Back garden backs on to school field. Good or bad?

[Mackerz]

I’m looking to buy a house at the moment. Seen one that I like. It backs on to a school field though. What are the pros and cons of this?

Don't know if this is the case everywhere but where I am there is huge pressure on school places at the moment, lots of schools are expanding, and school extensions and new buildings go straight through planning even if they have objections. So I would consider it like being near any other field - great for the moment but a potential building site in future.

Our church meets in a primary school, and often on Sunday morning the football pitch is in use as well. Worth checking things like that OP.

The noise would be a total dealbreaker for me. And the parking!

Do you do shift work? It might be hard to sleep during the day if you've been on nights.

The only concern may be that if you have a dog they might be fed a few too many packed lunches in summer! Most schools have 8ft minimum wire security fencing these days so if you have a standard 6ft wooden fence it would be secure and private, schools don't use fields all the time, too muddy, so noise is very much a summer issue. I could hear the kids from my last house but it really was only for an hour a day

Check if they ring a school bell/buzzer.
Ours is M-F all year long...whether school is or isn’t in session...annoying

We back onto a senior school. When I worked full time (office hours, so Mon-Fri 9-5:30) it was great as I was out when they were at school and it was really peaceful. Now I'm a SAHM I hate it because it's sooooo noisy at playtime. Also, we seem to struggle with noise from seagulls early in the mornings, more than my PIL do who leave really close by. I can only assume they are looking in the bins and things like that, but whatever it is they're bloody noisy at 5am!

We love it. During the week at term time there is noise during the break times, and a bit at pick up times, but it is blissfully quiet during the school holidays, in the evenings and at weekends. Sometimes the squealing is a bit piercing but I can mostly tune it out.

We do have a thick, high hedge at the bottom for privacy though, and a double drive with dropped kerb which the parents respect and don't park across.

Occasionally the alarm goes off too (when a window has been left open and a breeze blows....) but that is rare.

If we moved I'd happily choose somewhere like this again, provided there was private parking for us.

Don’t assume the field will not be built on. Many schools have sold off their land for housing.

I live about 200m from a primary school. The road is fairly busy at drop off and pick up but as i rarely need to use my car at those times it doesnt affect me. I love the noise of kids playing and when i was a SAHM i really missed the noise/cars/kids walking past during the holidays!
My only concern would be how secure it was. I am a bit paranoid about houses that have a boundary with footpaths/allotments etc and not sure if i would include a school field

Thanks everyone. Food for thought.

The security is a concern. As ppl have said, fine during the day but might be an issue at weekends and holidays. That said, houseson the road rarely come up for sale, according to Rightmove only two have sold in the last 4 years. Assuming if there were security issues, more people would be selling up.

A lot of schools now hire out their facilities for use out of hours. So don't bet on it only being M-F 9-4

If then fields have good road access they could be sold for housing - if tucked away that’s less likely.

Round here the school fields are used all weekend too for football, triathlon (v early!) so prob need to find out about that. Prob v good for school catchment tho!

Go and check your road for traffic at drop off time and pick up. We can’t get into our road next t9 primary school for 20 mins a day. Rest of the time it’s fine and dh’s kids played on school field in summer holidays.

If you want the house, go for it. Backing on to a school/school field is lovely! Lots of wildlife in the grounds encouraged by the school. We get owls, hedgehogs and a resident fox, newts and frogs. Happy noises at break time. No problem when you're working at home as the noise is in short bursts, even at lunchtime - reminds me to take a break! A bit busy at pick up and drop off but when I'm office based I'm out to work before and back after. Never been blocked into driveway as people around here seem to be very considerate and lots walk to school. Blissfully peaceful at weekends and during the holidays, especially the summer, because the school is like a buffer zone in the urban hum. Sports fixtures aren't every weekend but usually start about 10am and finish by 12pm, so no real disturbance there. We have security lights and a good fence with spiky things growing against it. No issues for 10 years, then had an attempted break in so got cctv. Police said it was just a sign of the times - the school had locked security gates, lights & cameras (which helped catch our burglars) - and we were less likely to be targeted than the average home in our area because of the schools security measures and how much harder it was to access the back of our house. One time thing, been here 15 years. Wouldn't swap our location.

Thanks Kit.

Hadn’t occurred to me that schools would have cctv etc but it makes sense.

Depends on the school and size and access to that portion of the field.

All of the local schools around me have long leased off large portions of their fields to private football pitches/club houses.

A field with occasional kids playing and carboot sales is lovely.
A floodlit AstroTurf football pitched which is being used till 10pm every night... not so lovely.

Also as a previous poster mentioned. If the school is great in a built up area it’s likely to stay the same. If it’s a not so good school or a tired school with lots of brownfield/ open spaces around you could find them selling off the land for housing and moving elsewhere. If the garden is large this shouldn’t be a problem. But if it’s a tiny garden you may find that spacious airy feeling disappeared when 8 new builds directly face you.

Basically the premise of backing onto a school could be great or bad but each case is different.

I’d also double check any after school clubs etc. One of our locals sold off the evening and night right to the pool/gym and it’s used by fitness classes etc to 10pm most nights, they aren’t all kids clubs either. Just because a lot haven’t sold doesn’t mean they don’t want to move, some might be rentals, some might just know it’ll be hard to sell.

I back on to a school field. It’s great, land that won’t be built on. Parking is ok - I have a driveway, and the road is only busy if I leave late to get to work.
It gets used by a five a side team a few times a week in the evenings but they are done for half 8

Look at the house at play time and see what you think of the noise

Good idea. Do a viewing at lunch time and see how noisy it is.

If the school is like ours check it's not got a back entrance. Being at the back of the field might be fine but ours has people parking at both the front and rear gate twice day and if anything the back gate parking is worse than at the front where the council CCTV and terrifying head teacher patrol.

Otherwise I don't think it would bother me during the week but obnoxious Saturday morning kid football daddies would drive me mad (ours hires the field out for this on a weekend)

I would like it, but only if it was a state school, LA probably wouldn’t sell off the land, however near where I live most of the public schools have closed and become housing estates. So that’s worth thinking about.

I've lived next door to a primary school for almost 40 years and never had any real issues. We get the occasional football/bean bag/hula hoop etc but we just throw them back into the playground. (We did once have a woman insist on inspecting our garden as her son said his shoe was there, but she never found it). Noise isn't a problem; just children playing. The bell sounds several times a day, but we just tune it out, or think 'playtime already?' The school has a security fence so we benefit from that too. We did have a few problems with people parking across the drive, but a new head opened up another entrance across the school field and most people use that. I'd second visiting the neighbourhood at school drop off/pick up time too.

There's an infant school at the end of my garden and I love it! We've never had a ball/bean bag/hoop or shoe thrown over either. Noise is minimal 9-3.30 and the fence is quite high so very secure. I'd say go for it.