Living by a secondary school

[BasementIdeas]

Hi

We’re going to view a house which is right opposite the entrance to a secondary school

Does anyone have any experience of this? What are the main downfalls? Litter / road gridlock at start & end of the day / playground noise (is playground noise as bad at secondary as it is at primary)?

It’s a well rated all boys school if that makes a difference

Thanks

I live in a cul de sac along the side boundary of a secondary school (approximately 650 pupils).
We get footballs and shoes in the back garden from over the fence.

There's also a bit if noise from the 5 double decker buses that park up on the forecourt of the school but they are gone by 3.30pm.
Noise from maintenance work during the holidays- stuff like roof repairs and tree surgery.
Most annoying are the seagulls. They nest on the roofs of the school buildings as they live on the food dropped by kids.

A relative's property shares a boundary with one. Constant noise during the school terms, litter thrown over the fence, smoking (and maybe worse) right against the fence, a huge building project which has been going on for months creating dust, noise and flooding, generators left going over night, dumping of spoil at the end of her garden, evening use of floodlit sports facilities, and kids being bussed in from miles away meaning the highstreet is gridlocked twice a day.

Listen to the school bels/buzzers. Different house to current one, about half a mile from school, across a massive road... could here the lesson change buzzer.

How big is the school? And how many entrance does it have? Local secondary has one entrance, c. 2,000 kids and hundreds of staff making for an exceptionally busy road at drop off and pick up time

I live next door to a secondary school. If I wanted to park on the road between 2.45 and 3.05 it would bother me but I don’t. Occasionally parents park across my drive but in 4 years of living here it’s never been when I or my guests wanted to go in or out. And the parents stay in the car anyway so could move.
Kids are nice. My mum wanted to know what they do to them to make them so considerate! No litter.

I’m next to the music block so I hear rehearsals sometimes but I like the sound. If I hated people it would be an odd place to choose to live but I like it. And my children will have an easy trip to school when they’re older

@BasementIdeas

Thanks, good for thought

Not worried about parking as property has a large drive (with electronic gates). We won’t be moving kids primary school so will end up doing school run ourselves, but looking at timings of the school days there shouldn’t be a clash

I’m currently WFH so sound might be an issue - what time of day are they normally noisiest? Lunch time or afternoon during PE lessons? It looks like buildings are at the front of the school (nearest the house) and playing fields are further back which might help

I’ll definitely look into if any clubs etc use the facilities in evenings / weekends, especially as everything is opening back up now

Thanks

PE lessons will be all day, not just afternoons.

You might also have a bit of noise during lesson changeover if the kids have to move between buildings but this should only be 2-5 minute bursts.

Many schools have 2 lunch breaks e.g. years 7-9 have lunch whilst upper school have a lesson then they swap. This could mean the lunch time noise is 2 hours rather than one. Having said that I don't find the kids particularly noisy at lunch time. They are either eating, playing football or sitting/wandering talking to their mates.

Just don't. You'll get litter , cars blocking your driveway , and swearing outside

I lived directly opposite the entrance gate of a secondary school for 16+ years until we moved last year due to upsizing.

For those years, I didn't notice any much traffic as such. It was more busy in the mornings but because the kids are grown up, the parents just drop and move immediately without hanging around. The same happens by 3pm. By 3:10pm, the road became empty.

If I have an opportunity to live there again, I'll definitely do. But I wouldn't live near a Primary school

Also, because of the school, we had 2 London buses on our road which was very convenient for us when we decide to us public transport.

A lot depends on the size of the school and the size of the catchment. If the catchment is over a wide area, you may have issues not only with parents dropping off in cars but school buses. The secondary school near us has lots of buses that cause issues as they can't all fit easily in the parking area at the front.

As others have said, check to see if the school facilities are used by the rest of the community and if they are, how often. Are there sports pitches used during the evenings/weekends? These things will all affect the levels of traffic and noise outside regular school hours.

My eldest is at a large secondary school and the houses surrounding it are beautiful (and expensive) but honestly you couldn't pay me to live there.
We drop her in and pick up (due to useless public transport) and it is chaos and dangerous in the morning and afternoon, parents constantly, constantly block drive ways!
I would literally grab a coffee, arrive there early in the morning and grab a parking space and watch what happens in the morning, it may be ok but at least you can get a picture of how it is at certain times.
Bear in mind winter months and rainy mornings will be worse!

Not worried about parking as property has a large drive (with electronic gates)

Until people park in front of them.

You couldn’t pay me to live near a secondary school again.

I live opposite a secondary school with 1200 pupils. My road is a cul-de-sac and the only way out is past the school. Mornings from 8.15am and afternoons from 3.15pm are hell on earth. I live in gated development (so no issue with me parking) but the roads are blocked by horrendous parking by parents, kids walking 5 abreast down the road (and ignoring any cars) and cars stopping in the middle of the road because there's nowhere left to park. It is literally gridlock every day. They do have some (lucky) teachers who try to maintain some semblance of order (i.e. get the kids out of the road and on to pavements instead) but it's an impossible task.

My house backs onto the school field.

Noise - the courts are directly behind my fence so we do hear them during pe lessons but it isn't too bad. There has been occasional noise from building works but nothing major (though would have been a nightmare when the [replacement] school was being built about 10 years ago) The most regular noise is the tractor doing the fields.

Parking - This is not an issue for us as we are not hear the entrance, the school has a drop off zone though within the gates so this reduces the need for on street parking outside.

Traffic - This is the most difficult aspect, the school is at the top of a 'one way in/out' road which has multiple residential streets off it. In normal periods this isn't a major issue for residents but at school time it is a nightmare, traffic trying to get in and out of the school plus residents leaving for work or other schools etc. This is compounded by the fact the road is on lights, which is off a main road - this has two issues - the short light cycle for cars turning out and then other lights on the main road means that traffic is often backed up meaning traffic can't turn out (it is ok if everyone wants to turn left but one right turner and the queue doesn't move) I know that I have to leave for work by 7.45 if I want to avoid the traffic.

We do get a lot of foot traffic, but I am at the bottom of a cul-de-sac so this is not a major issue for us.

Rubbish - we do get some in the garden that has blown over the fence.

The last house was near a primary school - the school was on a crescent and our road was down the side of the school. Parents were just dicks with parking - not so much over drives but on the corner of roads making turning in really difficult.

No school will be the same, so I agree with others that it may be worth visiting at school times to get a better idea. What you don't do is buy the house, then a few years later when the school is seeking planning permission to build extra facilities is moan about the school and declare it should be knocked down and moved elsewhere because a school shouldn't be near houses. (Yes someone a little down from the school gates did write this in their objection letter)

If you were to buy the house it could make it harder to sell. Depends who buys it but you're asking these questions now and so will others

Depends. I live adjacent to a road that has a large secondary as well as a primary on it. It literally makes no difference to me 99% of the time as I leave for work well before the school day starts and return home after it ends.

I can hear sport being played on the evenings/weekends but I rather like that. The only time it impacts me is when there is some large event like a concert or open evening or something and then the surrounding roads are v busy.

I guess I might feel very differently if I worked different hours though!

Can't think of anything worse :D We live 5 minutes walk from smaller/private school. And it is not so much the kids, but the parents who must to turn up in their cars to pick the kiddies up is the issue. I wouldn't want to live right next to it for sure.

I almost bought a house which had primary and secondary across one street and the nursery to y2 across the other (corner house). I didn't because could not agree sale price.
But my kids went to the school. Of course very busy from 8-8.40, and from 4-5.30 (school got out at 4.30 and clubs at 5.25), occasional coaches. But when school gates were open a member of staff manned them and there was no fuss outside the gates, just a lot of kids walking by. The campus was big so sports activities etc did not affect the surroundings. In school holidays they rented it to EFL school.
I now live down the road from a primary and during school term you are not allowed to drive down the long block it is on (I guess residents are exempt from this). But I imagine most kids walk anyway.
I like living near schools, I love the sound of kids in the playground and community feel. Guess it depends on the school!

We've by 2 secondary schools and a further 3 within 1 mile distance. We are not on the main road where many of the students are i honestly do not find it a problem. Overall the students are nice and polite and friendly. (They all seem to love my basset hound too)

Live opposite a small primary. Notice drop off and pick up by the cars but only if we're in the front of the house for the 30 mins or so. If we are in the office, then you miss it all. Don't hear anything at all during the day, maybe occasionally playing kids noise but it's actually pleasant.

Definitely benefit to it being quiet in evening and weekend, which is when we care about it. Also always get a car parking space as a chunk of road has no residents.

We are very near an all boys secondary school. Sometimes the parents block our drive but it’s not really a big issue. We can hear the playground from the garden. It’s such a joyous noise, they are having a great time. On sunny days, they leave the music doors open and you can hear the drum practice. But at the weekend it is gloriously quiet and I can sit in my garden and enjoy the peace. Some neighbours get bags thrown in their garden...sometimes I tell the kids off for pushing/fighting.

I live just around the corner from an academy. Apart from noise and traffic mentioned by other posters the school fields run behind the houses in my street and can be sued for matches at weekends. Lots of loud yelling by teacher in charge.

I aso had an issue with mixed groups of students gathering in the spaces between houses to drink (mostly coke) and smoke. Obviously they were traspassing on my property and a bit cheeky when I asked them to move on. Many of the local parents in the area dont allow boys and girls to mix so they would seek out hidden places to meet and chat between 4-430 ish. Not an issue to me (the boy/girl meetings) but they left litter. They moved on elsewhere when I pointed out I had cctv and threatened to send evidence to the school to contact their parents.

I went to view a stunning house opposite a school. Decided not to put an offer in

I live opposite a large all girls secondary, the school property is long and thin and I am at the playing field end. The noise is pretty annoying but we deal with it and we know when its going to happen. Usually we get noise in the morning as they hang out on the field before lessons start, then at lunch 1-2 because they use the field as the playground for some years, then usually noise from sports practice 4-6. Its a lot of high pitched squealing and shouting. We don't really notice much traffic but thats probably because its a private school and most children arrive on school busses which drive through the gates and have a designated place to drop and pickup within the grounds rather than the road. What does get annoying is when they rent the fields out for events as that often leads to noise all day Saturday and Sunday and not knowing when its going to end makes it harder to deal with. Also they will use the field for parking meaning theirs a huge tail back along the narrow road while everyone waits to turn in. This happens about once a month, usually we see tents or signs etc. Being put up and make plans to go out for the day.
I would recommend you check it out several times at different times of day including at the weekend and if possible ask local residents. We are renting but still knocked on the neighbours door to ask and they where very helpful.

I live near a secondary school. Most kids walk so there's very little traffic at drop off etc, just big gangs of teenagers. The only real noise is when they play sport but it's not a big deal and I've only noticed it now I wfh, before that I was out all day.