "good" schools. Funding for education in Cambridgeshire is some of the lowest in the country.

There are some really nice bits of St Neots and I preferred it to St Ives when we were looking.

You'll get more house for your money in St Neots but as I said, secondaries are not so good.

Schools in Cambridgeshire - gross oversimplification coming up.

In Cambridge you will get children of academics and high achievers who are massively pushed at home. Loads of people try to either move to Cambridge pushing up house prices for schools or get into Cambridge for sixth form.

This leaves everyone else in all the other schools.

Most constituencies in Cambridgeshire (except Cambridge) have been Conservative since time began. There is therefore no electoral incentive to give them higher funding for anything such as schools or healthcare as the same party is voted back in every time.

The constituencies are also semi-rural or rural which does badly on funding criteria.

They are therefore some of the worst funded schools in the country and Cambridge creams off the elite students. A similar thing goes on in the health economy.

Def PM, I'll see if I can help at all 😊, don't want to out myself here as to where I live etc but more than happy to chat privately x

I wouldn't care what Ofsted said about st peters, I still wouldn't want my children going there unless it really has had a miracle transformation. I'd choose somewhere in the catchment of the Ivo or Swavesey village college.

st neots would be much more practical, although the secondary schools do not have a brilliant reputation.

Cambs county council always used to have a spreadsheet on their website telling you all the current school vacancies, I think it's still there so should give you an idea. I'm too Far East to give useful advice, but I've heard more mixed things about swavesey VC in the last couple of years, used to have an amazing reputation

According to Google maps St Ivo to Sandy is 35 mins.

LMAO - never done St Ives to Sandy in under 45 and even then I was speeding in bits. An hour, assuming no traffic.

Swavesey - supposedly 36 min. But at peak times you are crossing two major traffic hotspots - the A428 in the wrong direction and Caxton Gibbet. It's only 36 min on a Sunday afternoon.

Schools in Bedfordshire generally are better Ofsted ranked. Have you looked at places like Cardington, Cople, Elstow, Northill, Caldecote, Potton, Great Barford, Blunham?

They will all be quick travels and lovely places to live.

Completely agree with Hulder about schools and journies.

If you look at results for Cambridgeshire they tend to be bottom of the table.

Personally if the job is in Sandy I would look at the villages around there or maybe towards Flitwick or Letchworth. Sandy to London is quite quick. I think more trains stop at Biggleswade and St Neots for the faster service.

Fast trains tend to be some sort of variation of London, Stevenage, St Neots. Random assortment of different stations added in.

However if you are in Sandy you are nearer to London anyway :)

Sandy isn't really Cambridge/St Neots/Cambourne facing as a place. Most of my colleagues are in Sandy and it's much more Bedford/Biggleswade focussed.

I agree with MovingUp about St Neots/St Ives - I think there are nicer places to live in St Neots than St Ives but prefer St Ives as a town centre.

But if I was working in Sandy, I would live in neither