Help on which area to relocate: Godalming, Reigate, Redhill, Guilford or Tunbridge

[crimp82]

Hi everyone. I am so overwhelmed that I hope someone can help me. I am planning to sell my house in London (Crystal Palace) and to relocate where my daughter (13 months old) can be raised in a village, amongst other children, a safe place and most importantly where state schools are excellent. I work in London Victoria and ideally I would like to find a place with a relatively easy commute (just over an hour). MY sis in law bought in Godalming which is an option but it does not seem to be very well connected to Victoria, so we are looking at alternatives. The most important thing for us is the state schools (I do not think we will be able to afford independent schools.). As I mentioned I would like to live next to a pretty village, green, good outdoor and most importantly excellent schools (ideally both primary and secondary ) since this will be our forever house. Our budget is anything in the region of £800 for a 4 bed house. Please help.

Ignore the Reigate snobs! Nothing wrong with Redhill. My daughter aced her GCSEs and is on track for Oxbridge, along with others from her Redhill school.

I second this about catchment areas vs. distance. My nephew missed out on his school choice for secondary because of distance.

You can generally work out how safe you are though. When I moved to Godalming I spent a long time ensuring we were in the right area for schools. I even found a freedom of information request asking about the furthest distance place offered ! It’s quite easy to ring a safe circle and then hunt within that area.

Please be aware that a lot of the housing in Guildford is not near the main station. If you want to be in the catchment area for George Abbot you will not be near the station.

it is hard to be part of any community if you are a commuter.

Redhill and Earlswood are both excellent. You have great train connections from Redhill to Victoria but also London Bridge and St Pancras. There are quite a few good state primary's nearby - 1 in Earlswood & a couple in Redhill. The secondary in Redhill used to have a not great reputation but has been making great strides forward in the past couple of years. Moved from London out here a few years ago and haven't regretted it. For your budget you would get a decent sized house - more so than Godalming.

Changing at Clapham junction is a nightmare as the station is extremely busy. One way to test an area, if you have money and time, is to try and get an Airbnb there for a few days whilst you are working. Actually do the commute, at commuting times - parking, station bus, changing at CLJ and all. See if it is bearable. Any change lengthens the journey of course, which may make it harder to be home for pick up times. Using two train companies (SWR and southeastern) to get to work gives them twice the chance to fuck you over with strikes and cancellations,

apologies if I missed it, but where does your DH work?

@SheilaFentiman thank you so much for your message. With a very young baby it is pretty difficult to do what you have suggested but I agree in principle it is the best thing to do....My DH works in the city so for him it's easier to just get off at waterloo and get one tube.

@Sausagedog25 well we would consider St. Edmunds primary school which is a feeder of St Peter. The house we went to look at is in AAron Hills which seems to be just outside of the primary school catchment area for now but things could change in 5 years when we actually need the school and perhaps because we are Catcholic I was hoping they would accept the baby regardless the fact we would be just slightly outside...which area did you end up choosing for living and for which school? This is sooooo overwhelming seriously...

@PerspiringElizabeth where do you ended up living? We went to look at one f the new houses part of the development in AAron Hill...do you know the area? Which school did your children go to (if i may ask)

If you are just outside the parish, you will rank as 6 not 5 in the list below.

Admissions for September 2024 are based on the following criteria but full details are in our attached Admissions Policy.

1. Catholic looked-after / any EHCP/Statement
2. Catholic with an exceptional or compelling need
3. Catholic sibling, living within the Godalming parish
4. Catholic sibling, not living within the Godalming parish
5. Catholic non-sibling, living in the Godalming parish
6. Catholic non-sibling, not living in the Godalming parish
7. Other Catholic children
8. Other non-Catholic looked-after children
9. Other children, non-Catholic with exceptional or compelling need
10. Catechumens, candidates for Reception into the Church, members of Orthodox Church
11. Any other sibling
12. Any other children

In the most recent admissions stats (ST Edmunds is in Waverley when you look at the below), no children were admitted under the 6-12 criteria. It looks like it is a one form entry and only takes 30 kids.

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/admissions/arrangements-and-outcomes/previous-years

There isn't a catchment however in case of over-subscription priority is given to Catholic children living within the (Catholic) parish of Godalming. The parish is huge (extends as far as Dunsfold and Puttenham) so there are no worries there and in any case St Edmunds is under-subscribed.

You can see the parish boundary here: https://www.abdiocese.org.uk/education/find-a-school

@SheilaFentiman regarding St Edmunds admissions, the reason no children were admitted under the lower criteria is because none applied, not because they didn't make the cut. It's under-subscribed and only has 21 children in reception.

ah, that;s good!

OP if it's community that you are after, look for a house within walking distance of your chosen school. Being able to chat to people as you walk to and from school, having impromptu play dates etc is a wonderful thing.
If you're looking at houses on Aaron's Hill then St Marks is presumably your closest. The school has had a rocky few years and if you were to ask some people in the area what the school is like they are likely to have outdated views. The school has great facilities, including their own farm and class sizes are small.
I wouldn't consider driving from Aaron's Hill to St Edmunds. Most of the time traffic will be okay but as soon as there is heavy rain the road under the railway bridge floods and it causes chaos.
Birth rates in the area make a huge difference to school admissions. Some years school places are majority filled by sibling priority. Other years very popular schools are under subscribed. People don't put them on their application list because they don't think they would get in, with some people being hindered by not fully understanding the application process. There is a huge amount of movement on school waiting lists after places have been announced.

@Dogcatmousedog I would love Tunbridge Well same as Sevenoaks but they are both quite far and the last really unaffordable ...looking at house in Sevenoaks is pretty impossible to find something for our budget...also state schools option is quite limited, do you not agree?

@Sausagedog25 so which area of Godalming you did choose and which schools were your preference?

@Jaq27 I know you mentioned Bus bridge and then Aaron hill (where we went to see one house) is not great, why specifically? can you pls give me some more details ?

@Crimp1982 Aaron’s Hill has a few rough families and a reputation for ASB. Same with some areas of Farncombe. It’s got worse due to dumping of troublesome tenants by some London councils. There’s quite a lot of resentment of DFLs (Down From Londons) who are either seen as rich bastards pricing locals out of the place and incapable of driving on singletrack roads (unfortunately this last one is true), or as drug-dealing scumbags.

I don’t think you’ll find that in a small town. I grew up in one, my parents moved there from London and never really fitted in, their few friends were all other people who’d moved there from elsewhere. Anyone remotely outside of a very rigid idea of “normal” is treated with suspicion and there can be hostility towards Londoners moving in and driving house prices up. I live just down the road from Crystal Palace and it’s the friendliest place I’ve ever lived, hands down. I’ve got so many local friends and people to say hello to and I’ve only lived in this area 2 years! So I’m surprised at your experience of Crystal Palace. Personally I’ve always found London much friendlier and easier to find a community than my aggressively homogenous hometown.

@TedMullins interestingly Eastern Europeans (lots of fruit picking here) and latterly Ukrainian refugees are a lot more welcome than DFLs if the local Facebook and WhatsApp groups are anything to go by 🤣

Reigate school takes from a tiny catchment now- if kids don't get in they are offered the Warwick in Redhill - used to be called Carrington. Or sometimes offered Ashcombe in Dorking. Or merstham.
Unless you live about 1/2 mile or so from reigate school kids haven't gotten in. It's a great school though!

Other way round, Carrington school was Warwick! With religious affiliations St Bedes takes in pupils from a wide area. St Joseph's in Redhill is the local RC primary school. For secondary there is also RAAS , which is state boarding/day.

Tunbridge Wells ,Tonbridge and Sevenoaks all have decent secondary schools ,particularly Grammar and Tunbridge Wells have decent non selective schools. Sevenoaks now have Weald of Kent annexe ,Tonbridge have WOK ,Tonbridge Grammar and Judd ,Tunbridge Wells has TWGS ,Boys Grammar and Skinners Grammar …so quite a good choice. Boys travel from Sevenoaks, Orpington to Skinners and Judd .
All three towns have very expensive property but more affordable in the villages .Tunbridge Wells which is the furthest in an hour commute into London. Change at Sevenoaks for Victoria/ Blackfriars’s.

Hi @Crimp1982

Aarons Hill and the area around Ockford Ridge and The Horseshoe had a bit of a reputation as @puncheur says.
It's probably 'watered down' now by the people moving into the new builds, but there was some anti-social behaviour that was off-putting. I moved into a house just off of Ockford Ridge (without doing my research properly on the area) and moved out after 2 years.
Basically bored teenagers hanging about, causing trouble, graffiti, stealing, vandalism, fighting etc. They formed some kind of gang for a while but that seems to have gone now.
The school up there (St Marks, then I think it was called Oak Trees for a while?) has gone through some rocky times but I've heard it's improved a lot since I lived there. St Marks was in special measures at the time -- but that was over 20 years ago now so things have probably changed a lot!
I guess the only way to know if you like a place is to visit it a few times on different days of the week and at different times - morning, daytime, evening, night time.
Hth.

@Jaq27 OMG I would really hope that has changed by now..can you imagine if I ended up buying to then experiencing all of that?? It is difficult when you work and live quite far from there and have a very young baby to come on different days of the week and at different times ..in any case thanks for the feedback....I have read that your son lives in Woking that is another area worth consideration..it would take me to London Victoria in half of the time...