Moving to Manchester - and I have no idea where to go. HELP ME PLEEEEAAAASE

[Ohforfoxsake]

So, we are going to Manchester, DP has a job in Salford.

So far I have investigated Altrincham but the LEA have told us that its highly unlikely the children would get into the same school. Its really important to me that they do as they are upping sticks and leaving all their friends behind. I don't mind home educating until places come up, but not as a long term solution.

Or, we could move further out and move out from the city (currently in London so that appeals). If DP can do a maximum one hours commute, its possible.

We have 4 DCs so want to base our search around good schools - they are in primary at the moment, but will soon be in Secondary and we don't really want to move twice, so we'd like to get it right first time round.

I am stumped and have no idea where to look. Any suggestions, words of wisdom or pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Just bumping one more time

congrats!

I can't tell you how thoroughly grateful I am for this thread! And extremely happy for you, fox.

I am also a salford-quays-dp-relocation-mn. I've been plotting our move for yonks (big fan of the spreadsheet approach!) though we've only just got our move date - march 2011. Nice to finally get cracking after what feels like decades of boring my friends' to death with "yes we're relocating, no we don't know when".

After various reccies, we decided Chorlton was best for us. Am basing all my rightmove searches on a radius around the unicorn grocery/barbikan deli. Not that i could actually afford the weekly shop in there, but i can dream. However, we've realised we could get more space for our money a few streets north, so old trafford is where we're aiming for now. Near seymour park is a lovely house so if anyone has any info about that area I'd willingly listen.

DD turns 4 this december, so we've got to apply for primary school from london (no confirmed manc address yet) then try to work our way up the waiting list when we move. Tricky. And i'm concerned that we'll be nowhere near good secondaries, grammar or normal.

And OFFS, please keep telling me that i'll love it up there when we leave london. I'd better be able to get a fry-up on a sunday or i'll cry.

ill second lucycat.........Poynton has good schools and so does Cheadle Hulme and Bramhall. Are you after state or private schools

Sorry alypaly, think ohforfoxsake is sorted for manchester advice (see her latest post about her move to Sale) - I've hijacked her thread as I'm heading up north too. All advice welcomed! :)

i realised that when i carried on reading

Hi topsmart! I have been meaning to start a "Who else is relocating to manchester with the beeb?" thread, but keep chickening out. So, Hi, we're hoping to go in the summer but have not really managed to narrow down a location yet. Hopefully next year it will all seem more real and we can get on with it. BTW, we have friends near Seymour park, can recommend it.

Hi smallerclanger! How exciting. Never really posted on mn before but now am feeling inspired! I might even start a proper beeb-move thread...

Ooh I've only gone and done it.
Taken one for the team and set up a new thread - search for beeb in the Manchester local bit.

come and join me!

Link please Topsmart!

hopefully this works

Thank you

I found it, attempted to link this thread from that one, and realised I've completely forgotten how to do it!

Doh!

Soz! Thanks for posting it smallerclanger. Have now posted link to this thread on that thread so all is now connected in helpful/confusing circular manner. From now on i shall post on the other thread!

We used to live in Bolton. As others have said, there is a bit of a north / south divide in Manchester. South Manchester is seen as the "better" area but its the same with everywhere, some nice places, some not so nice places.

The decision for us was about putting roots down and we were primarily driven by schooling. Bolton has some good primary schools but the secondary schools on the whole are pretty dire. Canon Slade is a state high school (although its church of england and you would have to attend church 3 weeks out of 4 to be considered) and the results there are very good for a state high school. Bolton School (independent) has a very good reputation and people travel quite a distance to get there. There are some lovely parts of Bolton but the town centre is awful and quite "yobbish".

We've moved to Hale - the area is so family oriented its great, everything is in walking distance, lots of pre-school/ toddler groups, children's sports etc, lovely village centre with cafes, restaurants, bars etc. It comes within Trafford and in Hale especially, all of the primary schools are outstanding. There are state grammar schools although the competition is fierce (and I mean lethal!!) but there are lots of private schools too - in fact its one of the best performing areas in the country. Obviously it comes with a price tag - you could get something for £400k (we didn't have that much) but as always, you're paying for the location so you could get more for your money elsewhere.

I would suggest areas like Hale, Altrincham, Timperley (all within Trafford) - I heard that Stretford Grammar was on "special measures" so I would avoid Stretford. There are nice parts of Urmston and that has a high performing state grammar school too. As others have suggested, Knutsford is nice too, probably cheaper than Hale but it doesn't come under Trafford for schooling (although Knutsford High School is relatively good). Bramhall is very nice (I would say its further away from Salford) but is again quite pricey.

Hope that helps
Mandy

I moved to a small village called Hapton, just outside Burnley.
It's located right on the M65 and 10 minutes to M66.
100k for a beautiful 2 bedroomed, back garden and front drive, countryside, easy access to anywhere you want to be.
35 minutes drive to Manchester City centre and 40 minutes to Manchester airport.
It's a no brainer especially for young families who want a fresh and safe environment.
There's also many opportunities for work here and also has a train station linked to Manchester, Leeds & Bradford

Probably a bit late for them now!

Are you the Mayor of Hapton? You seem to be resurrecting zombie threads all over the place extolling its virtues :).