LaurelS

We've been living in Glenmore Park for 3 years now and we're very happy here, in my opinion it's the best suburb for families in the area. There's plenty of parks, playgrounds etc as well sport teams and other activities for kids, it's very safe, the 3 public primary schools all have good reputations, and most of the other residents in the suburb are families so it's easy for kids (and parents!) to make friends with each other. I regularly walk our dog at night around the neighbourhood and never feel threatened or unsafe, absolute worst you ever get is drunk teenagers in the local park at night and 'lads' (16 year olds acting tough) hanging around the shopping centre after school but I've never seen either cause any trouble, and in all honesty that sort of thing happens everywhere, we used to see the same when we lived in Lane Cove.

My eldest attends Surveyors Creek Primary and we're very happy with the school, but all of the public primary schools in Glenmore Park have good reputations so you can't really go wrong there. There's also a Catholic primary school (Bethany) which I have heard good things about though I can't comment personally. In terms of high schools Glenmore Park High doesn't have a very good reputation and doesn't perform very well, we will most likely send our children elsewhere if we can afford to. However there are several affordable private schools located within spitting distance of Glenmore Park, and Glenmore Park is also close to the selective Penrith High, I know a lot of families from other areas move to Glenmore Park if their kids get in there. For childcare there are a few options around, but there are waiting lists.

The local shopping centre is a bit small but has a Woolworths (and soon an Aldi) plus a few takeaways (Thai, Chinese, sushi, pizza, McDonalds, KFC etc), and the usual things like real estate, servo, 2 dollar shop, chemist, newsagent etc. A second shopping centre with Coles is opening soon on Bradley Street and there's a small grocery store on Floribunda Drive. For bigger shops, Westfield Penrith is a 15 minute drive away and Westfield Parramatta is 30 minutes. For dining options beyond fast food there's not a lot in Glenmore Park, but Penrith is nearby and has plenty. Would like a decent local restaurant or two to open here though, or even a nice pub.

In terms of who lives here, it's pretty much entirely families where the parents either work in white collar jobs or as tradies, rents are too expensive for 'losers' to afford and there's no housing commission. I probably wouldn't recommend Glenmore Park to a young single person who likes to go out as it would be pretty boring for them, but for families it's ideal. There's also quite a few older retired people living in the older parts of the suburb, most of them have been there since the first sections of Glenmore Park were built back in the early 1990s. The population is mainly white Australians though there's also a fairly large number of Indian families in the area.

The only real downside of Glenmore Park is the transport. You certainly need a car (or two) here. The bus that comes past our house comes every 30 minutes all day and runs quite late (pretty good for a suburban area) but it takes over 30 minutes to reach Penrith station (driving takes 15) because of how it takes a scenic tour taking in most of Glenmore Park before getting onto Mulgoa Road. The other two Glenmore Park bus routes are similar, however they're okay if you live near the shopping centre or on the edges of the suburb as they don't take such massive detours. My husband (who works in the city) drives to Penrith station every morning because the bus is just too slow.

All in all, Glenmore Park rocks!