Moving to Oxted with young kids - help on logistical questions from those who live there / nearby

[Katerina085]

Hi,

My husband and I are seriously considering a move to Oxted. At the point at which we move we will have 2 young kids (roughly aged 4 and 2). It will be a big move for us (returning from abroad), and it is where we’d hope to settle for the long-term so we’re very keen to get it right. I therefore have some logistical questions I’d love some input on from those in the area.

Schools and nursery: any feedback on Hazelwood? It’s where we’d aim to send the kids. Would be particularly interested to know how people rate it in terms of academic performance

Availability of housekeepers/mothers help: how easy is it to find and keep this sort of help? This is an important one for me as we both work, likely with some commuting to London, and this would be my preferred way of helping to manage school pick-ups etc around working and the commute as I’m very aware that trains can be unreliable. I can probably change my work to be largely WFH/flexible hours at somepoint, but I’m not sure if/when I’d like to make that move and I’d like to keep my options open rather than feeling forced into something because of a lack of alternate options.

Life there for teenagers: how have you found this? One of our concerns is that it would be a great place for primary age kids but that teenagers would be very bored. I’m hoping this would be mitigated by having friends in the town they could walk to see, direct train links to London etc but would love to hear from your experiences. We would rather not be a full time taxi during this period! Our plan would be to send teenagers to one of the nearby private secondaries (Caterham, Sevenoaks, Reigate Grammar etc)

Commute: I think we’re largely aware of what this looks like and the implications of it for our day-to-day life and logistics (school picks ups etc) but if there’s anything major you wish you’d known or considered on this topic I’d be interested to hear. We’d only move to a property within walking distance to the station to avoid the need to park etc.

Of course feedback on anything else you wish you’d known (and whether you’d recommend the move!) would also be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for any input on this!

Hazelwood is well regarded and probablyone of the more tradional preps in the area being standalone and going up to 13+. However most of the secondaries have a larger intake at 11+ or use deferred 13+ (Sevenoaks being an exception) and increasingly they are joining up with feeder preps. Oxted is fine, a bit quiet for teens although has a leisure centre and cinema, easy access to Croydon for a wider range of activities. The commute is ok, mix of fast and slow trains about 40/45 minutes into London.