Considering a move to St Albans/Redbourn/Harpenden

[Cookingupatreat]

Hello,
This is my first post- hopefully it reaches everyone and somewhat makes sense?! ;)

Hi there,
We are considering moving to St Albans / Harpenden or even Redbourn, a village just outside of the city. It is a big move, we have a two year old, and need to move fairly soon if we are to move in time for school applications...
If anyone here knows the areas above well and has any helpful thoughts on:
The areas/the community and the schools- that would be such a big help.
We have been looking online, using the compare-schools.gov.uk tool but it would be much nicer to here from people who know the schools/ the place than trying to figure this all out from what's online...
We are really starting with a totally blank canvas so any thoughts and ideas, any experiences of these areas you would like to share would be really helpful.
Thank you,
C x

I used to live in St Albans. Now live ‘up the road’.

What’s your reasons for choosing those areas?
Do you want to focus on school catchment, distance from station..?

Hi,
(Amazing username 😂 btw)

We want to be able to commute to grandparents in Leicester more regularly.
We’ve only visited St Albans a few times, lovely city.
Schools are the priority.
Do you have any thoughts on which areas in and around St Albans have good schools? Any thoughts from a real human being as opposed to second guessing often outdated Ofsted reports would be great!!

Apologies for not coming back to thread sooner #Cookingupatreat.

I don’t know about schools - try the main Chat board for more responses.

If you are still looking for potential areas, have a peep at Berkhamsted, Tring and Studham areas. There’s lots of small villages this way with primary schools but you’d have to check catchments for the seniors. I hear good things about Ashlyns in Berko.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk

That’s where school stats are.

I grew up in St Albans and can say it's a great place to live! Don't know what the primary schools are like now (so info might be a bit out of date!) but I went to Fleetville I believe is still very good. It's a big school for a primary (3 form intake) and separate infants from juniors (over the road, different heads etc) so if you like that big school thing it's good. There are a few other bigger ones too like Wheatfields and Oakwood, I believe, and I think they go all the way through from reception to year 6. Alternatively plenty of options for smaller schools if that's what would suit you better. It would probably be worth visiting a few to get a feel for them as they will all have a different thing going on.

A long way off I know but if you are planning on staying for the long term you might want to at least look at which catchment area you will be in for secondary as schools like Marlborough and Samuel Ryder were always less desirable in my day than ones like Beaumont and Sandringham.

I'm not as familiar with the other side of town in terms of schools. Harpenden is the posh neighbour of St Albans and also v nice but personally I prefer St Albans as there is more going on in town etc.

Good luck!

What’s your budget? Do you need to be close to the train station/commute to London?

Harpenden has excellent state (Primary and Secondary) schools but is v pricey. £1m+ for a 4 bed semi within walking distance of the station is about standard. Season ticket to London is just shy of £5k and don’t expect to get a seat. Very friendly place though with a strong sense of community.

You get more for your money by a long way in Redbourn, but secondary schools in particular are a bit of a lottery as there isn’t one in the village. You also have to drive to Harpenden/St Albans for the train.

St Albans is obviously much bigger and has a wider range of housing stock. There are also more mixed schools though and you need to live close to get into the best performing ones. If you are prepared to pay, there are good private schools in the area.

I am in Harpenden and love it here. Less in the town centre than St Albans, so in many ways regret not living there. Slightly better train service from St Albans at the moment too. I have a feeling that the single sex secondary schools in St Albans put us off (not because they aren't good, but because we personally prefer a mixed school). Both have easy access to the m1 to get up to Leicester. Can't comment on Redbourn though from driving through it looks lovely.

Where are you moving from? Do you still need access to London? I don't understand what your rush for schools is, you should have at least a year before applications I think?

Feel free to pm for more local info if you need.

Ps. Everyone I know in Harpenden is very happy with the primary schools here!

Look also at

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/3746563-Harpenden

Hello

Can anyone tell me how bad the noise pollution is from planes in Studham, Bedfordshire? I have visited recently but it is hard to tell as Luton isn't operating at full capacity. Many thanks in advance.