travelling from Ashford to Maidstone for school

[PettswoodFiona]

Hi, we live in Petts Wood so not far from Chislehurst. We love our area but have toyed with idea of moving out so briefly looked at Ashford. Main challenge is that nice affordable houses don't seem to be near the station, plus the terminal in London didn't work for me so journey would have gone from my current hour door to door to two hours door to door. Plus I didn't have the luxury of free travel so the cost was a consideration. I felt being in Kent narrowed our school choices. Where we are now we can do Kent general grammar, lots of Petts Wood girls go to Wilmington for example and no OOC premium; we still can get the Kent superselectives but have to get higher scores, we have the Bromley selectives and we also have Bexley grammars. On top of that the regular schools are also generally good. If you don't get Grammar in Kent the options are not always so attractive but I gather there are some good gems especially those that have a grammar stream but aren't fully grammar.

We also like that we are on top of good transport links and DD will be more independent - able to get about without us ferrying her about when she is older which may be relevant if in a village that has an infrequent bus.

Hope whatever you decide works out for you but thought sharing our reasons to stay put might be a help too.

[tag30]

thanks for your post pettswoodfiona. i constantly debate in my head whether or not to leave london as although i know it isnt the epicenter of the world, i wonder if moving out will disadvantage my children in the future - jobs, transport etc. The fact is, although I also love where i am living now as its beautiful, we are renting at the moment and we simply couldnt afford to buy anything near where we live. If we moved to ashford we would be much better off financially. It would only be my husband commuting as i can work anywhere there is a hospital and Ashford has one on its doorstep, but would it be the same as a London hospital ........

[mgm]

Any boys travelling from Kent to medway grammar schools?
Any one live in Maidstone?