I'm new to the forum and I need some advice regarding relocating to Cirencester due to work and also my DS will be taking the 11+ exam this September to hopefully gain a place in one of the Gloucestershire grammar schools (if not, then he will apply for one of the local schools at Cirencester).

We live near Swindon at the moment and are a family of 4 and will be looking at a 3 to 4 bed house. what is the best location within/near Cirencester considering safety/neighbourhood etc.

Also we will have to move our DD to a local primary school when we move there so will need to consider primary school catchment as well.

Many Thanks.

Hi

I live near Cirencester. I think you've got a choice of a local villages surrounding Cirencester or Cirencester itself. It will depend on whether you have a car & can drive (are prepared to ferry children to friends) or prefer to be to be closer to amenities.

Some good primary schools in local villages but be careful where you choose - some are on grammar school bus routes others are not (& there is a reasonable cost for these )& you'd need to get your DS to the school bus for grammar. Most grammar schools publish the school bus routes on their websites. Re Cirencester primary schools - there are a number - I think Powells is the one that may do better for grammar but that is only by what I've heard. (Some of my DD friends at SHS went to Powells)

Re Cirencester itself - I'd suggest thinking about your back up school. Deer Park & Kingshill are the 2 secondary schools but on different sides of Cirencester. That might help determine which part of Ciren you want to head towards.

Hopefully someone will be along to tell you about the areas to live within Cirencester.

Hi

We currently live in Cirencester, (have been here just over 11 years) but are about to relocate to Gloucester as all three DDs will be in grammars in Glos/Chelt from Sept (just waiting for a Pate's confirmation for one of my twins, but already have one at Pate's and the other got the Ribston letter today!) I work in Gloucester and my husband's business is flexible so makes sense for us to move over that way now.

I will, however, REALLY miss living in this beautiful little town. We have lived here since before the twins were born (having been in Bristol previously) and have loved every minute. My parents live round the corner from us and will stay here so we'll be back often.

99% of the town is perfectly safe, pleasant and nice to live in. We have friends all over the place and no-one is unhappy with their particular part of the town tbh. There are more desirable areas of course, but they also come with a steeper price tag. It is not a cheap place to buy in wherever you look though. Our main criteria when we bought here was being able to walk into town and to school easily.

All the primary schools are lovely. All rated good or outstanding by Ofsted (although how much sway you put on that is personal of course) There are lots of things for families to do and we have always felt part of a proper community living here.

DD1 currently gets to Pate's using a contract coach (Denwells) and there are buses to all the grammars from here so you won't struggle with transport. The journey time is roughly 40mins - 1 hour. DD1 doesn't mind the bus as she has friends in her year to do the journey with, but is looking forward to being closer to school next year to be honest which is part of the reason for our move.

Ironically, we moved here initially because we thought we would be moving somewhere where both the local secondary schools are great and the grammar school question would never raise its head. However, DD1 set her heart on Pate's from the moment she set foot in the door in Year 5 on an Open Evening and - of course - her twin sisters were always going to try and emulate their heroine! However, both Deer Park and Kingshill are EXCELLENT schools and do lots of outreach work with DDs school and other local primaries.

We are about to put our 4 bed house which is walking distance to both Deer Park and Kingshill and the lovely primary all our three girls have all gone through on the market if you want to buy it?!!

Please feel free to DM me if you have any specific questions and good luck with your move

Thank you, Octsmum, for such detailed information - very useful!
We both have cars and can drive so it doesn't matter whether it's within or surround the town - and yes, we would prefer to live on the school bus route (well if he does get a place), think it's a really awkward time to relocate as personally I would prefer to wait till DS finishes the exam and gets the results.

Also living near amenities would be ideal too but it's not a must.

We will have to do some more research about primary school and backup secondary schools.

Thank you again.

Thank you so much, Mumto3girls, first of all, huge congratulations to your twins on gaining places as their chosen schools! also to you on finishing the 11+ journey!

It's really great to hear such great review about the place - you made me feel like wanting to go live there right now

We have only just started our research about the town and house hunting - would be nice to have the rightmove link when your house is put on the market 4 bed is exactly what we are looking for (we will be looking at 3 bed as well if there is potential to upgrade).

Thank you again and I might soon drop you messages so thank you in advance for any future help!

I grew up in Cirencester and still live not far away.
I don't quite agree with the 'all primary schools are lovely' comment. Watermoor is definitely not the best school in the world, mainly due to intake.

There are a shortage of good family sized 4 beds in Cirencester, and they are expensive. But surrounding villages can be more expensive.
Just to give you an idea, my parents lived in Down Ampney when I was house hunting, for the same price I could get
2 bed cottage in a village
3 bed semi in Cirencester
4 bed detached house in Swindon.

If you are not walking distance to the centre of town, be aware that the buses from villages etc are rubbish, and the roads into town are mostly too dangerous to cycle. As teen living in a village it was awful. Much better to be accessible to town.

Hi Snow123,

We've been in one of the Cirencester villages for 15 years and are about to move to Kemble to rent as a house purchase has fallen through; I have two DC at the Stroud grammars and our house moves are dependent on ensuring the kids can get to a bus stop and back under their own steam. We currently live in a village where the school bus stops in the middle of the village which is a godsend as I work in Swindon and husband works in Cheltenham and the journey takes them 20-25 mins.

You can get to the Stroud schools directly from public bus from Ciren centre and by dedicated bus from the following areas/villages: Stratton; Ashton Keynes; Coates; Ewen; Kemble (also train); Poulton and Somerford Keynes. The first two areas have local primary schools; Coates is served by Sapperton School; Ewen and Kemble by Kemble School; not sure about Poulton and Somerford Keynes.

Choice of primary school (town or village) is very much down to individuals and your gut feel about them, but some schools seem to send more of their Y11 cohort to GS than others. My two went to Powells and in their respective Year 6s, about 17 of the 60 cohort went to GS, mainly in Stroud, Pates and a couple to STR - not many Ciren pupils seem to go to Denmark Road, Crypt or Ribston in Gloucester, although technically you could get to these especially if you lived in the Stratton area.

Steppemum is right that Cirencester housing is more expensive than Swindon and there's not a good stock of 4 beds; although there are new housing developments. Worth also pointing out that a direct bus also comes from Lechlade, through Fairford and these have cheaper housing than Cirencester, but you will be paying a much higher bus fare.

Hope this helps! Good luck with the move and bid for GS.