Advice on living in Ottery St. Mary and local schools

[Mummyoftwo1985]

My family and I are thinking about moving to Ottery St. Mary from Hampshire. My husband is from Devon and we’re keen to make the move.

I’m looking for advice on living in Ottery, along with the local schools. We have a five year old and seven year old year old. Our primary reason for picking Ottery is the proximity to Exmouth, Exeter, motorway access and Kings School. My questions are:

-What is it like as a place to live? Is there plenty for kids and teenagers to do?
-What is Kings like now? Is it worth relocating to the area for the school? I know it’s rated as outstanding with Ofsted, but the GCSE results weren’t as strong as other schools.
-What are the local primary schools like?

Thanks in advance.

I have visited that area regularly. No idea about local schools etc but I think it would be a difficult place to live without a car as there are very few buses or taxis. Not an issue now, but it will be once your kids are teens and want some independence.

Poor transport links as said although yes close to Exeter and Exmouth.

Check out the primary school, somewhere there has a primary that floods and they are struggling to find/ secure/ fund an alternative site. I can't remember if it's OSM or Tipton St John.

A former colleague of mine moved to Cranbrook a number of years ago - their logic is that there are lots of young families so plenty of friends for the kids and also for them, it's very close to schools in Exeter (they privately educate) and has great transport links (train station into Exeter/Waterloo or Exeter St David's for Paddington/West Coast mainline) . They intend to stay there until the kids are at Uni and then move somewhere more rural but for now they have everything on their doorstep.

I don't know about Kings. Colyton Grammar is a bit further afield, it's a pretty academic state grammar if that appeals.

i have a few friends who live there - Kings school has a very good reputation locally, and the people who live in the town really like it.
you may find yourself driving kids to a local station to get trains to Exmouth or Exeter though there are plenty of buses into Exeter, and lots of kids go to Exeter college (which is also very good with a large variety of courses.

Cranbrook is called ‘crimebrook’ locally. Quite deprived and quite high behavioural issues at the high school (I’ve worked there).
ottery is much nicer

This thread is making me want to listen to Cabin Pressure again 😊

Or was it Weasels King Henry?

Sorry, OP. I'm not helpful here! I do have family that leave nearby though and what you consider to be good transport links/good local resources might also depend on where you are comparing it to within Hampshire.

God don’t move to ‘Crimebrook’ whatever you do!
Ottery is a nice little village but you do need a car to get around to anywhere else.
Also bear in mind that every year they host ‘Tar Barrels’ which is an absolute blast but the roads are packed with thousands of people like sardines while others run up and down with flaming barrels on their backs, all with alcohol involved so it can get a little rowdy but generally, a good night out.

My children went to Kings and did well there. DS is dyslexic but had lots of support. The primary schools around are lovely. The one at Tipton is the one that has flooded in the past but they are planning to move it.