(when) do people with kids move out of ED?

[jcw]

ED is a lovely place to live esp when you have really young children - everywhere you go there are people with buggies which makes you feel quite at home and as if everyone is in the same boat. There don't seem to be that many children who are older though (maybe they aren't in the parks?!) and I wondered whether there is some kind of mass exodus when people with children of a certain age leave and live elsewhere.

I just wondered whether you have found this to be true and whether people found that maybe the friends people met when their kids were babies found that 3/4/7(?) years later they moved on elsewhere due to space/schools etc. Is that just my impression or do lots of people move on (if so where to?!) when their children get a bit older?

[The Nappy Lady]

jcw, a lot of families move out the year in the final year of primary school - I have heard of year 6 being half the size when school returns in September in some instances. This also has an effect on primary school OFSTED reports.

I guess it just comes down to luck as to whether your childrens friends stay or go - from my daughters school (Ivydale) pupils seem to go to any one of 18 secondary schools in the area so if we stay here she is going to end up making as many new friends as she loses I think.

[The Nappy Lady]

Sorry - wanted to add, lots of good experiences from people on here like Sillywoman of staying put in London with older children. I'm not yet convinced that moving out to the sticks is all it is cracked up to be.

[sillywoman]

I think there's still a shedload of teenagers here if sillygirls social life, & the oversubscribed state secondary schools, are anything to go by. It's likely that they just don't really hang out in the same places/ timezone as people with younger kids do so maybe that's why you don't see them so much?

My lot have had one or two friends move out, usually around year 2-4 in primary (to give them a chance to settle & find friends in new primaries before the big school shift to secondary), but I'd wager a good 90-95% of their friends from nursery/infants are still here.

[Kes]

That's good to know sillywoman, I was wondering the same thing myself earlier today.

[snowboarder]

As far as I can make out some tend to move prior to starting primary school - so when little ones are around 3/4. Also lots of the central East Dulwich houses are quite small - first baby territory - maybe the older families have migrated a bit further out in search of more bedrooms?

We still thinking about what to do....

[Mellors]

Out of my original ED mum's group of nine, four have moved out to the sticks/overseas, two have moved but within London and and three are still in the area but two have houses on the market. We have 4 year olds starting primary school next September, and are in a panic about where we will be sent.

[Keef]

It could also be that ED as it is now, was born around 2000, and developed in to a place for young families. So the kids are only now getting to the 11 / 12 mark.

I also just think that a lot of people realise they can get more for their money elsewhere, and as kids get older, they want more space, so move a little way away.

[Smiler]

We have just moved to Surrey (Epsom Downs, hour away from central London), eldest is 2 1/2, new baby. Would have loved to have stayed in ED, but we had a flat and houses were so expensive, place at a good school uncertain etc. Wanted to make the move well before kids reached school-age, as we both moved around a lot as kids and would like to do things differently.

It's lovely here in a different way. My main issue / worry with moving away from London but still working there is whether / how two people commuting is manageable with childcare etc. Lots of people seem to have one person commuting and the other at home / working locally, but this won't work for us.

[duchessofdulwich]

we are moving to Kent soon and I agree with Smiler. would love to stay in ED but as the area has improved so the prices of properties rise. Schooling is another big concern when good schools in ED become over subscribed. we will also be 1 hour away from the city.

[victor]

Some of us haven't moved out at all ::o

[poppy]

Keef Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It could also be that ED as it is now, was born

> around 2000, and developed in to a place for young

> families. So the kids are only now getting to the

> 11 / 12 mark.

>

I may be wrong but I think ED has always been young-family territory. I was born here and lived here until I was two, when my family moved to Surrey (more space and better schools) and all my parents' NCT friends did the same when their children were tiny too. This was 30 years ago so in that respect, things haven't changed! Although I'm hoping we and my circle of mum friends stay a little longer this time round.

[Ann]

I agree with a lot of the above statements. I've lived here since about 1991, got married in 1992 and had my first baby in 1994. For sure there were a lot of children who started school locally but had moved out by year six; I'm fairly sure this has been true for a lot of local schools. My children went to St Anthony's with a 45 child entry, by year six this was more like 35 to 38.

However, from what I can gather ( by reading this forum ) there is far more pressure for primary school places locally than has been seen before. The schools have never been empty, there were enough of us around to keep them full but perhaps not full to the brim!

As Sillywoman has said, there are plenty teenagers around. I think this is a great place for teenagers. I grew up in a lovely part of Sussex but boy was I bored in the school holidays!

I can understand issues about housing, it's ridiculously expensive these days but I'm very happy to bring up children around here.

Move if you have to, I'm genuinely glad I didn't have to!

[Dorothy]

Have no intention of moving either. Your op seems to suggest that moving out is a given once you have children!

Although we have only lived here since 1996, we have friends who were born in East Dulwich, Camberwell and Sydenham who have all come back to this neck of the woods or hereabouts. They went to Forest Hill Boys, a couple to Alleyns, Prendergasts - and all have drifted back after University or living elsewhere in London for a while. These friends have the great advantage of having their own parents nearby so their children see a lot of their grandparents. It is a very family-friendly area, not just good for people with babies and toddlers.

[sillywoman]

Yes I've noticed that Dorothy, that a lot of people I know were raised here, some moved away, but all seem to find themselves back here to raise their children in the bosom of their families. I'm with the 'move if you have to, but I'm glad I didn't' school of thought. Even though my family is all elsewhere. SE London is a fab place to raise teenagers if you can.

[Keef]

Poppy, I was born in dulwich to, and yes, there have always been kids around, but I stand by my opinion that it was not the "nappy valley" that it is now.

[karter]

no intention of moving out of ED. :)