Horsforth (and maybe surround areas?) anywhere to avoid?

[KTD27]

Hi all
Life has turned upside down a bit for us and we are looking at doing a VERY quick relocation to the north from London. Closer to my family and hopefully some job prospects for me and DH. Horsforth is coming up over and over as a nice place for us to move to - we have two D.C. one will be starting school in September and one is 2 in summer.
Is there anywhere in particular to avoid in Horsforth or the surrounding areas? Any black spots in terms of school catchment areas? We will probably need to rent first but ideally would like DS to start very close to the beginning of his reception year if there are any spaces at all once we have an address. Sigh. Don’t suppose you know if all schools are oversubscribed?
Stressing much?!!
Any help or advice would be appreciated!

Local authorities either have interactive school distance checkers or booklets with admission criteria and distances in the last 3 years. It’s also worth going over the local schools’ admission policies to see if there are defined catchment or the feeder school system in operation etc.

Leeds council has all the information online so start trawling through that as a starting point. Hopefully you will have a reasonable budget as it’s not cheap for up north - although Cheaper than London no doubt.

Unfortunately I don’t know much about the specific schools as my dc are older now. It is a lovely place to live though

Thanks both. I figured places wouldn’t be given until April ish so I can start ringing round to find out where there are potentially spaces then. Budget is ok. It will depend on what we get for our house but maybe 500k ish.
Will have a look at the admission booklet now. Need to try get my head around the geography!

Used to live in horseforth it's lovely. Join the horsforth community group on Facebook it's fab.

It's always seemed lovely when I've driven through.
It is on a flight path from Leeds Bradford but I'd still live there if I had a chance.

Thank you! I will do that right now

It’s a nice place to live with good schools but not the best in terms of motorway links and the traffic into Leeds is horrendous. It’s about 45 minutes to the A1 and you have to go through Leeds to get on the M621/M1.

It’s not bad if you can get the train but Horsforth station is out on a limb with very limited parking.

I've got a few friends in horsforth and I lived there for a year, but pre children so I can't claim to know anything about schools. The old part to the southern end is very pretty, the northern bit, north of ring road is handy for shops, although nowhere is too far. Just watch out for Hawksworth, which despite my friend's claim that it was far Horsforth it really isn't but shed loads cheaper! For £500k I think you'd get something decent in Horsforth proper. There are lots of alternatives nearby depending on commuting requirements. Otley has been a favourite with my friends.

Oh and I'm told that the new train station is a farce without space to get on lots of peak trains as it's one of last stations before city so watch out for that if you need to be in city.

Hmmm. I can see us needing to be in the city but it’s not 100% yet. My family is over in Halifax way so I think they’d just come through Bradford which would be fine.
Area wise we would like a high street, independent shops cafes bars and food schools the usual checklist
We lived in and loved crouch end in north London so anywhere with that sort of feel would be ace.

I grew up in North London (Belsize Park) but now live in Leeds (south west of the city, due to needing to be near my MIL). Horsforth is lovely but competitions for schools is akin to London in terms of very specific catchment areas. As a PP mentioned, getting in and out of Horsforth can be a nightmare in rush hour and it's on the flight path. I'd recommend looking at Headingley (certain streets are VERY studenville but it's very family orientated too), Chapel Allerton (v. like Crouch End and less property for your money) and Meanwood (it's still up and coming in parts but it's got a Waitrose so that tells you what you need to know). Good luck with your search!

Thank you @B1rdinthebush I love chapel allerton so will have another look there and at the other areas you mentioned. As I said, it’s a bit of a crisis situation so not exactly the calm considered move back north we had hoped for but I would like to make a decent decision about area if we can!

We looked at Horsforth but settled on Rodley, great area with the canal and a very rural feel but right next to the ring road and new Pudsey train station which is much better for commuting. Slightly cheaper too,
You'll get more property for your money. Ours are a little older but to the beet of my knowledge less fierce competition for good school places than Horsforth. There's an active community Facebook group that will give you a feel for how small and friendly the area is

In that case, I'd just go for Horsforth. It's hugely popular with families and has everything you're looking for so I'm fairly positive you won't be disappointed. Hope it all goes well for you.

Chapel Allerton, Meanwood and Headingley won't get you into good schools, at least not secondary. Primary is hit and miss but all the kids at my DC private school were from Meanwood and Headingley as they weren't happy with the state schools.

Chapel Allerton is close to town and at rush hour you can't get on buses as they are full.

Just to add I used to commute from Horsforth station (living in Calverley) and it really is a bad route

@DragonNight That's nonsense, there's great schools in all of those areas.

Horsforth is lovely and has everything you want. Unfortunately all of the schools in Horsforth are oversubscribed.

500k is good - you should be able to afford the nicer areas within the right catchment areas. Stick with LS18 as that currently has preference for the secondary school. With that budget, I would also look at Ilkley or Menston.

www.leeds.gov.uk/docs/Primary%20School%20Vacancies.pdf

Current vacancy list

And yes, there won’t be any spaces for next September unless you can move by mid Feb so will have to go on waiting lists. But give the council a ring and they will advise.

Thank you!! This has been super helpful. Doubt things will move by Feb - we will go up next week if we can and do a mooch about to try and get a feel for where we would like to be. Crossing fingers we can make it all work

I used to live in Horsforth until we had to relocate and it is a lovely place to live. However schools are in demand and house prices reflect this. It was a lovely community though and lots going on!!

For 500k though you will be fine. Look at the West end area.

I do think it sounds lovely! I’m just in a bit of a flap about schools. If they’re all oversubscribed who knows where he will end up. Shall give the council a call tomorrow and see if they can advise anything.