[momof4K]

Hello,

We will be moving to Newtown, CT in the near future from PA. I am currently at SAHM with 4 kids (3 boys, 1 girl). We are very involved in soccer, swimming and karate and lots of other famiily oriented activities. I am a bit nervous about moving to newtown - are there enough things to do with the kids? I have heard that newtown is a family oriented town.... the town seems a bit rural although I guess Danbury is the closest major area for shopping.

Any thoughts on positive thoughts/advice or experiences in newtown would be welcome!

Where do people go to find a good pediatrician?

Thank you! Kris

[usmcfamily]

Originally Posted by momof4K

Hello,

We will be moving to Newtown, CT in the near future from PA. I am currently at SAHM with 4 kids (3 boys, 1 girl). We are very involved in soccer, swimming and karate and lots of other famiily oriented activities. I am a bit nervous about moving to newtown - are there enough things to do with the kids? I have heard that newtown is a family oriented town.... the town seems a bit rural although I guess Danbury is the closest major area for shopping.

Any thoughts on positive thoughts/advice or experiences in newtown would be welcome!

Where do people go to find a good pediatrician?

Thank you! Kris

Newtown is a beautiful town and a great place to raise kids! Lots of friendly people and very family oriented. We looked at Newtown when moving here but decided on the neighboring town because of commute time for my husband. We have very good friends that live there and they love it. Schools are excellent and the recreation/sports for the kids are awesome. Danbury has all the shopping you could want. The town paper is the Newtown Bee and it does a great job of covering all the town has to offer. They will send you a weekly paper out of state if you would like to subscribe.

As for a pediatrician, you probably want to check with your insurance carrier. I have a wonderful group of pediatricians here in Monroe but they are affiliated with Bridgeport Hospital and you probably would want one affiliated with Danbury Hospital. Feel free to DM with any questions. I think you will love Newtown - best of luck.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by momof4K

We will be moving to Newtown, CT in the near future from PA. I am currently at SAHM with 4 kids (3 boys, 1 girl). We are very involved in soccer, swimming and karate and lots of other famiily oriented activities.

Where do people go to find a good pediatrician?

Newtown has lots of kid soccer and baseball; I'm not sure about swimming, except for school teams. There are karate studios in town but how well they would fit your needs I couldn't say. There is a sports academy built on Fairfield Hills (an abandoned mental hospital that is being developed for town use). I expect that will be a good resource. I think it's partially open already.

We chose doctors by first finding out which practices were compatible with our health insurance. That way you can see who is in the set of possible choices. You couldn't possibly have to go further than Danbury to find a practice, and it's likely you can find somebody in town. Depending on your kids ages, a family practice might work for everybody.

Since you're moving from another location, you may find that you will have to take more initiative than you expect to meet your neighbors (there are threads here that discuss getting acquainted as a newcomer to Connecticut).

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Newtown is a really nice, quiet community. It has a bit more of a "country" feel to it than most towns in the county. If you are moving to the southern portion of town, it may be viable for you to do some of your shopping in Monroe or Trumbull, rather than going out to Danbury. The schools are well regarded, test scores are slightly better than neighboring towns. I wouldn't say their schools are "excellent", that term tends to be thrown around a little too cavalierly on this board, IMO. The "excellent" systems in the county are New Canaan/Darien/Westport/Weston/Wilton. Newtown's system is very good though, and i believe that you'll be pleased with it. Good luck with your move.

[andthentherewere3]

Newtown is a wonderful family town! There are lots of parks and sports available for kids there. We almost moved to Newtown ourselves, but at the time couldn't find a home in a neighborhood good for my dh's commuting. We have several friends with children who live in Newtown, they love it. There is a large grocery store in the center of Newtown, and several shopping centers along Rt. 25. I know of one pediatric group there, we used to use the same group in Monroe, they have several offices in Monroe/Newtown/Bridgeport. I can't say I loved all the doctors, though. That's why we switched to another group in Monroe. You should first check your insurance and see what doctors are available with your plan. Good luck with your move!!

[missmax]

I just moved to Newtown with my four children.We moved from Long Island that has everything.Newtown has everything you need and is much nicer.People could not be nicer.My kids did not want to move here at first but after the first day of school they were much happier.I bet you will never look back.I still drive to Long Island for doctors. I need to contact my insurance for some referrals in Newtown.

[MomOfToo]

You can direct message me for a pediatrician. We use a wondeful group and we are really happy with them. They are open 7 days a week and late nights which is a must with children. They are in Danbury.

Everything everyone said about Newtown is correct. It is a lovely town. They have a huge shopping center as well. I would have moved there myself but it would have been further out for my husbands commute.

[flavorPacket]

Originally Posted by Stratford, Ct. Resident

The schools are well regarded, test scores are slightly better than neighboring towns. I wouldn't say their schools are "excellent", that term tends to be thrown around a little too cavalierly on this board, IMO. The "excellent" systems in the county are New Canaan/Darien/Westport/Weston/Wilton.

I'd like to echo this comment. 5-10 yrs ago, Newtown schools were nearly on par with the other elite public schools in the area. Now, due to underfunding and overcrowding, they're not even close. That being said, if your kids play soccer, you will love Newtown.

[JayCT]

Newtown schools perform very well, certainly well above the state averages on both the Connecticut Mastery Tests and the Connecticut Academic Performance Tests. Also as noted above, class sizes have grown in recent years, but are still reasonable. Given this I would still say the schools are excellent. JMHO, Jay

[kidyankee764]

Newtown is a very nice, rural town with good schools. It's close to Danbury, Trumbull, Waterbury, Norwalk and Bridgeport for work.

While test scores can show the ability of the school district to prepare students for standardized testing, also take into consideration the district's curriculum, programs for TAG students, clubs & organizations, sports, teacher involvement and diversity. Those IMO are a much clearer indicator than SAT, CAPT and mastery tests. It just requires a bit more effort. Just my opinion.