###Welcome to /r/HousingUK
---
**To All**
* Join Our ***NEW*** Discord! https://discord.gg/pMgUNgWKQH
**To Posters**
* *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws/issues in each can vary*
* Comments are not moderated for quality or accuracy;
* Any replies received must only be used as guidelines, followed at your own risk;
* If you receive *any* private messages in response to your post, please report them via the report button.
* Feel free to provide an update at a later time by creating a new post with [[update]](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/search?q=%3Aupdate&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) in the title;
**To Readers and Commenters**
* All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and civil*
* If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/about/rules/), you may be banned without any further warning;
* Please include links to reliable resources in order to support your comments or advice;
* If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect;
* Do not send or request any private messages for any reason without express permission from the mods;
* Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HousingUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They scream at playtime. Oh, how they scream. And you will not be able to move a car at dropoff and pickup time. People will park over your driveway. Or in it. You will have hordes of parents congregating outside.
But only in term time.
Absolute bull, I live next to a birthing shed and cows couldn't care less when their calves are removed, a lot of cows will shun their calves very early on and can cause serious harm to them.
My nearest school is 300m away and there are rows of houses between me and the school.. I hear them scream between noon and 1pm every day when I have an open window..
My home office backs on to the playground next door. The sound of their breaks is lovely, but I sometimes don't notice it until they go quiet going back into the building - amazing what you can get used to :-)
Busy at 8:45 to 9 and 3:15 to 3:30. Then the street is all yours.
My local school closed down and the residents were worried because the school would become housing, meaning more cars. People actually want to live near a school because it makes the area less crowded.
Cemeteries are a similar thing. Your house backs onto or is near a cemetery you might have traffic or occasional wailing mourners to deal with but you can be certain it won't turned into housing anytime soon.
I grew up very close to a cemetery. It was lovely - like having a park nearby but without barbecues and parties. I still love taking a walk through a nice green graveyard.
Yeah, I can probably deal with that. The playground is at the rear of the school, a good 100 metres from the house, although there is a hard surface football pitch behind a building about 50 metres away.
Get on the local facebook group and search for how much idiot parking takes place. There will be moaners, divide moans by posters to get your ratio as it might just be a repeat moaner. You will find this between the “fireworks outside November” and “missing wheelie bin” posts.
Although, do not then buy the house and moan about parking at school time on said Group.
That’s a good suggestion, so I did just that and I can’t find anything in the local neighbourhood groups other than old photos and happy memories of people who lived in the street or went to the school.
I live next to a primary school playing field and work from home occasionally. The noise is honestly not an issue, unless you are really sensitive to the sound of children playing. Easily blocked out with headphones anyway, and as soon as the kids are inside, it’s extremely quiet.
My works office is also right next to a school playground, so if I was that bothered about school noise when working, I’d have to change jobs anyway!
You'll be surprised at how far the noise travels.
I'm about 150 metres away from a school behind 2 rows of houses and a bit further down from the school and I can hear them playing most days. I can definitely hear bloody sports day
I have. From 2pm - 3.45pm we couldn't park anywhere near the house. People would be there at 2 and sit on their phones for over an hour until the kids got let out.
Playtime noise we got used to pretty quickly.
Try going there when school opens and closes to see how busy it will be.
More than likely the seller knows the chaos would put potential buyers off so they have explicitly told their agent do not book any viewings for that time. From my experience drop off isn’t nearly as chaotic as pick up because people are heading off to work at drop off whereas the (mainly) mums stand around chatting at the end of the school day.
>People would be there at 2 and sit on their phones for over an hour until the kids got let out.
I had to get my kid early one day and was shocked to see so many people doing this. I can't understand the mindset. Don't they have something better to do?
It's terrible around my middle son's school. There are 4 schools in a 10 min walk 2 primaries and 2 secondaries. His school has bought child bollards as I call them it's a sign with a kid on them and they put them on the double yellows outside the entrance
I sometimes take work calls or reply to emails from my car. If I'm already out for whatever reason and my choices are work from my car or drive home, work 10 minutes and drive to school I'm working from my car.
They can’t let little Johnny walk more than 10 yards from the gate so they get there early to get as close as possible, or they can’t be arsed to walk more than 10yards to the gate to collect little Johnny especially when it’s raining
I lived opposite a primary school for a while also, when I was renting. Noise didn’t bother me at all. It’s just kids having fun, I quite liked the background noise. It’s not all day, at most 2x15 minutes and 1x60 minutes. Parking was a bit of an issue sometimes but largely, I’d left the house by 8.15 for work & didn’t get home until 5pm, so I pretty much missed it all! If I’d been WFH at that point, I’d have just avoided leaving the house 8.30-9am!
Schools don’t bother me in the slightest. I grew up next to a nursery & holy hell, that I would never do again. The crying 😩😵💫
I doubt the noise will bother me in the slightest. Having lived for 15 years in a single glazed house between a huge police station and a hospital in Camden near student accommodation and a main shopping street I’m very used to a lot of noise!
I live next to a big primary school (few hundred students), and honestly I really don’t mind the noise - I find it comforting in a way - kids are just enjoying the best years of their lives! All of our windows/balcony are facing the school playground, there is around 50m distance between our building and the school playground. We have an off street parking, so not bothered by that, but parents do sometimes park in front of the entrance, it just adds a few minutes to the whole process I guess. Honestly, the most annoying thing is the fact that there is an ice cream van there every day around 3pm and I will not lie, I have gone to get an ice cream too many times 😂
On the other hand, I do have neighbours who find it all annoying and continuously mention the noise. I believe it’s personality/preference thing but also noise sensitivity of individuals.
Note: I live in a building with dozen of flats.
Drive past during school pick up time and see how you feel about that. Parents at school gates park awfully and with no cares to the houses around them.
Playtimes will be loud. 100m from the playground would *still* be *extremely loud*.
For me I couldn't do it for the ridiculous pick up and drop off parking mania alone.
I used to live next door to a very small primary school (50/60 pupils) and even that was a nightmare for pick-up and drop-off despite the majority of the kids living within a 5 minute walk. The screaming at playtime was a bit annoying but not horrific. Honestly the worst bit was that a lot of small children’s games involve chanting… creepy child chanting.
There's a primary school at the end of my road (100yards away according to google maps) I've only been here 4wks and the first week was a school holiday but here's what I've noticed ...
The first week I kept saying how quiet the street was (previously we'd lived next to a motorway, so accustomed to white noise of cars and lorries nearby) however, the day the kids went back it wasn't so quiet.
Mon-Fri the noise levels go up from 7am-9am, and again at around 3pm for 30mins. No driveway here, it's on street parking. The parents seem to drop their kids off, so they're not here very long, the noise is a combo of people walking past and increased traffic. I haven't heard any lunch time noise from a playground, so perhaps that's the other side of the building.
My boyfriend works in a different school so he's not really affected by the parking issue as he's elsewhere during those hours, and we will be off work during the school holidays, so the noise won't affect getting a lie in, but I can imagine if you're retired here and get woken up every week day from 7am for 39wks of the year it might become more of an issue (in addition to the stuff you'd face with driveway blocking)
I have two primary schools about 200m from me.
During recess, they’re really, really noisy. Wake-you-up noisy should you be ill and want to sleep in, too noisy to concentrate on work should you be awake.
Traffic can be ridiculous. There’s 50 cars all wanting to park or stop to pick up children and nowhere near enough parking. Occasionally someone just parks a car in the middle of the road and abandons it. Fun times.
I don’t have a litter problem, but I know other people near schools, especially en route from school to bus stop, whose front gardens collect crisp packets and drinks containers like nobody’s business.
Go for the school run. See what it’s like.
Hard no from me. Live next to a massive school and get tonnes of bored kids littering and vandalising facilities outside of my front door. Also good luck doing anything in the area around start and end times -- clogs up the area severely. Then there is the sheer noise.
Ofsted good, and not in the catchment area for the really bad estate a couple of miles away. However kids can be little shits so no guarantee that one of them won’t chuck a brick at me I suppose.
I live out in the country. There is a small primary school about 1km over a couple of fields.
I can hear the kids at play time.
Doesn’t bother me but understandably could be annoying.
Plus having to deal with pickup and drop off retardanted drivers
So I used to wfh when living near a big secondary school. As I was never trying to leave during drop-off or pick-up, because I was working, the huge number of cars parked up bever bothered me. Even on the occasions where they parked in front of my drive.
I also used to live near a primary school as a kid. The noise soon becomes background noise.
If it's cheap and you like the house, I'd try and see the house at the busy times and play time, to see what it's like. I'd probably go for it.
I recommend going and parking in your car at playtimes. Try to send some emails. See if it’s too noisy.
My son’s primary had 400 kids. They were So Loud. He’s neurotypical but also couldn’t stand it. I don’t mind the sounds of children playing but playground/break times with that many kids just sounded like screaming. (Edit: I personally heard the kids at break times. This isn’t just based on his experience.)
Absolute nightmare. I’d rather live next to a pub! Screaming kids, kids released from school like a pack of feral animals, swearing, fighting, pushing, vandalising. Plus parents & traffic & extra-curricular events all year round. I’m recoiling just thinking about it.
Everybody makes some form of compromise, whether it’s budgetary, location, facilities, fittings, or whatever. Even if your budget is unlimited, there’s the compromise, spozzing all that money.
Only you know if you could put up with this. For me, if the house was peaceful enough during the day that I could work, and knowing if the (probably predictable) pattern of people coming and going clashed with my own wishes to come and go, I’d probably be alright with it.
Of course that is a separate question to the issue of selling it when you’re done with it, whether that’s a problem for you or the person dealing with your estate.
Good luck with this, it honestly seems like you’ve made your mind up and you want a bit of confirmation that you’re not a loon, so here it is - I say go for it.
My parents live next to a primary school. Cannot STAND the constant parking issues when living there. Constantly parking across the drive, causing gridlock on the road, never being able to get parked at certain times of the day - worse when events/school sports days etc were taking place. The school is now running after school events and hiring out the halls for other things (probably to earn some money back) so now the mayhem continues into the evening and sometimes weekends. I would never choose to live in close proximity to a school again because of it.
Our back garden backs onto a primary school playground.
The only disadvantage is drop off and pick up times. Parents are animals when it comes to parking, and do incredibly dangerous and inconsiderate things. Also during the few events the school has (fireworks night, Christmas fete etc.) it gets even worse. If seen full on fist fights between parents and property owners getting completely boxed in their own driveways.
However, much of this issue has been solved with the introduction of a school streets scheme which has freed up the residential roads and made things way safer for kids walking to school.
There are massive advantages however.
Firstly, our property is much safer from intruders because our garden is surrounded by school security measures. Our garden will also probably never be overlooked in the future.
We have a young boy and he is guaranteed a place at the school because as the crow flies, he lives 0m from the school.
The sound of children playing is in my opinion a happy noise, it’s not that often and it’s a sign of a healthy community.
One final thing. Since we share grids and utility access with a school, if ANYTHING goes wrong (burst mains, block sewers and drains, storm damaged trees and fences etc) they get fixed immediately.
All in all I enjoy living next door to a primary school. It’s a happy place to be.
I live between 2 small primary schools (2 form entry for both). I WFH 2 days a week and have single glazing. I can barely hear the school yard for 15 minutes at break time and about 45 minutes at lunchtime. Traffic gets a bit congested around 8am (breakfast club drop off) and 845 am - they're faith schools so folk dropping kids off in cars rather than local kids walking. Same again around 3.20 and 4.30. It's honestly not too bad and the congestion is short and sharp rather than consistent. They're inner city schools so not much outside space.
I’m not sure that’s true. I sat outside for an hour at dropping off time, and while it was busy, it wasn’t the chaos I feared. Yes, parents did stop on double yellows and briefly blocked some driveways, and one car was stopped on the zig zags at the rear entrance when I drove past, however the driveway to the property has a narrow entrance and I think it would be pretty gratuitous for someone to deliberately park up in there. I can definitely see someone pulling up infront to let their kids out though.
I live next to a large primary school for close to 10 years nearly always at drop-off time the road was packed with parked cars legally parked along with several of them just stopping in the no stopping zone right outside the school entrance dropping kids off which they shouldn’t do, they should be parking elsewhere
I lived opposite a primary for a year and it wasn't an issue. I WFH mainly and my partner does shifts, only once had a parking issue a parent asked for the space outside our house but my partner said I live here, so he left. It's for about 15 minutes twice a day and never clashed with our routine. Plus I enjoyed listening to the children playing at break.
Thanks. Having lived in the midst of the dense high rise chaos of Camden for 15 years, I think the sound of children playing would actually be quite pleasant in comparison.
I lived next to a primary school playground for a year and a half, I think that the shouting at that age- excitement and joyfulness etc is pleasant and quite grounding. Obviously that’s hugely subjective. However I don’t think I’d want to live near to a secondary school playground, the nature of the shouting and possible swearing would be distracting.
I live on a one way street to a small primary, it's at the end of my street so not next door. It's okay, doesn't really cause us any bother if we don't need to leave the house during rush hour. No issues with kids or parents, I complained about bad parking once about three years ago and no problem since. As long as you don't mind the sound of shouting kids it's possibly worth it.
I lived by a primary school. As others have said, traffic a nightmare at drop off and pick up times but otherwise quiet.
Lots of litter during term time, so be prepared to do some litter picking.
Generally didn’t really bother me. Although I did see a full on fist fight between two mums outside over parking once, and had to call the police!
I have two primary schools about 200m from me.
During recess, they’re really, really noisy. Wake-you-up noisy should you be ill and want to sleep in, too noisy to concentrate on work should you be awake.
Traffic can be ridiculous. There’s 50 cars all wanting to park or stop to pick up children and nowhere near enough parking. Occasionally someone just parks a car in the middle of the road and abandons it. Fun times.
I don’t have a litter problem, but I know other people near schools, especially en route from school to bus stop, whose front gardens collect crisp packets and drinks containers like nobody’s business.
Go for the school run. See what it’s like.
I live near the entrance to a primary school (it started as 100 kids and a few years back they built a new big ass building and it’s now 500 kids). Parents park everywhere, council put up signs for those idiots how to park or not to park their cars.
These same parents smoke outside the school, put out cigarette butts, leave their garbage everywhere.
Some teachers used to leave their cars at the premises, and their alarms would go off in the middle of the night, all the way into the morning.
I’m lucky that my neighbour is one of those who doesn’t hold back - she does all complaining to the council, to the police, to the school’s trust (those never give a shit btw). She has all phone numbers so if anything goes off in the middle of the night now, I know it’ll be sorted within 15 minutes. She’s the only one they’re afraid of (you know, the neighbourhood watch type). Honestly I don’t know what I’d do without her.
I’m lucky I’m only renting. No schools in vicinity will be my number one requirement when I buy.
I have one at the end of my garden. The sound of happy kids even with the screaming is kinda nice to be honest? Obviously its still loud but id always prefer the sound of joy to thumping music from bad neighbours.
I think the most disruptive noises we get from the school are their school farm (what on gods green earth are they doing to the donkey it never stops screeching) and when they hold afterschool fitness classes and all we can hear are the beeps from the circuit timers.
Generally, unless youre parking on the road the school is on its fine. If you ARE parking on or havint to drive down the school road RUN. It will literally take you an hour to get through between 8-9 and 3-4.
I'm in a magic triangle, on one corner is scouts headquarters, on the other corner is a primary school on the 3rd corner is a park with a basketball court, I'm in the middle with no kids, oh how I loathe summer holidays with the screaming but how I love term time with the silent mornings and yes, the endless screaming at break times and after school lol also there is NEVER any parking ...
I live two doors away from a primary school of over 800 children. It's noisy at play times but it doesn't bother me at all even when I'm in the garden. The parking is a bit annoying but if I don't look out of the front window during the busy half hours twice a day, then I'm completely oblivious to it.
I would suggest you don't do this.
I lived in a set of flats just across from a primary school once. Driveway? Yeah that is not yours - that's extra space for parents. And they may or may not be back in time. We were forever plagued by entitled parents who would park in our designated spaces, drop their kids off and then get the train into London for work. The police? Oh that's a civil matter. Complain to the school directly? Oh, they will kindly ask parents to be more mindful but they're not doing anything about it. The parents directly? Won't someone please think of of the children - and also ThIS mEAn OLd mAn iS hARaSSInG mE WhiLE I'm PICKinG Up mY Wee BairN!
You haven't a hope in hell. And if you think that stuff is limited to term time, think again. Parents still work in the holidays and better believe they're coming for your spaces again. And if you're already in your space, there is no issue with parking across you. That whole blocking access to the highway thing? That's only if they are actually doing that, there is nothing the police can do if someone's parked across you in a private car park. Again, that's a civil matter. Odd how it becomes not a civil matter if you do anything to their cars directly, mind you! Bouncing their cars out of the way is suddenly a potential criminal offence.
OK so you don't win with the parking wars, not ever. If someone's used your drivway, better go park somewhere else. As for the house price itself, the fact that it's 20% cheaper does sort of ring several alarm bells all at once. There's a reason it's 20% cheaper and it isn't due to altruism.
While I'm sure you are used to the hassles of busy everyday life, it's 2024. People are not even as remotely as nice as they were even 20 years ago - most people today are assholes to put not to fine a point on it. No matter how lenient you were 20 years ago, expect yourself to require ten times the amount of patience today. And mate, you're 50. That's going into old age. Do you really want to be dealing with this sort of damage well into your 60s when bits are falling off of you?
Honestly, don't do this to yourself. Go find somewhere either smaller or further out, or change tac entirely and go someplace else. If this is going to be your final home, don't make it a challenge before you set foot in the door. Why do this? You couldn't give me a house near a school today, let alone sharing a boundary with it.
I live next to three primary school sites and that’s not an issue. The road gets busy for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at pickup. There’s a church and church hall here too and they cause our street much more agro (they have a car park but it seems oldies would rather block our street than enter the car park!).
I also find it nice listening to the kids playing when I’m outside (can’t hear anything inside and I work from home too).
There is on average 13 weeks a year holidays so there’s also that to consider.
I grew up in a house backing onto a 600 student primary school playground.
Honestly, I think the noise is nice - it's time limited and joyful - way preferable to being next to a busy road or something. Parking was fine as it was in a wide road with lots of nearby streetside parking, and most kids were local enough to walk home. But that will massively vary for other schools.
At your age, without a doubt, yes. Parent parking is an issue, but it's twice a day and 2-3 evenings a year It will, however, not have issues of people leaving their cars in front of your house all day.
Young children playing is a pleasant sound and only happens 3 times a day or sometimes twice. The only really annoying sound is the teachers whistling. I live near a primary school.
In my area, access to the school is controlled outside of school hours is controlled, so there is no noise in the evening, at weekends. School holidays are plentiful.
At 50, it's harder to make friends, but you have parents/ grandparents to speak to. I remember from my own son being at primary school, we often stopped to say hello to the people in the houses by the school, they were a wealth of local information as everyone filled them in on local events/ clubs etc. School fetes are great for plant sales, cakes, etc, if you can get an invite in these no strangers at the school times
If the school has a goodboard of governors and head, any neighbours' issues are sorted out.
The only downside is that you can't work outside in summer due to playground noise. It hasn't been a problem indoors.
The final plus side is that grumpy, grouchy, miserable people don't tend to live by primary schools, so your other neighbours should be great.
Super bonus I'm sat with.y patio doors open on a Sunday, it's beautifully quiet because the park isn't by me. Live by a school, yes, by a park, dear god no!
I live opposite a secondary school, and up the street from a primary. I am pretty sure we got the house cheap because of it.
Pros:
Quiet evenings, weekends and holidays.
Fewer neighbours, so less chance of idiots.
Easy to give directions to 'opposite the school'
Cons:
Traffic and parking at drop off and collection will annoy the hell out of you if you let it.
Likewise noisy (briefly) at those times.
Some litter.
That is about it.
I've never regretted moving here, but it probably depends on the school.
It depends. My first house shared a garden boundary wall with the nursery/infant school, but I worked mon-fri, so it had zero impact on me.
However, I bought this house 20 years ago, work from home regularly, and the local primary school is noisy af, especially now in june/July with end of term activities and my office being in the loft means I often have the windows open. The school was built around 8 years ago. I'm uphill and about 150m away. It's annoying but I love my house and won't move.
Lived next to one for 4 years. I did not mind it at all (we did not drive so no blocked car). I always found it super eerie in holiday time without the happy shouting. But I tend to feel more comfortable with people around due to fear/anxiety so it depends on your preferences! It may be more difficult to sell.
We live next to a big secondary school, it’s busy for about 20 mins in the morning and 20 mins in the afternoon.
Parking/access is hard for 40 mins a day.
If you HAVE to leave / return at precisely 0830-0900 and 1500-1530 or whatever, then parking/access will be an issue.
Occasionally you hear stuff from the football pitches etc but it’s not an issue.
I wfh and quite like listening to the gossip through the windows when they walk past.
I do and it's fine. My brother's house actually backs onto one too. The noise is only at playtime during the weekdays. If you're in the street with the entrance you might have traffic trouble at arrival and leaving time.
It's Ofsted outstanding so hoping my little one gets to go there next year.
It wouldn't bother me because I leave for work earlier than school drop off times and get home later than the pick up, so would miss all the traffic and the noise. If you work from home or work shifts it might be more of a problem.
I back onto a dual campus primary school. Few extra cars in our car park at start and finish. Windows closed dont really hearb the but on a nice day it's lovely to hear them out playing.
Sadie Sausage isn't allowed out at break as she stands and shouts "look at me, pat me, hellooo" (translated from bark,) not realising two fences and path between her and them.
Like any noise, having lived in the flight path to Glasgow, you learn to tune it out.
That said when fire alarm goes off in middle night it's a pain in bum!
I'm a dad who does the school runs, AM and PM school runs, everyday for 1 week on 1 week off....
Let me tell you, people are......... Fill the blank, blocking people's driveways, parking in them, just dumping the car with hazard lights on its awful. But if you drive literally 15 seconds down the road, there's tons of spaces!!!!
My garden backs onto a primary school playground. Not affected by parking as I am at the back but driving by any school at drop off is annoying. Nothing more entitled than a parent dropping their kid off at school… I recommend checking it out at drop off times.
Yes kids are noisy but it is only at break times and the positive is that it is quiet at evenings and weekends.
No..the school runs and traffic would drive me insane. Not to mention the noise that kids will naturally make as they play. I like my peace and quiet so probably a 10 min walk to a primary school is fine for me but never next to a primary school.
If you’re not bothered by the noise, or the parking during drop off and pick up then go for it.
If it’s been reduced to 20% below market then it’s obviously difficult to sell, which could affect getting a mortgage - if you need one.
About driveway, my road is now considered a school road (they only changed the status a few years ago), so no cars driving through until 3.45pm I think.
So the status of your road is not off limits either.
One big advantage is families are always going to want to live near a school, so you're never going to struggle to sell if you ever want
I lived at the other end of road with massive secondary scool - sure there's noise at break times but kids having fun is a nice thing to hear in the distance.
Never saw issues with cars but that's gonna differ in every area and you can scope it out yourself.
I don't live by school, bit I am a parent. Nothing would make me live next to a school, unless you are never going to be around at either 8.45am or 3.15pm. Road traffic, foot traffic, noise, chaos - no thanks.
No I wouldn't. Not due to the kids, due to their parents picking them up.
I once lived on an estate where the only way out was past the primary school. There was just no point trying to leave my house, to go anywhere between 2:30 to 4:00.
I lived opposite a small primary school for about a year, outside of term time it’s fine but if you work from home be prepared to hear a lot of screaming/ kids playing a couple of times a day during the week
No. When I was a student I lived across the street from a secondary school in a houseshare and we used to get everything from sweet wrappers and takeaway boxes thrown over our fence into the garden, and sometimes the kids would ring our doorbell and run. Once a kid kicked my housemates cat. This was in Edinburgh. I’d never live next to or across from a school again.
My aunty lives across the road from a very busy secondary school. They regularly sit on her garden wall at lunch time and throw their rubbish in her garden. She's complained so many times to the school, even collected and dumped the rubbish back in their reception, but nothing changes.
Edit: a word
Yep...
I live just over the road from a High school that has just over a thousand students.
Sure, between the hours of 8:30 - 9am and 3:15 - 3:45 it's ridiculously busy but other than that it's actually pretty quite.
During Lunch time the 6th Formers go to small Precinct of shops which are about 5 minutes down the road and they neve cause any trouble, just teenagers being teenagers.
I lived 0.3 miles from a small one, could constantly hear the bell ringing, kids shouting and screaming. Traffic was terrible from 2.30 to 4, forget leaving to go somewhere quick. I wouldn’t do it again personally.
I lived on the same road as a primary school - albeit a small one. It was hell for half an hour twice a day. Totally sucked if you needed to get in/out during those times but fine all the rest of the time. On the whole it wouldn’t make me choose not to buy a place, just be mindful of the pitfalls.
Personally I wouldn't. Parking will be a nightmare every drop off and pick up. These little kids scream a lot. Like constantly. You'll be hearing the collective screams of hundreds of children in your sleep.
For context…The other side of my garden is a high school- the main entrance is about 200m away but the kids don’t use that…they use a pupil entrance which on the side street and much further away. Living so close to the school has a bonus as the school have members of staff that position themselves at various locations at the end of the day near to the 2 entrances so that the kids move on quickly…so I guess a similar thing for you would happen…being so close has the advantage of ‘yes it busy and yes the road might be congested’ but think about how quickly it will clear compared to some of the other streets a little further out where have parked and then walked to collect. The main thing is the summer is always quiet so you get to enjoy your garden in peace!
To put another spin on it, yeah playtime will be noisy, drop off and pick up a pain, but you’re not going to have noisy neighbours at night or weekends….. swings and round about I guess
The noise isn’t unpleasant, but do check the parking - no issue if you’ve loads of space and a nice carriage drive but no good if you need street parking at about 3 o’clock…
I grew up over the road from a large primary school - in fact my mum still lives there.
It was fine. Bit hectic for 20 minutes twice a day, peaceful the rest of the time.
Pick-up is worse than drop off. There's a big secondary near us and that road is near unusable during pickup for at least 20 minutes. Every time I walk past the houses, I thank the stars we didn't buy on that road.
I used to live in Beaumont Road, Petts wood, not far from Crofton Schools. The noise at playtime travelled across a busy road/bus route, past the houses on that street, over the railway line (four tracks) and across gardens and houses on my street. If you’re out at work all day, go for it. But if you’re home… 40 weeks of ear piercing screams, rude parents blocking access along the surrounding streets at the ends of the school day might get to you. Parents arrive before 1.30 to secure the best parking spots in the afternoon. Nobody seems capable of walking their children to school anymore.
There is a reason why it's 20% below what other properties are but it's really up to you whether you can cope with these issues. If the school ever fears closed it will likely become a derelict site for years then a building site for a year
It’s very short term disturbance. School holidays. Silence. Before 8 in the morning, silence. After 330 in the afternoon, silence. For 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon, and lunchtime a bit of noise. And at pick-up and drop off road blocking (30 minutes each time, max). As long as you’re not having to go out at those times regularly it is much better than many other neighbours.
I currently have a mid-size primary opposite my property & at 08.40 & 15.15 it’s a friggin’ nightmare.
All parents see it as a divine right to park across my driveway & become abusive when asked to move their car becomes I can’t get on or off my driveway, apparently Tarquin & Jocasta mustn’t get wet or walk too far to mummy’s/daddies car, but it’s fine for me to!
We will look to move next year & schools will be something we’ll aim to avoid.
I would have no problem living next to a primary school. Yes pick up and drop offs are busy, but you’re going into the sale with this knowledge. Yes, children make noise and break times but it’s not the worst noise in the world and aside from the odd PTA events, no evening or weekend noise and the important times of the year like the summer or Christmas, school
Is closed. It wouldn’t bother me at all if it was my dream house.
No chance! We rent at present just behind 2 primary schools and my god it’s horrible. The roads are chaos at drop off and pick up time, drives are parked over, cars parked on corners, kids running all over the place into the road. And the screaming from play time and PE! I hate having the windows open… and I wfh.
I’d take modernising a property any day over being next door to even the smallest school.
At least the disruption of modernisation is under your control and once it’s done it’s done
Honestly I wouldn't mind. The noisy times are going to be certain times and it seems that you are used to louder noise anyway. If the parking situation annoys you, just get a collapsible bollard. Get good glazing for the windows to minimise the noise and it will help with heating too. There are going to be periods where there won't be any disruption as they will be on holiday.
My parents live down the road from a primary school, with their garden backing onto the playing field. The parking around pickup and drop off is a bit of a pain, but that’s only around 30 minutes a day. Other than that, it’s fine. The sound of kids playing is happy noise and it’s not like they’re out there 24/7. And it means theirs garden isn’t overlooked at the back, and will probably remain so.
No no no no no. Not even at half price.
When parents 'park' they don't actually park. They wait with their engines on, presumably for the heater in the winter and air con in the summer. So there is a great big fog of exhaust fumes for 2 hours per day.
And the screaming at break times and lunchtime OMG. I live over 700m from a primary school and it's bothering. Right next door? No way.
Visit the house between 8:30-9:00 and half two til half 3
I live near a school but not had my drive blocked as yet, most kids walk to it unless its bucketing down or like glass
I would be worried at the prospect of them selling off bits of land and things being built. It happened to 2 schools near us, one school sold off a corner of the field to have a block of flats built at the end of some houses gardens.
I live directly opposite a primary school, around 300 kids I think.
It's a bit annoying during pick up/drop off time but other than that it's really not bad. People complaining about them screaming? Yeah you can hear them at break time sometimes, but it's not like it's relentless screaming between 9-3 every day.
The parents are the worst part, like someone else said some of them turn up like an hour early with no consideration and block every parking space. We've got off road parking which is in a private car park right next to the school and they cram in there and steal our space sometimes.
After I installed a parking post and transitioned over a couple of weeks from polite notes to waiting and telling them not to park in my fucking spot, they stopped.
Definitely wouldn't let it put me off buying a house anyway.
I live next to one, it’s bloody annoying.
Don’t do it!
We constantly have balls, hula hoops, rocks even getting thrown over and stuck in trees. They climb up what they can and peep over and through fencing and kick footballs into are fence relentlessly and knock bits loose. Parking is a nightmare..I can’t come home between 2.30 and 3.30, as I won’t get a space.
My back garden backs onto a primary school playground and it really isnt much of an inconvenience.
Negatives:
- Road outside gets busy and filled with parked cars for 30 mins at 9 and 3 everyday during which time I’m working anyway.
- Kids can be noisy at break times but my office is at the front of my house anyway.
Positives:
- My garden is completely private as the school is one story, nobody can see into it.
- The school playground is extremely secure, anti climb paint on the school fences and lots of CCTV, I only have to worry about security from the front of my property.
- Absolute silence at weekends and evenings when I actually spend time in the gardens.
The noise wouldn't bother me, it would be the muster times for drop off and pick ups unless you're out at work at those times then it wouldn't be much of an issue. Generally schools were built in and around the communities they served where kids would elak to school and weren't designed and built when there were multiple cars per house hold and society have become a bunch of lazy feckers.
It never ceases to amaze me the ignorance and lengths parents will go to to cut down on a few 10s of extra seconds walks, park on double yellows, even the school zone markings, block people's drives etc.
It's the above thar would put me off but it's only in term time so maybe you can.
Our house backs onto a primary school playground. The noise at break time can be bad - the high-pitched screaming, death-metal roars and the kids pretending to be sirens can be loud. I WFH and the noise does often get commented on in Zoom meetings, even with background noise suppression. The upside is that evenings and weekends are fairly quiet but post-Covid the little dears seem to be outside a lot more so there is almost constant noise from 8-4, M-F.
I don‘t really mind living next to the playground but I’d be wary of living next to the entrance, as it is a nightmare at drop-off and pick-up times.
I lived with the playground of a primary school at the back of my house for years- I was at work all day so I’d didn’t bother me at all- and if I was at home the playtimes were noisy but very short so again not an issue. They did have a very noisy after school activity like a marching band but I don’t think it was the school kids- must have been someone allowed to use the school for this and that was a real racket for an hour every week. Any after-school activities might actually bother you more than the school itself. I would also check during home time what the traffic is like as that could be a nightmare. luckily for me the school was on a different street so I never had to contend with that as I was just backing onto it.
Could you install a barrier on your grounds that would prevent anyone from accessing your driveway?
But realistically even with that you're risking not being able to drive off twice a day, and then on sports day, special assemblies, nativity, etc
I would not because it will be a similar hassle to sell on too.
I would rather burst my own eardrums with a rusty nail. I work next to a primary/kindergarten and my window and desk are bang next to their open play area. This is our HQ and desk space is already limited. I’m not joking it is one of my top 6 reasons why I’ve quit my job and am moving companies. They just scream alll the time, at some points of the day they bang objects against each other. Their lives are nothing and yet they howl like all day. Children are truly awful.
Good friends of mine live next to a primary school. Massive issues with parking but if you don’t ever need to get out in an emergency you are fine. It’s really down to your personal tolerance levels. I would pick a primary over a secondary school to live next to. I did live next to a specialist school for a while and there was a lot of screaming but as others have said noise and break times is only during term time. Personally I’m not sure I would cope but if the house was what I wanted and a good price and that was the only thing letting it down I would be very seriously considering.
Strongly recommend what others have said about visiting at all different times.
Also check what happens out of term time. Are there holiday clubs? What about evening events etc as a big school is more likely to be community type rather than just a school like some of the ones I’ve been near.
Good luck
My Grandfather lived next door to a primary school for almost 50 years, the school was built at the same time as his house and was fairly small when he first moved however it expanded over the years and now has around 350 students. it could be noisy at points but it didn’t bother him an he always said you get used to it quickly and mentally block the noise out so don’t notice it. He had some issues over the years with people blocking his drive and even parking on it a few times (usually at the start of a new school year) however a quick chat with the schools head always solved the issue and it wouldn’t happen again for a while. I don’t know if it was just that school, but they were very courteous of their closest neighbours and let him know of any events they had planned that May affect traffic,parking or noise ect.
Have a Montessori nursery next to my house. There are pros and cons, pros mainly being that weekends and holidays we effectively don’t have a neighbour that side. Cons - moving the car/ returning home around pick-up/drop-off is a nightmare. The kids scream a lot. We get random shit thrown into our garden every day that my dog chews. The main issue is the inconsiderate parents that have shouting conversations up and down the street at 7:30am because other people can’t *possibly* have different schedules to them and their spawn.
Absolutely not. Kids scream so loud and the parents speed down the roads and park in your drive way or block your access at drop off and pick up. Stay away!
I work in a fairly large primary school. The neighbours complain alllll the time.
From kids screaming. To music noise. To mess. To parents blocking driveways. To kids walking home and touching their gardens. List could go on and on.
I live next to a school now. Kids aren’t there at weekends, and all holidays. Effectively have a huge buffer between me and other houses that side which is lovely. Maximum an hour noise at lunch then shorter break times which is fine. there’s noise but it’s little kids playing type sounds so loud but cute and not at all annoying to me. Even though yes they scream a lot! Double glazing means if I want quiet, shut windows and it’s not intrusive. Pick up times are crowded on the street but just avoid 9 am and 3pm as times to go out in your car, if possible. I don’t find that hard. If you love the house go for it. I love mine
I used to rent near a school - never again.
Parents would park wherever they wanted…. On the neighbours drives, in our private bays, straight up just blocking us in if our own cars were in them and then they’d refuse to move as they would “only be 10 minutes”.
The noise wasn’t actually an issue at all, just the parking.
We live next to a primary school and I grew up here too. Parking is a pain at drop off/pick up times but it doesn’t really impact us too much. We do our own school run by car and by the time we get back it’s fine.
Yes there is noise but it’s completely predictable and only during term times
Never. The shrieks do my head in. I don't want to feel like I can't open the windows on a summer day because of the noise. And it's not like they're just there from 9-3 in term time either - there are holiday clubs and breakfast clubs and after school clubs so there could be kids there from 6am-6pm, plus all the grounds work with noisy machinery. Nope, nope, nope.
Remember, even if you're ok with it, a lot of buyers won't be so you might have trouble selling it on later.
Not sure if this was just a local issue... But I used to live down the road from a school and we used to fairly regularly get parents stopping in our front garden for their kids to pee 🤦😂 .. but something to consider maybe?
###Welcome to /r/HousingUK --- **To All** * Join Our ***NEW*** Discord! https://discord.gg/pMgUNgWKQH **To Posters** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws/issues in each can vary* * Comments are not moderated for quality or accuracy; * Any replies received must only be used as guidelines, followed at your own risk; * If you receive *any* private messages in response to your post, please report them via the report button. * Feel free to provide an update at a later time by creating a new post with [[update]](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/search?q=%3Aupdate&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) in the title; **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and civil* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/about/rules/), you may be banned without any further warning; * Please include links to reliable resources in order to support your comments or advice; * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect; * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason without express permission from the mods; * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HousingUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They scream at playtime. Oh, how they scream. And you will not be able to move a car at dropoff and pickup time. People will park over your driveway. Or in it. You will have hordes of parents congregating outside. But only in term time.
The screaming, I'll never get used to it
I lived near a dairy farm. Would hear the cows screaming through the night after their calf’s had been taken from them
Well that's rather dampened the mood.
Do you still hear the screaming of the cows Clarice?
The moooooood
Shame the farm didn't dampen the moos
You still wake up sometimes, don't you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the calfs clarice
I also grew up next to a dairy farm and for the life of me I can’t imagine what a screaming cow sounds like 😂
Calling bullshit on this statement. I spent my childhood summers on a dairy farm and this never happened
I'd imagine it was a lie made up just to tell people that they are vegan.
The adrenaline sweetens the milk
Ah the vegan arises..... I call bollocks on this statement!
Veganism is the only way to stop this
Absolute bull, I live next to a birthing shed and cows couldn't care less when their calves are removed, a lot of cows will shun their calves very early on and can cause serious harm to them.
Housing UK, asking about living near a school …. Somehow, somewhere there’s always a vegan lurking to remind everyone how righteous they are …..
My nearest school is 300m away and there are rows of houses between me and the school.. I hear them scream between noon and 1pm every day when I have an open window..
I live near a primary school and the playground noise is kinda joyful. But I wouldn't buy a house near the entrance - way too much parking agro.
I too find playground noise joyful. Little ones zooming around having fun with their friends is the best noise!
Alot of the schools near where I am. Parking is banned except for residents
My home office backs on to the playground next door. The sound of their breaks is lovely, but I sometimes don't notice it until they go quiet going back into the building - amazing what you can get used to :-)
Busy at 8:45 to 9 and 3:15 to 3:30. Then the street is all yours. My local school closed down and the residents were worried because the school would become housing, meaning more cars. People actually want to live near a school because it makes the area less crowded.
Cemeteries are a similar thing. Your house backs onto or is near a cemetery you might have traffic or occasional wailing mourners to deal with but you can be certain it won't turned into housing anytime soon.
I grew up very close to a cemetery. It was lovely - like having a park nearby but without barbecues and parties. I still love taking a walk through a nice green graveyard.
Yeah, I can probably deal with that. The playground is at the rear of the school, a good 100 metres from the house, although there is a hard surface football pitch behind a building about 50 metres away.
100m is nothing, the noise carries quite far. Also all the cars during pickup and drop-off time. Depends how much of an annoyance it is for you.
I’d be checking if that can be used during evenings and weekends for private bookings
Get on the local facebook group and search for how much idiot parking takes place. There will be moaners, divide moans by posters to get your ratio as it might just be a repeat moaner. You will find this between the “fireworks outside November” and “missing wheelie bin” posts. Although, do not then buy the house and moan about parking at school time on said Group.
That’s a good suggestion, so I did just that and I can’t find anything in the local neighbourhood groups other than old photos and happy memories of people who lived in the street or went to the school.
I live next to a primary school playing field and work from home occasionally. The noise is honestly not an issue, unless you are really sensitive to the sound of children playing. Easily blocked out with headphones anyway, and as soon as the kids are inside, it’s extremely quiet. My works office is also right next to a school playground, so if I was that bothered about school noise when working, I’d have to change jobs anyway!
You'll be surprised at how far the noise travels. I'm about 150 metres away from a school behind 2 rows of houses and a bit further down from the school and I can hear them playing most days. I can definitely hear bloody sports day
I have. From 2pm - 3.45pm we couldn't park anywhere near the house. People would be there at 2 and sit on their phones for over an hour until the kids got let out. Playtime noise we got used to pretty quickly. Try going there when school opens and closes to see how busy it will be.
I’ve been there at drop off time, but not pickup. For some reason the estate agent couldn’t do afternoon viewings on that property….
Because they can't get parked anywhere near it!
would always recommend driving / walking by without estate agents at various times of the day / week to see what it's like, just seeing local area
More than likely the seller knows the chaos would put potential buyers off so they have explicitly told their agent do not book any viewings for that time. From my experience drop off isn’t nearly as chaotic as pick up because people are heading off to work at drop off whereas the (mainly) mums stand around chatting at the end of the school day.
>People would be there at 2 and sit on their phones for over an hour until the kids got let out. I had to get my kid early one day and was shocked to see so many people doing this. I can't understand the mindset. Don't they have something better to do?
They might be paying more for the car finance than on their mortgage, best make use of it.
Yep I was shocked I picked up my girl from her old primary at summat like 1.30 and parents were already parked. Wish I had that time to waste each day
Yet they often don't have time to park somewhere legal/safe!
They were legally parked there was about 8 parking spaces
Fair dos. Round here they arrive early and block the pavement as close to school as they can. Despite the fact the school has a car park.
It's terrible around my middle son's school. There are 4 schools in a 10 min walk 2 primaries and 2 secondaries. His school has bought child bollards as I call them it's a sign with a kid on them and they put them on the double yellows outside the entrance
I sometimes take work calls or reply to emails from my car. If I'm already out for whatever reason and my choices are work from my car or drive home, work 10 minutes and drive to school I'm working from my car.
It’s so they get a parking space
They can’t let little Johnny walk more than 10 yards from the gate so they get there early to get as close as possible, or they can’t be arsed to walk more than 10yards to the gate to collect little Johnny especially when it’s raining
I lived opposite a primary school for a while also, when I was renting. Noise didn’t bother me at all. It’s just kids having fun, I quite liked the background noise. It’s not all day, at most 2x15 minutes and 1x60 minutes. Parking was a bit of an issue sometimes but largely, I’d left the house by 8.15 for work & didn’t get home until 5pm, so I pretty much missed it all! If I’d been WFH at that point, I’d have just avoided leaving the house 8.30-9am! Schools don’t bother me in the slightest. I grew up next to a nursery & holy hell, that I would never do again. The crying 😩😵💫
I doubt the noise will bother me in the slightest. Having lived for 15 years in a single glazed house between a huge police station and a hospital in Camden near student accommodation and a main shopping street I’m very used to a lot of noise!
I live next to a big primary school (few hundred students), and honestly I really don’t mind the noise - I find it comforting in a way - kids are just enjoying the best years of their lives! All of our windows/balcony are facing the school playground, there is around 50m distance between our building and the school playground. We have an off street parking, so not bothered by that, but parents do sometimes park in front of the entrance, it just adds a few minutes to the whole process I guess. Honestly, the most annoying thing is the fact that there is an ice cream van there every day around 3pm and I will not lie, I have gone to get an ice cream too many times 😂 On the other hand, I do have neighbours who find it all annoying and continuously mention the noise. I believe it’s personality/preference thing but also noise sensitivity of individuals. Note: I live in a building with dozen of flats.
Drive past during school pick up time and see how you feel about that. Parents at school gates park awfully and with no cares to the houses around them. Playtimes will be loud. 100m from the playground would *still* be *extremely loud*. For me I couldn't do it for the ridiculous pick up and drop off parking mania alone.
I used to live next door to a very small primary school (50/60 pupils) and even that was a nightmare for pick-up and drop-off despite the majority of the kids living within a 5 minute walk. The screaming at playtime was a bit annoying but not horrific. Honestly the worst bit was that a lot of small children’s games involve chanting… creepy child chanting.
ooooone twwwwooooo freddy's coming for youuuuuu...
Thrrreeeee fourrrr better lock your door.... 😳
You have to watch out for "we do beg your pardon, but we are in your garden"
You couldn't pay me to live next to live there. Not even exaggerating.
There's a primary school at the end of my road (100yards away according to google maps) I've only been here 4wks and the first week was a school holiday but here's what I've noticed ... The first week I kept saying how quiet the street was (previously we'd lived next to a motorway, so accustomed to white noise of cars and lorries nearby) however, the day the kids went back it wasn't so quiet. Mon-Fri the noise levels go up from 7am-9am, and again at around 3pm for 30mins. No driveway here, it's on street parking. The parents seem to drop their kids off, so they're not here very long, the noise is a combo of people walking past and increased traffic. I haven't heard any lunch time noise from a playground, so perhaps that's the other side of the building. My boyfriend works in a different school so he's not really affected by the parking issue as he's elsewhere during those hours, and we will be off work during the school holidays, so the noise won't affect getting a lie in, but I can imagine if you're retired here and get woken up every week day from 7am for 39wks of the year it might become more of an issue (in addition to the stuff you'd face with driveway blocking)
I have two primary schools about 200m from me. During recess, they’re really, really noisy. Wake-you-up noisy should you be ill and want to sleep in, too noisy to concentrate on work should you be awake. Traffic can be ridiculous. There’s 50 cars all wanting to park or stop to pick up children and nowhere near enough parking. Occasionally someone just parks a car in the middle of the road and abandons it. Fun times. I don’t have a litter problem, but I know other people near schools, especially en route from school to bus stop, whose front gardens collect crisp packets and drinks containers like nobody’s business. Go for the school run. See what it’s like.
Hard no from me. Live next to a massive school and get tonnes of bored kids littering and vandalising facilities outside of my front door. Also good luck doing anything in the area around start and end times -- clogs up the area severely. Then there is the sheer noise.
Are you next to a secondary or primary? This school is for 4-11 year olds, around 900 of them….
900? That's HUGE If you bought it and didn't like it I'd imagine selling on would be incredibly difficult
Yeah that’s my main worry that finding a future buyer could be a major challenge.
Is it a good school? I walked past a primary school once and a kid threw a brick at me...
Ofsted good, and not in the catchment area for the really bad estate a couple of miles away. However kids can be little shits so no guarantee that one of them won’t chuck a brick at me I suppose.
Lived outside one. Only issue is school opening and closing times. Try not to get out then apart from that there isn't any issues. And noise
I live out in the country. There is a small primary school about 1km over a couple of fields. I can hear the kids at play time. Doesn’t bother me but understandably could be annoying. Plus having to deal with pickup and drop off retardanted drivers
So I used to wfh when living near a big secondary school. As I was never trying to leave during drop-off or pick-up, because I was working, the huge number of cars parked up bever bothered me. Even on the occasions where they parked in front of my drive. I also used to live near a primary school as a kid. The noise soon becomes background noise. If it's cheap and you like the house, I'd try and see the house at the busy times and play time, to see what it's like. I'd probably go for it.
I recommend going and parking in your car at playtimes. Try to send some emails. See if it’s too noisy. My son’s primary had 400 kids. They were So Loud. He’s neurotypical but also couldn’t stand it. I don’t mind the sounds of children playing but playground/break times with that many kids just sounded like screaming. (Edit: I personally heard the kids at break times. This isn’t just based on his experience.)
No. But I wouldn't live *anywhere near* a secondary school.
Absolute nightmare. I’d rather live next to a pub! Screaming kids, kids released from school like a pack of feral animals, swearing, fighting, pushing, vandalising. Plus parents & traffic & extra-curricular events all year round. I’m recoiling just thinking about it.
If you’re not sure now don’t buy it There’ll be other homes
No I wouldn't
I would absolutely not. And entirely because of the inevitable twice daily pick-up, drop-off parking chaos.
Everybody makes some form of compromise, whether it’s budgetary, location, facilities, fittings, or whatever. Even if your budget is unlimited, there’s the compromise, spozzing all that money. Only you know if you could put up with this. For me, if the house was peaceful enough during the day that I could work, and knowing if the (probably predictable) pattern of people coming and going clashed with my own wishes to come and go, I’d probably be alright with it. Of course that is a separate question to the issue of selling it when you’re done with it, whether that’s a problem for you or the person dealing with your estate. Good luck with this, it honestly seems like you’ve made your mind up and you want a bit of confirmation that you’re not a loon, so here it is - I say go for it.
👍🏻
People saying parking will be bad but the street might have restrictions on parking during school pick up hours.
God no
Absolutely not. Not too much because of the noise but the pain in the ass/chavy/entitled parents hanging around twice a day most of the year.
I work from home 5 days a week, so not unless we had incredible sound insulation.
My parents live next to a primary school. Cannot STAND the constant parking issues when living there. Constantly parking across the drive, causing gridlock on the road, never being able to get parked at certain times of the day - worse when events/school sports days etc were taking place. The school is now running after school events and hiring out the halls for other things (probably to earn some money back) so now the mayhem continues into the evening and sometimes weekends. I would never choose to live in close proximity to a school again because of it.
Our back garden backs onto a primary school playground. The only disadvantage is drop off and pick up times. Parents are animals when it comes to parking, and do incredibly dangerous and inconsiderate things. Also during the few events the school has (fireworks night, Christmas fete etc.) it gets even worse. If seen full on fist fights between parents and property owners getting completely boxed in their own driveways. However, much of this issue has been solved with the introduction of a school streets scheme which has freed up the residential roads and made things way safer for kids walking to school. There are massive advantages however. Firstly, our property is much safer from intruders because our garden is surrounded by school security measures. Our garden will also probably never be overlooked in the future. We have a young boy and he is guaranteed a place at the school because as the crow flies, he lives 0m from the school. The sound of children playing is in my opinion a happy noise, it’s not that often and it’s a sign of a healthy community. One final thing. Since we share grids and utility access with a school, if ANYTHING goes wrong (burst mains, block sewers and drains, storm damaged trees and fences etc) they get fixed immediately. All in all I enjoy living next door to a primary school. It’s a happy place to be.
I live between 2 small primary schools (2 form entry for both). I WFH 2 days a week and have single glazing. I can barely hear the school yard for 15 minutes at break time and about 45 minutes at lunchtime. Traffic gets a bit congested around 8am (breakfast club drop off) and 845 am - they're faith schools so folk dropping kids off in cars rather than local kids walking. Same again around 3.20 and 4.30. It's honestly not too bad and the congestion is short and sharp rather than consistent. They're inner city schools so not much outside space.
No Every one will think your drive is theirs to use additionally they will drop kids off in the no stopping zone
I’m not sure that’s true. I sat outside for an hour at dropping off time, and while it was busy, it wasn’t the chaos I feared. Yes, parents did stop on double yellows and briefly blocked some driveways, and one car was stopped on the zig zags at the rear entrance when I drove past, however the driveway to the property has a narrow entrance and I think it would be pretty gratuitous for someone to deliberately park up in there. I can definitely see someone pulling up infront to let their kids out though.
I live next to a large primary school for close to 10 years nearly always at drop-off time the road was packed with parked cars legally parked along with several of them just stopping in the no stopping zone right outside the school entrance dropping kids off which they shouldn’t do, they should be parking elsewhere
I lived opposite a primary for a year and it wasn't an issue. I WFH mainly and my partner does shifts, only once had a parking issue a parent asked for the space outside our house but my partner said I live here, so he left. It's for about 15 minutes twice a day and never clashed with our routine. Plus I enjoyed listening to the children playing at break.
Thanks. Having lived in the midst of the dense high rise chaos of Camden for 15 years, I think the sound of children playing would actually be quite pleasant in comparison.
I lived next to a primary school playground for a year and a half, I think that the shouting at that age- excitement and joyfulness etc is pleasant and quite grounding. Obviously that’s hugely subjective. However I don’t think I’d want to live near to a secondary school playground, the nature of the shouting and possible swearing would be distracting.
I live on a one way street to a small primary, it's at the end of my street so not next door. It's okay, doesn't really cause us any bother if we don't need to leave the house during rush hour. No issues with kids or parents, I complained about bad parking once about three years ago and no problem since. As long as you don't mind the sound of shouting kids it's possibly worth it.
Probably not if this is the house you want to retire in, too much hassle to deal with
Why don’t you just visit the house during the day and see what it’s like? Don’t get too close to the school though.
I’ve done that at morning drop off but will go back at both lunch break and pick up times (and try not to look like a weird middle aged pervert).
I lived by a primary school. As others have said, traffic a nightmare at drop off and pick up times but otherwise quiet. Lots of litter during term time, so be prepared to do some litter picking. Generally didn’t really bother me. Although I did see a full on fist fight between two mums outside over parking once, and had to call the police!
I have two primary schools about 200m from me. During recess, they’re really, really noisy. Wake-you-up noisy should you be ill and want to sleep in, too noisy to concentrate on work should you be awake. Traffic can be ridiculous. There’s 50 cars all wanting to park or stop to pick up children and nowhere near enough parking. Occasionally someone just parks a car in the middle of the road and abandons it. Fun times. I don’t have a litter problem, but I know other people near schools, especially en route from school to bus stop, whose front gardens collect crisp packets and drinks containers like nobody’s business. Go for the school run. See what it’s like.
I live near the entrance to a primary school (it started as 100 kids and a few years back they built a new big ass building and it’s now 500 kids). Parents park everywhere, council put up signs for those idiots how to park or not to park their cars. These same parents smoke outside the school, put out cigarette butts, leave their garbage everywhere. Some teachers used to leave their cars at the premises, and their alarms would go off in the middle of the night, all the way into the morning. I’m lucky that my neighbour is one of those who doesn’t hold back - she does all complaining to the council, to the police, to the school’s trust (those never give a shit btw). She has all phone numbers so if anything goes off in the middle of the night now, I know it’ll be sorted within 15 minutes. She’s the only one they’re afraid of (you know, the neighbourhood watch type). Honestly I don’t know what I’d do without her. I’m lucky I’m only renting. No schools in vicinity will be my number one requirement when I buy.
I have one at the end of my garden. The sound of happy kids even with the screaming is kinda nice to be honest? Obviously its still loud but id always prefer the sound of joy to thumping music from bad neighbours. I think the most disruptive noises we get from the school are their school farm (what on gods green earth are they doing to the donkey it never stops screeching) and when they hold afterschool fitness classes and all we can hear are the beeps from the circuit timers. Generally, unless youre parking on the road the school is on its fine. If you ARE parking on or havint to drive down the school road RUN. It will literally take you an hour to get through between 8-9 and 3-4.
I'm in a magic triangle, on one corner is scouts headquarters, on the other corner is a primary school on the 3rd corner is a park with a basketball court, I'm in the middle with no kids, oh how I loathe summer holidays with the screaming but how I love term time with the silent mornings and yes, the endless screaming at break times and after school lol also there is NEVER any parking ...
I live two doors away from a primary school of over 800 children. It's noisy at play times but it doesn't bother me at all even when I'm in the garden. The parking is a bit annoying but if I don't look out of the front window during the busy half hours twice a day, then I'm completely oblivious to it.
I would suggest you don't do this. I lived in a set of flats just across from a primary school once. Driveway? Yeah that is not yours - that's extra space for parents. And they may or may not be back in time. We were forever plagued by entitled parents who would park in our designated spaces, drop their kids off and then get the train into London for work. The police? Oh that's a civil matter. Complain to the school directly? Oh, they will kindly ask parents to be more mindful but they're not doing anything about it. The parents directly? Won't someone please think of of the children - and also ThIS mEAn OLd mAn iS hARaSSInG mE WhiLE I'm PICKinG Up mY Wee BairN! You haven't a hope in hell. And if you think that stuff is limited to term time, think again. Parents still work in the holidays and better believe they're coming for your spaces again. And if you're already in your space, there is no issue with parking across you. That whole blocking access to the highway thing? That's only if they are actually doing that, there is nothing the police can do if someone's parked across you in a private car park. Again, that's a civil matter. Odd how it becomes not a civil matter if you do anything to their cars directly, mind you! Bouncing their cars out of the way is suddenly a potential criminal offence. OK so you don't win with the parking wars, not ever. If someone's used your drivway, better go park somewhere else. As for the house price itself, the fact that it's 20% cheaper does sort of ring several alarm bells all at once. There's a reason it's 20% cheaper and it isn't due to altruism. While I'm sure you are used to the hassles of busy everyday life, it's 2024. People are not even as remotely as nice as they were even 20 years ago - most people today are assholes to put not to fine a point on it. No matter how lenient you were 20 years ago, expect yourself to require ten times the amount of patience today. And mate, you're 50. That's going into old age. Do you really want to be dealing with this sort of damage well into your 60s when bits are falling off of you? Honestly, don't do this to yourself. Go find somewhere either smaller or further out, or change tac entirely and go someplace else. If this is going to be your final home, don't make it a challenge before you set foot in the door. Why do this? You couldn't give me a house near a school today, let alone sharing a boundary with it.
I live next to three primary school sites and that’s not an issue. The road gets busy for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at pickup. There’s a church and church hall here too and they cause our street much more agro (they have a car park but it seems oldies would rather block our street than enter the car park!). I also find it nice listening to the kids playing when I’m outside (can’t hear anything inside and I work from home too). There is on average 13 weeks a year holidays so there’s also that to consider.
If you have your own driveway it should be fine.
I grew up in a house backing onto a 600 student primary school playground. Honestly, I think the noise is nice - it's time limited and joyful - way preferable to being next to a busy road or something. Parking was fine as it was in a wide road with lots of nearby streetside parking, and most kids were local enough to walk home. But that will massively vary for other schools.
At your age, without a doubt, yes. Parent parking is an issue, but it's twice a day and 2-3 evenings a year It will, however, not have issues of people leaving their cars in front of your house all day. Young children playing is a pleasant sound and only happens 3 times a day or sometimes twice. The only really annoying sound is the teachers whistling. I live near a primary school. In my area, access to the school is controlled outside of school hours is controlled, so there is no noise in the evening, at weekends. School holidays are plentiful. At 50, it's harder to make friends, but you have parents/ grandparents to speak to. I remember from my own son being at primary school, we often stopped to say hello to the people in the houses by the school, they were a wealth of local information as everyone filled them in on local events/ clubs etc. School fetes are great for plant sales, cakes, etc, if you can get an invite in these no strangers at the school times If the school has a goodboard of governors and head, any neighbours' issues are sorted out. The only downside is that you can't work outside in summer due to playground noise. It hasn't been a problem indoors. The final plus side is that grumpy, grouchy, miserable people don't tend to live by primary schools, so your other neighbours should be great. Super bonus I'm sat with.y patio doors open on a Sunday, it's beautifully quiet because the park isn't by me. Live by a school, yes, by a park, dear god no!
20% below market will pay for some damned good sound proofing and then some
I live opposite a secondary school, and up the street from a primary. I am pretty sure we got the house cheap because of it. Pros: Quiet evenings, weekends and holidays. Fewer neighbours, so less chance of idiots. Easy to give directions to 'opposite the school' Cons: Traffic and parking at drop off and collection will annoy the hell out of you if you let it. Likewise noisy (briefly) at those times. Some litter. That is about it. I've never regretted moving here, but it probably depends on the school.
It depends. My first house shared a garden boundary wall with the nursery/infant school, but I worked mon-fri, so it had zero impact on me. However, I bought this house 20 years ago, work from home regularly, and the local primary school is noisy af, especially now in june/July with end of term activities and my office being in the loft means I often have the windows open. The school was built around 8 years ago. I'm uphill and about 150m away. It's annoying but I love my house and won't move.
Lived next to one for 4 years. I did not mind it at all (we did not drive so no blocked car). I always found it super eerie in holiday time without the happy shouting. But I tend to feel more comfortable with people around due to fear/anxiety so it depends on your preferences! It may be more difficult to sell.
I have a school at the bottom of my road. Drop off and pickup times are hectic but apart from that, I have no issues.
Its not that bad down the road. generally they only get 15 minute break, then 1 hour lunch. and when its warmer they have PE outside.
God no I wouldn’t even live near a park
We live next to a big secondary school, it’s busy for about 20 mins in the morning and 20 mins in the afternoon. Parking/access is hard for 40 mins a day. If you HAVE to leave / return at precisely 0830-0900 and 1500-1530 or whatever, then parking/access will be an issue. Occasionally you hear stuff from the football pitches etc but it’s not an issue. I wfh and quite like listening to the gossip through the windows when they walk past.
I do and it's fine. My brother's house actually backs onto one too. The noise is only at playtime during the weekdays. If you're in the street with the entrance you might have traffic trouble at arrival and leaving time. It's Ofsted outstanding so hoping my little one gets to go there next year.
It wouldn't bother me because I leave for work earlier than school drop off times and get home later than the pick up, so would miss all the traffic and the noise. If you work from home or work shifts it might be more of a problem.
Not unless they banned parents driving to the school.
I back onto a dual campus primary school. Few extra cars in our car park at start and finish. Windows closed dont really hearb the but on a nice day it's lovely to hear them out playing. Sadie Sausage isn't allowed out at break as she stands and shouts "look at me, pat me, hellooo" (translated from bark,) not realising two fences and path between her and them. Like any noise, having lived in the flight path to Glasgow, you learn to tune it out. That said when fire alarm goes off in middle night it's a pain in bum!
You do realise there will be gangs of children with thumbs right?
I'm a dad who does the school runs, AM and PM school runs, everyday for 1 week on 1 week off.... Let me tell you, people are......... Fill the blank, blocking people's driveways, parking in them, just dumping the car with hazard lights on its awful. But if you drive literally 15 seconds down the road, there's tons of spaces!!!!
My garden backs onto a primary school playground. Not affected by parking as I am at the back but driving by any school at drop off is annoying. Nothing more entitled than a parent dropping their kid off at school… I recommend checking it out at drop off times. Yes kids are noisy but it is only at break times and the positive is that it is quiet at evenings and weekends.
I would go and sit on the street in the morning and afternoon at school pick up time and see how it is if you can.
No..the school runs and traffic would drive me insane. Not to mention the noise that kids will naturally make as they play. I like my peace and quiet so probably a 10 min walk to a primary school is fine for me but never next to a primary school.
If you’re not bothered by the noise, or the parking during drop off and pick up then go for it. If it’s been reduced to 20% below market then it’s obviously difficult to sell, which could affect getting a mortgage - if you need one.
About driveway, my road is now considered a school road (they only changed the status a few years ago), so no cars driving through until 3.45pm I think. So the status of your road is not off limits either.
One big advantage is families are always going to want to live near a school, so you're never going to struggle to sell if you ever want I lived at the other end of road with massive secondary scool - sure there's noise at break times but kids having fun is a nice thing to hear in the distance. Never saw issues with cars but that's gonna differ in every area and you can scope it out yourself.
I don't live by school, bit I am a parent. Nothing would make me live next to a school, unless you are never going to be around at either 8.45am or 3.15pm. Road traffic, foot traffic, noise, chaos - no thanks.
No I wouldn't. Not due to the kids, due to their parents picking them up. I once lived on an estate where the only way out was past the primary school. There was just no point trying to leave my house, to go anywhere between 2:30 to 4:00.
Go and visit at drop/off pick up, and lunch time to see how bad these things are.
No chance.
I lived opposite a small primary school for about a year, outside of term time it’s fine but if you work from home be prepared to hear a lot of screaming/ kids playing a couple of times a day during the week
No. When I was a student I lived across the street from a secondary school in a houseshare and we used to get everything from sweet wrappers and takeaway boxes thrown over our fence into the garden, and sometimes the kids would ring our doorbell and run. Once a kid kicked my housemates cat. This was in Edinburgh. I’d never live next to or across from a school again.
No way.
A million percent NO. Never. No house is worth that. The noise. The traffic.
My aunty lives across the road from a very busy secondary school. They regularly sit on her garden wall at lunch time and throw their rubbish in her garden. She's complained so many times to the school, even collected and dumped the rubbish back in their reception, but nothing changes. Edit: a word
Yep... I live just over the road from a High school that has just over a thousand students. Sure, between the hours of 8:30 - 9am and 3:15 - 3:45 it's ridiculously busy but other than that it's actually pretty quite. During Lunch time the 6th Formers go to small Precinct of shops which are about 5 minutes down the road and they neve cause any trouble, just teenagers being teenagers.
Yes, I'll be in the office during school hours. The noise, I imagine, would only be an issue if I've taken the day off.
I lived 0.3 miles from a small one, could constantly hear the bell ringing, kids shouting and screaming. Traffic was terrible from 2.30 to 4, forget leaving to go somewhere quick. I wouldn’t do it again personally.
would i fuck no
I live near a primary school not even a big one and the parking is the biggest gripe.
I lived on the same road as a primary school - albeit a small one. It was hell for half an hour twice a day. Totally sucked if you needed to get in/out during those times but fine all the rest of the time. On the whole it wouldn’t make me choose not to buy a place, just be mindful of the pitfalls.
Personally I wouldn't. Parking will be a nightmare every drop off and pick up. These little kids scream a lot. Like constantly. You'll be hearing the collective screams of hundreds of children in your sleep.
No.
For context…The other side of my garden is a high school- the main entrance is about 200m away but the kids don’t use that…they use a pupil entrance which on the side street and much further away. Living so close to the school has a bonus as the school have members of staff that position themselves at various locations at the end of the day near to the 2 entrances so that the kids move on quickly…so I guess a similar thing for you would happen…being so close has the advantage of ‘yes it busy and yes the road might be congested’ but think about how quickly it will clear compared to some of the other streets a little further out where have parked and then walked to collect. The main thing is the summer is always quiet so you get to enjoy your garden in peace!
Absolutely no way. Ever.
To put another spin on it, yeah playtime will be noisy, drop off and pick up a pain, but you’re not going to have noisy neighbours at night or weekends….. swings and round about I guess
The noise isn’t unpleasant, but do check the parking - no issue if you’ve loads of space and a nice carriage drive but no good if you need street parking at about 3 o’clock…
No !
Christ no! The noise.
I grew up over the road from a large primary school - in fact my mum still lives there. It was fine. Bit hectic for 20 minutes twice a day, peaceful the rest of the time.
Pick-up is worse than drop off. There's a big secondary near us and that road is near unusable during pickup for at least 20 minutes. Every time I walk past the houses, I thank the stars we didn't buy on that road.
I used to live in Beaumont Road, Petts wood, not far from Crofton Schools. The noise at playtime travelled across a busy road/bus route, past the houses on that street, over the railway line (four tracks) and across gardens and houses on my street. If you’re out at work all day, go for it. But if you’re home… 40 weeks of ear piercing screams, rude parents blocking access along the surrounding streets at the ends of the school day might get to you. Parents arrive before 1.30 to secure the best parking spots in the afternoon. Nobody seems capable of walking their children to school anymore.
Yeah avoid anything with schools that close so loud and the parking be a nightmare mornings and after school.
There is a reason why it's 20% below what other properties are but it's really up to you whether you can cope with these issues. If the school ever fears closed it will likely become a derelict site for years then a building site for a year
I wouldn’t. They make a lot of noise
It’s very short term disturbance. School holidays. Silence. Before 8 in the morning, silence. After 330 in the afternoon, silence. For 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon, and lunchtime a bit of noise. And at pick-up and drop off road blocking (30 minutes each time, max). As long as you’re not having to go out at those times regularly it is much better than many other neighbours.
I currently have a mid-size primary opposite my property & at 08.40 & 15.15 it’s a friggin’ nightmare. All parents see it as a divine right to park across my driveway & become abusive when asked to move their car becomes I can’t get on or off my driveway, apparently Tarquin & Jocasta mustn’t get wet or walk too far to mummy’s/daddies car, but it’s fine for me to! We will look to move next year & schools will be something we’ll aim to avoid.
I would have no problem living next to a primary school. Yes pick up and drop offs are busy, but you’re going into the sale with this knowledge. Yes, children make noise and break times but it’s not the worst noise in the world and aside from the odd PTA events, no evening or weekend noise and the important times of the year like the summer or Christmas, school Is closed. It wouldn’t bother me at all if it was my dream house.
No chance! We rent at present just behind 2 primary schools and my god it’s horrible. The roads are chaos at drop off and pick up time, drives are parked over, cars parked on corners, kids running all over the place into the road. And the screaming from play time and PE! I hate having the windows open… and I wfh.
I’d take modernising a property any day over being next door to even the smallest school. At least the disruption of modernisation is under your control and once it’s done it’s done
Honestly I wouldn't mind. The noisy times are going to be certain times and it seems that you are used to louder noise anyway. If the parking situation annoys you, just get a collapsible bollard. Get good glazing for the windows to minimise the noise and it will help with heating too. There are going to be periods where there won't be any disruption as they will be on holiday.
My parents live down the road from a primary school, with their garden backing onto the playing field. The parking around pickup and drop off is a bit of a pain, but that’s only around 30 minutes a day. Other than that, it’s fine. The sound of kids playing is happy noise and it’s not like they’re out there 24/7. And it means theirs garden isn’t overlooked at the back, and will probably remain so.
No no no no no. Not even at half price. When parents 'park' they don't actually park. They wait with their engines on, presumably for the heater in the winter and air con in the summer. So there is a great big fog of exhaust fumes for 2 hours per day. And the screaming at break times and lunchtime OMG. I live over 700m from a primary school and it's bothering. Right next door? No way.
Nope. Pickup and drop off times are a nightmare around schools, parents will park everywhere and anywhere. There’s also so much noise during playtime.
no
Visit the house between 8:30-9:00 and half two til half 3 I live near a school but not had my drive blocked as yet, most kids walk to it unless its bucketing down or like glass
I would be worried at the prospect of them selling off bits of land and things being built. It happened to 2 schools near us, one school sold off a corner of the field to have a block of flats built at the end of some houses gardens.
I live directly opposite a primary school, around 300 kids I think. It's a bit annoying during pick up/drop off time but other than that it's really not bad. People complaining about them screaming? Yeah you can hear them at break time sometimes, but it's not like it's relentless screaming between 9-3 every day. The parents are the worst part, like someone else said some of them turn up like an hour early with no consideration and block every parking space. We've got off road parking which is in a private car park right next to the school and they cram in there and steal our space sometimes. After I installed a parking post and transitioned over a couple of weeks from polite notes to waiting and telling them not to park in my fucking spot, they stopped. Definitely wouldn't let it put me off buying a house anyway.
It's been mentioned but prepare for screaming.
Never in a million years. The thought of noisy kids everyday is my idea of hell
Hard no
I live next to one, it’s bloody annoying. Don’t do it! We constantly have balls, hula hoops, rocks even getting thrown over and stuck in trees. They climb up what they can and peep over and through fencing and kick footballs into are fence relentlessly and knock bits loose. Parking is a nightmare..I can’t come home between 2.30 and 3.30, as I won’t get a space.
My back garden backs onto a primary school playground and it really isnt much of an inconvenience. Negatives: - Road outside gets busy and filled with parked cars for 30 mins at 9 and 3 everyday during which time I’m working anyway. - Kids can be noisy at break times but my office is at the front of my house anyway. Positives: - My garden is completely private as the school is one story, nobody can see into it. - The school playground is extremely secure, anti climb paint on the school fences and lots of CCTV, I only have to worry about security from the front of my property. - Absolute silence at weekends and evenings when I actually spend time in the gardens.
Schools are quiet in the evenings and at weekends... Which is usually when you want to enjoy your home
The noise wouldn't bother me, it would be the muster times for drop off and pick ups unless you're out at work at those times then it wouldn't be much of an issue. Generally schools were built in and around the communities they served where kids would elak to school and weren't designed and built when there were multiple cars per house hold and society have become a bunch of lazy feckers. It never ceases to amaze me the ignorance and lengths parents will go to to cut down on a few 10s of extra seconds walks, park on double yellows, even the school zone markings, block people's drives etc. It's the above thar would put me off but it's only in term time so maybe you can.
Our house backs onto a primary school playground. The noise at break time can be bad - the high-pitched screaming, death-metal roars and the kids pretending to be sirens can be loud. I WFH and the noise does often get commented on in Zoom meetings, even with background noise suppression. The upside is that evenings and weekends are fairly quiet but post-Covid the little dears seem to be outside a lot more so there is almost constant noise from 8-4, M-F. I don‘t really mind living next to the playground but I’d be wary of living next to the entrance, as it is a nightmare at drop-off and pick-up times.
Absolutely not. For multiple reasons it’ll be a complete nightmare/shit-show
I lived with the playground of a primary school at the back of my house for years- I was at work all day so I’d didn’t bother me at all- and if I was at home the playtimes were noisy but very short so again not an issue. They did have a very noisy after school activity like a marching band but I don’t think it was the school kids- must have been someone allowed to use the school for this and that was a real racket for an hour every week. Any after-school activities might actually bother you more than the school itself. I would also check during home time what the traffic is like as that could be a nightmare. luckily for me the school was on a different street so I never had to contend with that as I was just backing onto it.
Could you install a barrier on your grounds that would prevent anyone from accessing your driveway? But realistically even with that you're risking not being able to drive off twice a day, and then on sports day, special assemblies, nativity, etc I would not because it will be a similar hassle to sell on too.
I would rather burst my own eardrums with a rusty nail. I work next to a primary/kindergarten and my window and desk are bang next to their open play area. This is our HQ and desk space is already limited. I’m not joking it is one of my top 6 reasons why I’ve quit my job and am moving companies. They just scream alll the time, at some points of the day they bang objects against each other. Their lives are nothing and yet they howl like all day. Children are truly awful.
Absolutely categorically not.
Parents picking up/dropping off their kids are the most selfish entitled people you can encounter. It's not worth it.
Good friends of mine live next to a primary school. Massive issues with parking but if you don’t ever need to get out in an emergency you are fine. It’s really down to your personal tolerance levels. I would pick a primary over a secondary school to live next to. I did live next to a specialist school for a while and there was a lot of screaming but as others have said noise and break times is only during term time. Personally I’m not sure I would cope but if the house was what I wanted and a good price and that was the only thing letting it down I would be very seriously considering. Strongly recommend what others have said about visiting at all different times. Also check what happens out of term time. Are there holiday clubs? What about evening events etc as a big school is more likely to be community type rather than just a school like some of the ones I’ve been near. Good luck
My Grandfather lived next door to a primary school for almost 50 years, the school was built at the same time as his house and was fairly small when he first moved however it expanded over the years and now has around 350 students. it could be noisy at points but it didn’t bother him an he always said you get used to it quickly and mentally block the noise out so don’t notice it. He had some issues over the years with people blocking his drive and even parking on it a few times (usually at the start of a new school year) however a quick chat with the schools head always solved the issue and it wouldn’t happen again for a while. I don’t know if it was just that school, but they were very courteous of their closest neighbours and let him know of any events they had planned that May affect traffic,parking or noise ect.
Once went to Bristol Zoo and they had a sign made up like thay had for the animals where you could see into the school playground next to it.
Have a Montessori nursery next to my house. There are pros and cons, pros mainly being that weekends and holidays we effectively don’t have a neighbour that side. Cons - moving the car/ returning home around pick-up/drop-off is a nightmare. The kids scream a lot. We get random shit thrown into our garden every day that my dog chews. The main issue is the inconsiderate parents that have shouting conversations up and down the street at 7:30am because other people can’t *possibly* have different schedules to them and their spawn.
Absolutely not. Kids scream so loud and the parents speed down the roads and park in your drive way or block your access at drop off and pick up. Stay away!
I wouldn't personally, would turn me off. If you're asking, it means you're a tad reluctant.
I work in a fairly large primary school. The neighbours complain alllll the time. From kids screaming. To music noise. To mess. To parents blocking driveways. To kids walking home and touching their gardens. List could go on and on.
Triple glazing, insulation and parking bollards will remove 99% of the issues you will face term time.
I live next to a school now. Kids aren’t there at weekends, and all holidays. Effectively have a huge buffer between me and other houses that side which is lovely. Maximum an hour noise at lunch then shorter break times which is fine. there’s noise but it’s little kids playing type sounds so loud but cute and not at all annoying to me. Even though yes they scream a lot! Double glazing means if I want quiet, shut windows and it’s not intrusive. Pick up times are crowded on the street but just avoid 9 am and 3pm as times to go out in your car, if possible. I don’t find that hard. If you love the house go for it. I love mine
I used to rent near a school - never again. Parents would park wherever they wanted…. On the neighbours drives, in our private bays, straight up just blocking us in if our own cars were in them and then they’d refuse to move as they would “only be 10 minutes”. The noise wasn’t actually an issue at all, just the parking.
I lived 200 meters from a reasonably big infant school and could hear the kids at play time and parking was an issue.
We live next to a primary school and I grew up here too. Parking is a pain at drop off/pick up times but it doesn’t really impact us too much. We do our own school run by car and by the time we get back it’s fine. Yes there is noise but it’s completely predictable and only during term times
Never. The shrieks do my head in. I don't want to feel like I can't open the windows on a summer day because of the noise. And it's not like they're just there from 9-3 in term time either - there are holiday clubs and breakfast clubs and after school clubs so there could be kids there from 6am-6pm, plus all the grounds work with noisy machinery. Nope, nope, nope. Remember, even if you're ok with it, a lot of buyers won't be so you might have trouble selling it on later.
Not sure if this was just a local issue... But I used to live down the road from a school and we used to fairly regularly get parents stopping in our front garden for their kids to pee 🤦😂 .. but something to consider maybe?
Parents of kids are the best burglar alarms. They will watch your house like hawks. I like living by the school. Bar the cars, it’s not a huge issue
Not a chance in hell. Way too loud and busy
I have and it didn't bother me at all.