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Hawkley Hall and Winstanley College are BOTH OUTSTANDING schools in Wigan, compared to anywhere to be honest. The education sector in Wigan across the board is excellent.

N.B If you are Catholic then St Peters and St Edmund Arrowsmith are both fantastic schools.

You mentioned, Parbold; fantastic place to live.

A lot re Wigan depends on where your places of work are based as that can become a big factor in where you live. The Wigan transport network is not the greatest IMO.

Kittwazzer wrote:I work the entire WN area and wherever I go, I'd say 99+% of the people are excellent.
I would have no qualms about Winstanley at all and I'm amazed that it should be denigrated by anyone hailing from Whelley!
Parbold is very 'Midsomer' on the surface but it has its problems, not least a WN8 postcode which will bang your insurance costs up!

Have you looked at Appley Bridge?

I was not denigrating Winstanley or indeed Hawkley Hall School. All I said was that their are better areas of Wigan and better Schools for Mase and his Wife to consider before jumping in at the deep end with the ones suggested by cpwigan.

Perhaps, I should have said 'other' rather than 'better'.

As for the Whelley area, I have lived there for 38 years and as far as I am concerned, the people here are in your '99+%' and there is nothing wrong with the area as a place to live.

I have lived in Winstanley since leaving the services some 15 years ago and have brought up two kids who both went to Marus Bridge Primary and then Hawkley Hall High School.

The schools are excellent and the area is great and I would recommend bringing up your family here.

Easy access to the M6 as well.

I cannot comment on any other area in Wigan because I haven't lived in any for many years so would not be silly enough to give an opinion.

Thanks for your help everyone. We saw three houses but didn't really 'fall in love' with any. We did love te area though to be fair.
We ended up driving around and found ourselves looking at the new builds on the Barratt development off Billinge Road before Pemberton Station. Quite like them and the area/development looks really nice. Could well end up buying a plot there if we like what developer shows us on Saturday.

Mase wrote:Thanks for your help everyone. We saw three houses but didn't really 'fall in love' with any. We did love te area though to be fair.
We ended up driving around and found ourselves looking at the new builds on the Barratt development off Billinge Road before Pemberton Station. Quite like them and the area/development looks really nice. Could well end up buying a plot there if we like what developer shows us on Saturday.

I've been round those new builds off Foundry Lane and yes, it is a nice area. From there you could walk to the DW on a nice day!
IIRC, there are 2 developers at work on that site. Be sure to talk to both of them!

Kittwazzer wrote:

Mase wrote:Thanks for your help everyone. We saw three houses but didn't really 'fall in love' with any. We did love te area though to be fair.
We ended up driving around and found ourselves looking at the new builds on the Barratt development off Billinge Road before Pemberton Station. Quite like them and the area/development looks really nice. Could well end up buying a plot there if we like what developer shows us on Saturday.

I've been round those new builds off Foundry Lane and yes, it is a nice area. From there you could walk to the DW on a nice day!
IIRC, there are 2 developers at work on that site. Be sure to talk to both of them!

That would suit my future father in law as he's a big Wigan fan. Would we still be in the catchment area for the schools you mentioned or would it be too far out of Winstanley?

cpwigan wrote:Well I think you would be in the catchment area of Hawkley Hall High School which is an OUTSTANDING school. You obviously have the OUTSTANDING Winstanley College too.

Nicer place than Golborne/Lowton IMO. I think Winstanley depending on which part was historically an area many from Merseyside migrated to.

I went to Preston College and we thought our College Football Team was OUTSTANDING........then we played Winstanley in the quarters of the Nationals.......the rest is history as they say!!

Ps We actually were a very very good side!!

TrueBlueWarrior wrote:

cpwigan wrote:Well I think you would be in the catchment area of Hawkley Hall High School which is an OUTSTANDING school. You obviously have the OUTSTANDING Winstanley College too.

Nicer place than Golborne/Lowton IMO. I think Winstanley depending on which part was historically an area many from Merseyside migrated to.

I went to Preston College and we thought our College Football Team was OUTSTANDING........then we played Winstanley in the quarters of the Nationals.......the rest is history as they say!!

Ps We actually were a very very good side!!

Don't worry they were not always particularly good. I played for Winstanley XI from lower 6th onwards and captained them in upper 6th until I got sent off in a Winstanley 5 a Side tournament, which says a lot! It was far more comprehensive then but now it is truly an elite academic institution that only accepts the very best students and it has a regional, possibly even wider reputation for excellence. Back in my day they even ran certificate of pre vocational education courses for people who 'failed' their O'Levels / GCSE's and/or were below A-Level standard. One Steve Ganson was on the C.P.V.E course! I played against Dennis Betts who was at Xaverian, Salford and they at the time had an excellent team. Dennis was a very talented player albeit I think he made the right choice with rugby league.

The quality of education in Wigan is excellent. Hawkley Hall is fantastic in terms of 'where it came from and how good it became' Edmund Arrowsmith has been the most consistent albeit in recent times so has St Peters. St Peters is excellent for rugby league in recent years.

Mase wrote:Thanks for your help everyone. We saw three houses but didn't really 'fall in love' with any. We did love te area though to be fair.
We ended up driving around and found ourselves looking at the new builds on the Barratt development off Billinge Road before Pemberton Station. Quite like them and the area/development looks really nice. Could well end up buying a plot there if we like what developer shows us on Saturday.

Hawkley Hall High School and St Peter's Catholic High School I am family certain you would be in their catchment area.

I would think the Barratt development would be very nice. Personally I prefer Orrell or Winstanley to what I would describe as proper Pemberton (which I would suggest is not the area of the Barratt development) but those locations offer you the best access to your places of work IMO. Wigan despite efforts being made is a traffic nightmare. It would have been interesting is the proposed M6 - M61 link had ever got the go ahead. Quick access on / off from motorways is vital in Wigan IMO.

I've lived in Winstanley and on that side of Wigan for 42 years (apart from time spent in the armed forces). As others have said, it's ideal for commuting and has excellent access to the motorway network. Winstanley Primary school is very good, I believe and Hawkley Hall is outstanding. So much so that we are hoping to send our daughter there when she leaves primary school next year.

Regarding the new builds off Foundry Lane. There are proposals to put a link road in from the M6 jct in Orrell down to Westwood, this will go across the land off Foundry Lane. Much of the infrastructure is in place and remedial works are starting on the Warrington Rd / Poolstock / Highfield Grange junction, which is one of the phases of the link road scheme.

Winstanley's a good estate and has grown massively over the past couple of decades and the small shopping precints is still ideal for all your needs, not to mention easy links to Asda and Sainsburys. Granted, there are better areas to live, but they come with a price (literally) and there are also much, much worse places to live.