[biancabal]

Moving to CT for next fall, two kids who will be in K and 1st. Husband's job is in New Haven, but he may have to drive to Hartford sometimes, so we're looking north of New Haven. Hoping to buy a 4-5 bedroom house in the $500,000 range. Full-day Kindergarten is a must - I've eliminated a number of towns because they only have half-day K.

Have narrowed it to:

• Berlin
• Durham
• Woodbridge
• North Haven
• Middlefield
• Cromwell/Middletown
• Bethany

Thoughts? Any others that might fit the bill that I've left off? Thanks!

[Stylo]

Woodbridge has the best performing schools out of that list.

Its population also has more advanced degrees than any other town in CT. If education is a priority, it is a great town to live in and is convenient to a lot of amenities in Milford, Orange, Hamden, Wallingford and New Haven.

[willow wind]

Maybe you could narrow down what your likes and dislikes are as far as a town.

Some of the towns you noted are part of regional school districts .That means once the kids get out of elementary school they're may be going to spend a good deal of time on the school bus as their schools may be out of town.

Some of those towns such as Cromwell, while very residential, are also heavily developed. Some like Durham & Middlefield are more rural. Some have city services, like city water, gas and sewers, others are wholly on wells and septic systems. Are you looking for sidewalks and street lights, or are you happy out in the country.

Some will be easy to find a home on a two acre lot or larger, others a half acre lot or smaller may be more typical. Some have lots of shopping, like Middletown and Cromwell, others have next to nothing , like Durham & Middlefield. How much driving for essentials did you plan on doing ?

Other than all day kindergarten, what do you hope to find in a town ?

[anon860]

I agree Woodbridge is a nice choice, and it is very convenient to Hartford via the New Haven entrance to the Wilbur Cross parkway.

Here is the population of adults 25+ with a graduate degree (MA) or greater, according to the most recent figures from the Census Bureau:

New Haven: 12,716 (17.5%)
Wallingford: 3,728 (11.8%)
Woodbridge: 2,868 (44.0%)
North Haven: 2,644 (15.8%)
Bethany: 1,103 (29.5%)

If you really want to be among the elite, you also may want to look in New Haven, particularly East Rock and Westville. New Haven has more families making over $100,000 per year than Woodbridge and North Haven combined. And as a result, many of the best private schools in New England are located there. Unfortunately, a nice 4-5 bedroom house in a good part of New Haven may run you more than $500K.

[JayCT]

The town you have listed are all very different in character. I am not sure why you have picked them. Anyway since you are posting about schools I will limit my comments to the schools in these towns. The website below may be able to help you review the schools.

State Department of Education - CEDaR

Middletown is a small city and the schools there do not perform well on the Connecticut Mastery (CMT) and Connecticut Academic Performance Tests (CAPT). If well performing schools are important to you, then I would not consider this town.

Woodbridge and Bethany are part of Regional District 5 which also includes the Town of Orange. This school district is one of the best performing in the state and is very well regarded but as was noted by Willow Wind these two towns are somewhat rural in character and require students to have long bus trips to and from school.

Durham and Middlefield are part of Regional School District 13. Like Woodbridge and Bethany, these are somewhat rural towns but the schools are well regarded.

North Haven is a very suburban type community and the schools are also well regarded. Cromwell and Berlin are a mix of suburban and rural type areas and the schools perform well on CMT and CAPT tests.

In general I would recommend any of these towns except maybe Middletown for schools. It is really a matter of preference of type of community. I do however recommend living as close to your husband's job as possible which means I would go with North Haven for being near New Haven and still have easy access to Hartford. Jay

[anon860]

Have you considered Cheshire?

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by anon860

New Haven has more families making over $100,000 per year than Woodbridge and North Haven combined.

Source?

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by anon860

If you really want to be among the elite, you also may want to look in New Haven, particularly East Rock and Westville. New Haven has more families making over $100,000 per year than Woodbridge and North Haven combined. And as a result, many of the best private schools in New England are located there. Unfortunately, a nice 4-5 bedroom house in a good part of New Haven may run you more than $500K.

All of this information is false.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Woodbridge and Bethany are solid choices.

Originally Posted by anon860

Here is the population of adults 25+ with a graduate degree (MA) or greater, according to the most recent figures from the Census Bureau:

New Haven: 12,716 (17.5%)
Wallingford: 3,728 (11.8%)
Woodbridge: 2,868 (44.0%)
North Haven: 2,644 (15.8%)
Bethany: 1,103 (29.5%)

Note that most of New Haven's totals are courtesy of Yale faculty. Take away Yale and New Haven would be beneath Wallingford percentage wise.

Originally Posted by anon860

If you really want to be among the elite, you also may want to look in New Haven, particularly East Rock and Westville. New Haven has more families making over $100,000 per year than Woodbridge and North Haven combined. And as a result, many of the best private schools in New England are located there. Unfortunately, a nice 4-5 bedroom house in a good part of New Haven may run you more than $500K.

Uh.........no.

[krdpm]

Just want to point something out as you look at schools with full- or half-day kindergarten. My town (Guilford--I know, not located ideally for you), has half-day kindergarten, but all schools have a before & after program for the kindergarten kids that's $6/hour and is fantastic. They can take the bus to and from school at the same time as the other kids and go to the program for the other half of the day. They do tons of activities, arts and crafts, a math game, plays, robotics club, etc. Maybe if there's a town that meets all of your other criteria, it might be worth checking to see if they offer something similar.....