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Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:09 am
by ipswich mom
Hi everyone

Months of contemplating, we have decided to move to Southend in couple of months. After living in Ipswich for 12 years, I am totally stressed about the move :) .

Can anyone who live in southend please please help me in suggesting the best primary schools in southend borough. And also please suggest areas to avoid and areas to live in. We are thinking of Leigh on sea.
As soon as I told at work that I am resigning to move to Southend, I was totally shocked to hear comments about Southend.

I know that there are amazing Grammar Schools and I have been on this forum for years and I read about happy parents and dedicated parents for whom education is very important for their children and to see their DC's and DD's going to grammar schools.

Can anyone please help me.
Thank you very much for your time.

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:56 am
by kaynor
Hi Ipswichmum

We don't live in Southend but have always found it a great place to visit and would imagine it a lovely place to live! Sure others will fill you in on the details.........you definitely do not need worry :)

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:13 pm
by Chai
I live in Southend.

Go for Leigh on sea. The houses near the Broadway are now quite trendy. Parking is a nightmare though, as flats pepper each street. The seller may tell you that he never has a problem with parking. It can be untrue.

Chalkwell in Westcliff is good to live in too. The other area is Thorpe Bay (although a bit far if you work in the city).

My husband works in the city and so did I, a couple of years back. I have always found the commute great - around 1 hour max to get from my office to my home. I live quite near the station.

Good schools are Westleigh Junior - highly oversubscribed. Bournes Green Primary, Darlinghurst and Our Lady of Lourdes Primary are also thought to be quite good.

My youngest goes to another school which is not considered great but then again, I tutor her at home and would do the same when the 11+ comes around for her, as I did her older sister, who was in a supposedly very good school although we were disappointed with the school's lack of interest in pushing the children to take the 11+. She is now in a grammar school.

Hope this helps.

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:15 pm
by marigold
Leigh on Sea is beautiful, particularly Old Leigh.
Southend may have a bit of a grotty reputation but it has good shops, four very good grammar schools and a new airport which I think will soon be a rival to Stansted.

As kaynor says, don't worry, I think it will be a fantastic move.

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:57 pm
by jacksmum
Leigh on Sea is a great area to live but a lot of the roads do not have off street parking as Chai has said so parking can be an issue particulary nearer to the seafront.

Eastwood is also mostly a nice area and still in borough if you are thinking ahead to the grammar schools in Southend.

Just outside borough there is Rayleigh which has a number a very good primary schools and two very good secondary schools _ Fitwimarc 2010 results showed that 73% of pupils got 5 A* - C inc Maths/English Hadleigh/Benfleet has King John School in which 82% got 5 A* - C inc Maths/English, and these schools do not require an entrance exam (unless out of catchment for King John) so has a broader range ability within the students.

Good luck with moving. There are some not so nice areas in Southend - but you can probably say that about most towns in the UK.

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 7:48 pm
by moved
If you are looking for a good primary then just being in catchment will not guarantee a place. A friend was on the waiting list for 3 years. Try to live on the doorstep. :D
The catchment for the grammar schools is a distinct advantage so be careful which area you live in/which school you send your children to. The stipulation is that your child must be educated in a Southend School.

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 7:37 pm
by natnats
Hi

I moved from a really nice part of East London (leafy wanstead) to the area a few years ago. If you had told me that I would be moving to Southend 5 years ago I would have thought my life had gone seriously wrong.

What can I say............the best move. Wish I had done it years ago.

Great grammar schools, free beach, large cheap houses (well cheaper than east london), hubby can still commute to London in under an hour. Yep Southend has some rough areas which you would just need to avoid as do all big towns but the benefits far outweigh the negatives

Thorpe Bay, Chalkwell, Westcliff, Leigh all nice :o :o :o

Kursaal, not so nice :cry: :cry:

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 6:56 pm
by ipswich mom
I am so happy to ready your valuable inputs.. It did make our family sit and happily prepare ourselves for the move. Hubby works in the city so a huge relief for him as he has been commuting for past 7 years to Ipswich and he is tired of it now.
I have a great job and so reluctant to resign but now i guess i am ready..

Thank you so much everyone and kudos to this forum...

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 4:35 pm
by Molsdad
How funny, I work in Ipswich during the week and have a Flat in Neptune Marina and have lived in Southend for 20 years.

Leigh is hugely over hyped as are the schools in the area. Parking is of nightmare proportions, in general no real sense of community, great if you are a single 20 something, not so great as a family.

Chalkwell, has in general a bit of a feeling of gods waiting room, not much there, the parts of Chalkwell that are considered to be lively are in fact Westcliff

Westcliff, South of the London road is nice, better than Leigh by a long way, has a community to it

Central Southend, is in my opinion the only place to be, from the Conservation area to Southchurch, it is central, family orientated with a great community feel, even the "bad" areas are friendly, my house is large on a wide Avenue but surrounded by some of the "bad" streets, I have no fears in the area.

Thorpe Bay 3 cars on the drive nothing in the fridge about sums it up

Shoeburyness The garrison is nice, the rest needs clearing lol

Schools

Dont believe the hype, I am yet to find a poor Primary in Southend, they have excelent early years provision, my daughter attended Hamstel, not a good school but got her to 13th at SHSG and 15th at WHSG from 666 and 758 respectively. The Leigh schools will drop your child like a hot rock the moment they dont think they are going to make the grade as will Greenways in Thorpe Bay.

Southend living is great, it knocks the spots off Ipswich, its friendly and fun, plenty to do for children and adults whatever their tastes.
Edited by mod.

Re: Moving to Southend - totally stressed

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:48 pm
by moved
Greenways, for reference, has a mixed intake from the Kursaal estate to the edge of Thorpe Bay, an excellent reputation for special needs as well as catering for the more able.

What makes you think that they "drop" pupils who don't make the grade? How do they do this?