Upper Hutt...suburbs and schools?

[Bradsnz]

Hey there

I have found a few posts on Upper Hutt, but nothing recent so thought I'd ask the question again.

What is the general view of totara park? What is the school like? Anyone actually live there at the moment

that can advise? Any streets to avoid?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

[Trumpnut]

Totra park is kinda the bad area but I don't see it. I work in upper Hutt and the guys at work talk about it. I guess the houses don't get much sun in the winter. We live in Stokes Valley and our son goes to school at Tui Glen which is a low decile rating school. We have no issues at all and it is the best school he has ever been too. I don't think there really is that bad of a area in Upper Hutt. Ghettos here are nothing like they are back in the US.

[kiwi.]

I grew up in Stokes Valley, spent the last 10 years in the US and have moved back to Upper Hutt. I run often in Totara Park (up around Canons Point) but wouldn't live there. We rented in Emerald Hill (Brown Owl), bought in Heretaunga, and recently moved up to Riverstone Terraces. Everyone will have their opinion, so take it all with a grain of salt, but my preferences would be something in the order of Silverstream, Heretaunga, Pinehaven, Riverstone then further down the list, Poetsblock, Trentham. Personally I'd avoid Brown Owl, Timberlea, Totara Park, Wallaceville.

If you're a believer that the higher decile means a better school, then look at Pinehaven and Silverstream. They seem pretty popular but you have to be in zone to get into Silverstream, not sure how full Pinehaven is. We currently send our daughter to a private school in Lower Hutt.

[Ansistent]

As Trumpnut mentioned earlier in their post, there are no really "bad" suburbs of Upper Hutt per se. Upper Hutt has a lot of middle class suburbs (Totara Park being one of them) with some nice pockets and some not so nice pockets within most of them. Totara Park is a pretty solid and reliable suburb of Upper Hutt with nice, well maintained properties and nice, quiet tree lined streets. One of the better overall areas in Upper Hutt, although there are the occasional burglaries in the area unfortunately. The primary school is decent without being exceptional, pretty small school (around 300 pupils).

Most streets are quiet in Totara Park and around the same level housing wise (Malcolm Gillies Grove and Galveston Grove are a lot nicer, being the exceptions). Hartford Crescent and possibly Larchmont Grove/Indiana Grove area are probably the worst streets (although they are still decent, much better than most streets in other areas of UH) but there are no terrible streets in Totara Park.

Heretaunga, Silverstream, Pinehaven, Riverstone Terraces, Kingsley Heights, Emerald Hill, Mount Marua, Mangaroa/Whitemans Valley and Kaitoke are all nicer, safer areas than Totara Park (however more expensive to buy/rent property on average as well).Totara Park is a solid UH suburb, decent for all types of people who work in Upper Hutt and one of the better suburbs in UH for commuting to Lower Hutt, Porirua and Wellington for work as well. Hope this helps