Moving from SW London to godalming/Guildford area

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Hey, My husband and I and our two small children, 2 and 9 mths are moving from SW London to the Guildford/ godalming area and would love some suggestions on where is good to look at. Looking for good state primary and option for private secondary. Not too far from main link to London with a good community feel. Ideally a village atmosphere with a post office type shop in walking distance.

Suggestions welcome! Thanks

Busbridge in Godalming has excellent shops and good community apparently (although friends there are church goers so don't know if community is there for non-church goers!) Good schools too.
Puttenham infant school and Puttenham village are lovely. Can then go on to Waverley Abbey if you live the right direction.
In Guildford itself St Nicholas Infants, Boxgrove and Holy Trinity Pewley Down are all meant to be good (Holy Trinity depends on your educational views though as they are quite free/alternative in some ways). It is a town obviously but a very nice one and feels small and familiar once you get to know it.
Shalford/Wonersh direction is very nice but not good for schools once you get to secondary level.
East Horsley/Clandon area also very good schools, very expensive but nice.

Loads of options around here and the villages tend to have very good schools.

FOr the best train links to London you want to be Guildford/Godalming for a direct link on the fast train.

We moved out to elstead 6 months ago. Nice village, lots of amenities (shop, post office, doctor, dentist, pharmacy, park, etc). But IMO not commutable to london. So we're on the move again shortly...

In Guildford - Busbridge is probably the best performing primary/junior school. All of the central Guildford secondary schools are good looking forward. Private boys secondary school are limited, the RGS in Guildford is top notch but very academically selective. Close to Guildford is very limited. Girls are better catered for with Guildford High School and Tormead.

Great, thanks so much for the useful posts. We are ideally not looking at central Guildford or central godalming but a village close by with a community feel. We have looked at bramley and busbridge and like both and also east clandon and east horsley so any specific info on those would be great but by no means are we tied to these and only started looking in the last few weeks. We do need to move soon though as first child starts school sept 2015 so would like to be settled this summer. Thanks

You could add Shalford to your list, closer to Guildford than Bramley.

I know it seems years away, but given that there are some excellent state secondaries in the area, it would make sense to move into the catchment of one (because even if you make another move you would likely not want to swap one village for another once settled). Then you are covered whichever way you go at 11.

I know some would say the o/standing secondary of today could be in special measures in 10 years time, but the reality is the outstanding ones have been that way for a while and are unlikely to see a change in their intake profile.

I would therefore avoid areas which don't feed into any particular secondaries - eg East Clandon, Shalford, Ripley. Unless they build new schools of course, which given that they would like to build 1000s of homes over the greenbelt, is likely...

I know your DC are very young, but if you don't want to move again when they're secondary level, you really need to think about how they will get to school.

If they do go to secondary school in Guidlford you need to be on a bus route for the state schools or within walking distance of a train station for the private schools. Unless you're prepared to drive everyday - and I'm just getting in the car to do just that! If I had my time again I'd live on the Clandon/ Horsely train line.

Busbridge is great, be careful with catchment areas for Infant and Junior Schools e.g.it used to be that those living in Bargate Wood area would get in this isn't any longer guaranteed.

Busbridge is great but be careful with catchment areas

Thanks so much for all the advice. Does anyone have any specific advice on Bramley cofe infant school and pre school? Also any other great pre schools in the bramley or busbridge areas that are worth looking at?

Thanks

Busbridge infants and junior school are meant to be good- friends DC went there and then onto Guildford High and RGS.
Also heard good things about Bramley Infants but no personal experience. Puttenham Infants is also lovely and very good.

Try looking at :-
Blue Willow Busbridge Village Hall
Hambledon Nursery School
Goslings in Borough Hall,Godalming

Thanks dalmationdots and Iwasagnome. We are looking for an area with. Good sense of community for families with young children like ours. Does Bramley have a good community or would it be better to stay in the busbridge area? Moving from sw London and don't want to be isolated as I'm a stay at home mum and my husband works away a lot but also quite keen on a village settings and feel.

Thanks!

Sorry I don't know about Bramley but I find Busbridge a great place to live and friendly

The only thing Busbridge doesn't have is a shop but it's 10-15 minute walk to Godalming

Shackleford is lovely, close to A3, is quite small but does have a post office and village shop, plus a nice pub and good infant school.

Hi. Sorry to butt in. We're due to move to Elstead in the summer and DH will be commuting into London. I was under the impression that the commute would be fairly straightforward (short drive to Milford/Godalming into Waterloo). Am a bit concerned by namelessposter's post. I am assuming that it all depends on where in London you need to get to? DD 1 is starting y2 in Sept. Hoping for St James. Has anyone got any experience of Rainbows Nursery for DD2&3?

It's 10 minutes to Milford station, but it can get busy on the route around 8am so if you were going then it would probably take quite a bit longer. There are fewer trains to Milford than to Godalming but still a reasonable number..

Ok. Panic over. DH needs to be at work by 8! Thank you, BlueStringPudding!