Rochester/strood

[Vw01]

Heyy guys! Anyone familiar with chattenden? We are a family of 4 (4year old and a newborn) looking to move into rochester/trood. We saw a house in chattenden and loved it but we don't know much about the area. Any info would help! Thanks x

@DrPrunesqualerforgive me if I am wrong..I did have a read on their actual site on this proposal and keep seeing 'sustainable developments with affordable housing for locals'. Does this mean this could possibly include some council estates too? Or is it only going to be newly builts?

All new build with housing association properties mixed in

No idea if there will be council owned and rented as this is a new area Labour are looking at.

but there will be housing association properties.

@DrPrunesqualer oh okay - good to know! Thanks for clarifying

@DrPrunesqualer@GimmieABreakOr3hows the primary schools in the area? So far I've looked at Leigh academy and cedar children's academy (recommended by friends)
Are they any good?

So I grew up in Gravesend, moved to Lower Stoke and then moved to Rochester. Gravesend was good for school when I went but the town centre is just dead now, not a lot of independent shops etc and no idea how the schools are now. Lower Stoke was nice but public transport awful. Living in Rochester now is so much better for choice of schools plus the high street is lovely. I think you’re best off going to Wainscott or Frindsbury because apparently the new secondary school that’s been built there is really good. I would pay the extra to just get that much closer as it makes a difference.

All the medway towns are awful. I lived in Wigmore for a few years, one of the nicer areas, but very insular.
Strood and Rochester and Chatham are the worst out of the lot. Steer Clear!

@Lashestoashescould you recommend some good schools in the chattenden area? That's were me and my family is moving to and so far people are advising to avoid chattenden primary school.
How is Leigh academy? X any idea? X

Agreed! I live in Rainham which isn’t too bad, and close to good schools but most of Medway is a dive unfortunately - we would like to eventually move out from the area! X

I’m afraid I don’t have the best knowledge of the schools near Chattenden but I think your best bet would be joining a local Facebook group and asking them on there because then you’ll get a better idea of what people find good at the moment but I would just say from a social aspect, it’s much easier to get around in Wainscott and further towards Strood/Rochester but if that isn’t a worry for you then you have to choose where is best for you ☺️ cliffe woods primary school is meant to be very good and I do constantly hear good things about there!

Appreciate the info! Very helpful indeed!. To be honest, wainscott, cliffewoods are all under 10min drive for us so not much of an issue... Strood too is only under 15min. So can potentially considering options there. Although admission wise might be harder to get into as we are technically not local to them @Lashestoashes

You’re welcome! I think that would be my main concern, a lot of the schools are quite over subscribed so I’d be curious to know the success rate of going for the schools that are further away as opposed to the ones that are most local to you. Plus another negative of being on that other side would be getting caught up in the Medway City Estate traffic! However like I said I don’t have a lot of knowledge of what it’s like to live in Chattenden purely because I lived so much further afield in Lower Stoke but wish you luck with whatever you choose! People moan about the Medway towns but depending on where you go I don’t think they’re too bad, I would never go back to Gravesend now.

I don’t know the schools across the Bridge from Rochester unfortunately
The Rochester Grammars are very good but in Rochester not Strood.

Tbh our kids primary was so bad we moved them to private

Friends moved their kids to Chattenden Primary out of ours and were very happy with it. This was around 10/15 yrs ago. They noted teachers picked up on their kids needs really quickly and they said it was a great move.

Colleague has just mentioned that Cliffwoods primary is excellent. So might be worth looking at

@Lashestoashesexactly that. I guess would have to wait it out and see what happens and yes definitely will not be moving back to gravesend haha.

@DrPrunesqualeroh great! Yes I been hearing a lot of good things about cliffewoods. Need to look into it for sure! Thankyou x

This might be helpful. It's a colour coded map showing actual selling prices for Medway, https://housemetric.co.uk/analysis/laua/Medway

@intheweedshey so I actually came across this few weeks back before we actually put an offer down. And you are right..Very helpful

If you email the admissions team at medway council then they will email back a list of years that have spaces for your children, if you're looking at an in year transfer.

@KnickerlessFlannelnot sure if that would help as my son will only be starting primary school in September and daughter is starting nursery. But I guess it could help for my son I suppose...

my 86 year old FIL moved away a year ago . We hated visiting as was 5 hours away and by the end didn’t like the area much either , moved there for a partner who died a good few years ago now..- everything shutting where he lived, really rough pub in what was meant to be a nicer bit , lousy medical care. however I guess it depends what things matter to you and being realistic affordability as well on housing but no I wouldn’t pick it in all honesty - lots of jack the lads round where he lived too - being honest I really dislike Medway and I come originally from a working class midlands mining town - he’s moved to be nearish to us in Somerset - medical care so much better and it feels safer and he prefers it too I feel

@Crikeyalmightythanks for the info..x

Higham is lovely!

Hi @Vw01 have you now moved to the area? We are looking around that area also but the feedback hasn’t been great.. how are you finding it?

@Kentgirlyhey so we are looking to move by end of the year/early next year. And yes all the info above is obviously helpful but at the end of the day it depends on your personal needs etc that will help in making the final decision. So what we also did was to actually visit the town , the area a few times over weekends, drive around and get a feel of the traffic during peak times etc and also trying and speaking with neighbours in the new area to get a feel. Also we got a few friends living in Rochester so their opinions also helped. For us as we are moving from gravesend, this area is 100 times better as gravesend is definitely not a place you would want to raise a family. It's become too rundown. Personally I feel chattenden is a lovely quiet town and yes you would need a car to get around for sure. However if you are more closer to strood or Rochester, you can get away without one x where abouts are you moving to? X

@Vw01 hey apologies didn’t see your message. We are still looking, our house purchase fell through so back on the hunt for us lol. We are looking in the ME2/ME3 area so hopefully something comes up soon. We do have kids also so good schools locally is a must for us. Have you moved in yet? Wishing you happiness with your new purchase!!!