Hertfordshire Advice

[Emmaybe]

Hello all,

We are sending ourselves in circles trying to decide where to move to from N. London.

We began looking at Hitchin, put off by how competitive the housing is and also how full the primary’s seem and we need in year transfers.
Then I took a strong liking to Letchworth, husband is not so sure, he worries about secondary schools there and if it’s more a local place than a mix?
Now we have our eyes on Hertford. Love the town centre, schools seem great but typically all the houses we like tend to be in the opposite direction to Simon Balle secondary.
Any advice on areas and views on living their would be great!
We need a 4 bed (or 3 with scope to extend), reasonably close to station for London, catchment of great secondary (we have boys and a girl) but the most important thing for me is community, like minded people and children’s things going on!
Sorry for the long post. I basically want someone to tell me where to live 🤣
Thanks for reading this far!
X.

What’s your budget?

If you like Hitchin and Letchworth, have you looked at Baldock? Knights Templar has a good rep.

Hertford is expensive, you might consider Ware which is the next town over and slightly cheaper in some parts. Also Stansted Abbots. There are 4 schools that cover this area 2 mixed and 1 boys and 1 girls. Be wise about school catchments in Hertford or you will end up in Sele catchment which is the least preferable of the 4. Big difference in exam results at key stage 4!

I've worked and rented in Hertford, currently live in Letchworth w/friends in Baldock.

I think Hertford is super expensive for housing and I never quite fell in love with the town centre. A lot of my colleagues ended up living in Ware (v close to Hertford) but I have no idea about schools there.

Letchworth is nice and much more affordable than Hitchin (Hitchin is a lot trendier and has a more active town however). Primary schools are mostly good, the two secondaries are not - so I don't think you will be keen. However you can still apply to Hitchin Boys/Girls (no guarantee to get in, it's a literal lottery) or depending where you are, you could be close enough for Knights Templar in Baldock. I do genuinely love Letchworth and think it has so much going for it, but the secondaries are not currently part of that, though at least one of mine will end up at one of them. I wouldn't say it's just locals, I think in recent years it's a place lots of people come when they move out of London and need somewhere affordable. That's what we did!

I recently did an in-year primary transfer in Letchworth. It's easy to find out which schools have vacancies on the north herts site. The ones with the best reps won't have spaces (eg Lordship or Norton). However the others are good in their own way. I would just avoid Wilbury at the moment (and Icknield by default as it feeds into Wilbury).

Baldock has reasonable housing costs too. Smaller than Letchworth but arguably trendier too. Less social housing if you're concerned about that. Definitely a posher community feel. One secondary (Knights Templar) which is thought to be okay.

Re Hertford.
Are you looking for in year transfer to primary or secondary? Simon Balle is an all through school now so there will be limited opportunities to transfer into the secondary phase from another primary unless you live very near.
You probably know there are 2 London trainlines and stations in Hertford.
What's your budget? Perhaps the Foxholes estate might suit you as the nearest mixed sex school is SB. The two single sex schools are very good but as a PP mentioned, the Sele school is good but not as good as the other three. However a huge new estate is currently being built on the field opposite the Sele school by Croudace Homes, most of these are family sized and will mean more children for the Sele school so it may change.
Please DM me if you need any specifics. Hertford is a lovely place to live and there is a new wharf style shopping area being built at the moment by the river. Plans to massively upgrade the theatre too. But expensive housing.

Welwyn is nice, I prefer it to letchworth which feels a bit run down

Hi,

Just wondering what you ended up doing as I am in the same position as you. We really had our heart set on Hitchin but just not a lot on the market so any house we like ends up going for a lot more than asking price and we just can’t compete.

Hello
We are moving to Hailey and need a good secondary school for my son in year nine .
Bus links from ware road important
Anyone have a child at Robert Barclay or Simon Balle ? They both seem excellent

Bishops Stortford. Nice town with good town centre shops, good schools, frequent train service to London Liverpool Street. (40 mins).