Moving to Southampton

[Evelynballet]

Hi! We are moving to Southampton soon and are looking for a good area to live with kids, 4 and 8 years old, so with good schools and safe places to walk, also with closeness to the train as I would be commuting to London part-time. Any such places?I've read that there a few lovely places outside of Southampton just near be but are there any options within Southampton itself? We lived in London before and are a mixed nationality family so diversity and open welcoming community would be something we are looking for.
Any catchment areas we should be narrowing down our search at?
Thank you so much for the answers!

Wow! Southampton is popular this morning! There are a few threads running on this.

Good areas to consider are: Highfield, Upper Shirley, Bitterne Park, Bassett, but there are other options too depending on what your budget is and where you need to be for work etc.

It’s a lovely place to live, I’ve been within walking distance of the uni for 20 years now. The city centre is well appointed (if not beautiful - but there are gems if you look for them). Transport links are excellent.