Information regarding areas around schools

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harimom
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:54 am

Information regarding areas around schools

Post by harimom »

Hi, my son has got into Westcliff boys and we are planning to move nearer to school during the summer holidays. Since we are not familiar with any area that side, could someone please suggest some good residential areas easy for commuting to school and at the same time travel to London as well ? It would be great if I can find some areas where there are kids who would be going or are already going to Westcliff so that my son can make some friends as well. Seems like lot of conditions to move to another area :) It would be really helpful if I could get some inputs as we are planning to buy as well after sometime. Thanks in advance.
ToadMum
Posts: 11945
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Information regarding areas around schools

Post by ToadMum »

harimom wrote:Hi, my son has got into Westcliff boys and we are planning to move nearer to school during the summer holidays. Since we are not familiar with any area that side, could someone please suggest some good residential areas easy for commuting to school and at the same time travel to London as well ? It would be great if I can find some areas where there are kids who would be going or are already going to Westcliff so that my son can make some friends as well. Seems like lot of conditions to move to another area :) It would be really helpful if I could get some inputs as we are planning to buy as well after sometime. Thanks in advance.
For getting to London, the railway station nearest to WHSB is Chalkwell on the C2C line. It about a mile and a quarter. There are lots of houses between the Westcliff schools and the station, from the odd one over £1m to rather less than this nearer to the grammar school's themselves (some ex-local authority housing now privately owned). Obviously, there are lots of other areas which are within easy walking / bus distance of WHSB and near a station; depends on your budget, really.

(We moved to Leigh on Sea over twenty years ago when DH got a job in the area. Although both of us had conditions with Essex, neither was familiar with Leigh; we had requirements re distance home to workplace for DH, I wanted to be near a station and since there was a sea view available, we thought we'd go for that as well. So we looked at the area where half a mile from a station coincided with the outer edge of possible for DH).

You really need to come down and visit the area and work out where you think you and your DS would feel most comfortable.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
harimom
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:54 am

Re: Information regarding areas around schools

Post by harimom »

Thanks a lot Toadmum for your detailed reply. We are planning to look around Leigh on sea and Rayleigh as these two have been suggested as good. I think it will take sometime as it is a huge decision but hopefully should work out fine.
Proudmumregardless
Posts: 304
Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:09 am

Re: Information regarding areas around schools

Post by Proudmumregardless »

I will never ever understand why people do this.
ToadMum
Posts: 11945
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Information regarding areas around schools

Post by ToadMum »

Proudmumregardless wrote:I will never ever understand why people do this.
Depending on what 'layer' of 'this' you are referring to, moving house to give one's DC an easy journey to school, having gone through the getting them to sit the entrance test and actually applying for a place at the school thing, certainly beats not moving house to give one's DC an easy journey to school :) .

(People have, in the past, actually countered suggestions that they should move and take the burden of commuting upon themselves, with the argument that it doesn't make sense to shell out for two adult season tickets, when one child rate one is so much cheaper. No doubt all the while telling themselves that we can't really care about our DC, if we wouldn't even consider setting an eleven year old up for three or four hours travelling around their school day to get to a 'better' school :shock: ).
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
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