Buy a house opposite a school?

[Saraleejunkie]

I have seen a great house that meets all my requirements but it is opposite a small primary school. I have a child so am used to children's noise but just how disruptive will it be? My child attends a different school so it's not a benefit in that way. We have one car that's not used at school times particularly so that shouldn't be a major issue. But I guess might be if jobs ever changed. Has anyone lived opposite a school to give advice?

www.peteralan.co.uk/properties/10399752/sales

A link if that helps get an idea of set up :)

I live opposite one and it's not a problem in the slightest. The road is busy for 20 minutes twice a day in term time but that's it. You can hear the kids playing outside at playtime but it's not a noise that bothers me.

I prefer having the school there to more houses as it generally makes the street quieter at weekends, in the holidays etc.

Depends on the area catchment area. My mum lives across the road from a school and apart from avoiding the local shops at lunchtime, has no problems. My friends lives near a school with a wide catchment area which includes some 'rougher' areas and residents are terrified to get buses the end of the school day due to the behaviour and language and there in rubbish in everyone's gardens.

I live within a few metres of a primary school. It's pretty great, though the playground is really noisy sometimes and you do notice it if your glazing isn't up to scratch - still, there are far worse background noises in other areas than the sounds of children happily playing!

The road is busy at pick up and drop off times but actually most local parents walk in and none of the drivers have ever been disruptive. I leave for work before the school opens anyway and come back long after it's closed, so it's only noticeable on days where I'm working from home or on holiday.

If it helps, the school was actually used as a selling point when we bought since it's so convenient for families who aren't able to travel far. We don't benefit from it, but it certainly hasn't affected us negatively.

I'd go and sit outside at drop off times-ours is awful for a good 40 minutes-People block driveways, park on people's drives and are generally really inconsiderate. (In the morning parents can drop off from 8:30-8:55 and it starts at 8:15 and goes onto after 9) and similar at pick up time. However, the next school along has a much smaller catchment and has none of these problems.

You won't know unless you stake it out.

I live around the corner from a relatively short road with both a secondary and a primary school on it. It is chaos, parking and access wise for 45mins to an hour at each end of the school day. Living on that road would drive me insane. I wouldn't live on a road with a school or a road that I knew had parking issues, though obviously I know it's unavoidable in some areas where parking is extremely limited.

I've lived near a school and while it didn't affect me (was commuting at the time so out from 7am - 7pm), drop-off and pick-up times were carnage. Partly because of the position of the school on the estate (curved one-way street, not wide enough for two cars) meaning the road got busy very quickly but also because parents would just park anywhere. Literally anywhere; private driveways, allocated residents parking spaces, in the road while shouting "I'll only be a couple of minutes" leaving traffic to back up behind, on the green spaces around the estate, on blind bends/corners/junctions. It was mayhem and the biggest bugbear on the local facebook group (although that's generally full of people moaning anyway, so perhaps not the best indicator of how bad it was!). Like others have said, visit the road during drop-off or pick-up to see how much the school affects the road and during lunchtime to gauge the level of noise.

I would also find out how much the school is used out of school hours:
Rented out for evening classes/weekend schools
Holiday clubs
Sports facilities etc

Is it possible that the school would be enlarged in the future (is there space for extra classrooms?)

Parking is a big deal near schools so I'd check that out. Has the house got a drive?

I live opposite a primary school (literally opposite the teachers' car park) which has doubled in size in the last 7 years, and parking problems are rife. I'm lucky enough to have a drive (as are most residents in the street) but from 8.30 to 9.00 and from 2.30 to 3.30 the road and the surrounding streets are rammed with parents parking or trying to park.

I walk my son to the school, then have to drive to work, and it can take as long to drive 100 yards through this mayhem as the rest of my 4 mile journey. It's not just the number of vehicles, but the fact that they park right up to corners, on residents' drives, etc. The police come round about once a month and deal with the illegal parkers, and it improves for a few days, and then reverts to former madness.

However, it's lovely and quiet in the holidays - ball games in the street quiet.

I agree with the others, check out the house at school pick up times and see how busy it is for yourself.

We lived by a school in previous house and we always had a drive blocked in, but was only bad in the morning and in the afternoon so its obviously what you can deal with,

We moved house now and I decided not to live by a school

If that's the house no I wouldn't buy it. Aside from the school that's one of the rush hour pinch points and is a nightmare for parking anywhere near at the best of times. You'll also get congestion on match days. That makes for a not peaceful environment in general.

I've lived opposite a school and the noise from the children isn't a problem but having your loving environment feel like piccadilly circus twice a day isn't nice.

Oh gosh that is close when you look at the street view. Hardly any parking either I think you would find yourself without a parking space regularly!

That road will be busy and noisy between 8-9 and 3-4 whatever the finish time are which is fine if you are out at work all day, but f you plan to be a stay at home Mum or work from home or have holidays I think it would really annoy you! Well it would me anyway.

Also those train tracks are the Welsh mainline between Swansea and Cardiff and the Valleys line to Penarth and Barry. That will probably give you residual noise from 6am until 11pm every day.

I would omagine you would be starting a parking thread soon after moving in.
I used to live opposite and 4 housrs down from a primary school 23 years ago.

I worked full time but had occassions when on leave or home early to find people parked across and even on my driveway.
Some school mums see this as thrir right. I was told one day "you are not usually here so i dont see the issue".!
On top of daily term time parking expect random odd e ents like xmas concert, summer fete, end of year disvo, coaches and lots of parents parking up for school trips and polling day if the school is used as a polling station.
The kids noise was never an issue. It was the parking. We viewed a house in 2015 that i loved but it was on a school street and it was my past experiences of that that stopped me buying it.

Great advice thanks. You don't hear the trains as far as I can tell. What is a traffic pinch point?

By pinch point I mean where the traffic inevitably bunches together because it's close to where a lot of commuter routes cross. I've been halted there quite a bit myself and have seen quite a few people roaring down side streets to try and get around the traffic. It's not a bad area, just very busy.

That looks bit tricky. I would imagine you will get parents coming pretty early to park up on your side of the road so getting in or out at school times will be tricky. I would park up on there yourself and check it out.

It depends on how many people use the school(teachers/Pupils etc)/ how many times there is starts-finishes of classes/after school activities etc. Parking near our local school is crazy and I reckon it is busy for a continuous period throughout the day. The only time the residents have peace is Saturday and Sunday.

I used to live opposite a school but as I work 9-5 it was no problem at all as I was never in at school drop off/ pick up times.

I used to live between 2 schools. One (state primary) was no bother at all. The other (independent) was a nightmare at times for parking - probably because most people drove in whereas the state primary kids walked within the estate. Most parents were lovely and considerate. Some would block me in my drive and then get moody when thru returned and I told them that their 20 min chat has now made me late. The school would send so many reminders out to parents like that and in the end we just kept reporting the reg plates and descriptions to the school.

I wouldn't consider living close to a secondary though.

We used to live near a school, it was awful. Selfish lazy buggers used to park across my drive, sometimes even in it. One Sat I was blocked in the entire day when there was a summer event on, I went into school but no one came and moved it. That was the final straw, we moved soon after. NEVER will I live near a school again!

I see it is Sale agreed - did you go for it?

I was thinking about this thread earlier when my dc were out in the garden.
They were making such a racket and I thought imagine 100x this when you wanted to have a lie in or a quiet lunch in your garden!

(We live very rurally so I never worry about neighbour noise issues from my two)

I think the weekend point someone brought up too is important, If they have events on, sports, fun days it could be noisy all day and nowhere to park again.