Junior/senior schools in SE London

[SarfEasticated]

We currently live in SE4 and our DD is due to start school in 2 years time. We are on an average income (both £35k salary) and would consider moving to get into a good schools catchment area, or would possibly pay to go private if necessary.
DD is very interested in books, not particularly intrepid physically and is quite quiet and sensitive. I would love her to go to a friendly little school where she is encouraged in her love of learning, rather than a massive boisterous school where she might get overlooked.

Questions:

1. good areas in SE London which affordable housing and good schools (but we will both need to commute into London to work so good train line)
   
2. Is there a nice private school in SE London that is for parents in a moderate pay bracket rather than catering for the wealthy?
   Thanks in advance ? I know I am asking a lot

[LondonMother]

Secondary: based on how things are now, buy a house or flat as near Hilly Fields as you can and you should be sure of a secondary place at Prendergast, which is a very good girls' voluntary aided comprehensive school. Alternatively buy a house/flat in Telegraph Hill as close to Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham as you can afford. However, the other Lewisham secondary schools are definitely improving and it's far too early to be sure what any school will be like in 7 years' time when you will be applying. Prendergast now runs another local school and there is a new school about to be build in Lewisham Bridge area which P will also be running.

Primary: Myatt Garden seems to be very well regarded but if you live close enough to get a place there, you probably won't be close enough to Prendergast or Aske's later on. Ashmead is small and friends of mine have been very happy with it. Stillness is quite a big primary but always well spoken of - again you might be looking at moving later to get a place at Prendergast.

My own children went to Gordonbrock and we were very happy with it.

There's a lot of information about admissions policies, stats etc on the Lewisham Council website.

Private prep schools: St Dunstan's in Catford, Sydenham High, Colfe's in Lee, lots in Blackheath. By the time you get to secondary level there are lots of options, including the Dulwich schools, Whitgift etc.

Good luck!

[SarfEasticated]

Thanks LondonMother, we are pretty close to Habadashers already, but our flat is too tiny for us to live in for another 9 years, and we can't afford a house in our road anymore due to prices going up!

I was wondering about Catford, as the houses are pretty cheap, and St Dunstan's would be in walking distance, but the trainline isn't as good.

[LondonMother]

Two lines in Catford, but not as good as Brockley, I agree. Brockley is pretty good for transport links, especially now we have the Overground. I appreciate your difficulty with house prices on T. Hill! We've been in SE4 for a long time now and no way could we afford to buy anything like our house now. Still cheaper than many other parts of London, though.

[Caoimhe]

How far out are you prepared to move? You really can't beat Croydon for transport links - the south of the borough has some excellent primaries and a couple of very good secondaries plus a range of private schools.

Or for slightly pricier houses and trains to London Victoria you could go for Bromley, a borough in which excellent state schools abound.

[plantsitter]

House prices significantly cheaper on the other side of Crofton Park, still near schools and good for Crofton Park Station or Honor Oak Park.

[motherinferior]

Catford transport is pretty good, actually; you can link in either to London Bridge etc from Catford Bridge, or to the St Pancras line from Catford (or Victoria at weekends); and into the overground at New Cross. I think it's better than Brockley from that point of view (I lived in Forest Hill for 11 years before moving here). Kilmorie is a nice school. I wouldn't be too bothered about secondaries in 7 years' time, frankly, as I think they will have changed immeasurably by then.

[SE13Mummy]

If you're planning ahead and want to move in order to be sure of a place at the real Prendergast you will need to move within a few hundred metres of the main entrance.

For primary schools then the Hither Green/Manor House Gardens area might be worth considering. Brindishe, Lee Manor and St. Winifred's are all within 3 streets of each other and the last two are definitely friendly.

To stand a chance of getting into St Winifred's you'd needto be practising Catholics or else live incredibly close and be practising Christians of another denomination. The home to school distances for both Brindishe and Lee Manor have been distorted for the 2010/11 intake due to the two schools having to accept bulge classes. You would need to move again to get your child into Prendergast (unless she gets a music place!).

[SarfEasticated]

Ahh thanks Motherinferior, that's good to know, I didn't know that New Cross was on the Overground - but then I never go through there. Will look up Kilmorie too...

[LondonMother]

New Cross is a terminus on the Overground. Don't know how frequent trains are. If you started at Catford, you'd have to change trains at New Cross to get onto the Overground. New Cross Gate is on the through service from West Croydon to Dalston Junction, as are Brockley, Honor Oak, Forest Hill and Sydenham.

The Overground is terrific as you can change onto the Jubilee Line so easily at Canada Water - much quicker than changing at London Bridge.

Brockley is only one of the stations you can use if you live in the middle of SE4, though. You are also in easy striking distance of Lewisham, Ladywell, St. John's and Crofton Park or Nunhead, which means you have a choice of lots of routes and Central London termini. And the bus routes are also a just-about-feasible way to get in and out of Central London.

Yrs, A Brockley Fan and Resident!

[motherinferior]

Dunstan's is in Catford. It's at the end of my road.

[motherinferior]

But then I would not, for a variety of reasons not all exclusively political, opt for private in any case.

I do think it is not a good idea to be thinking about what secondaries will be like in 10 years' time. I can think of at least one local secondary school which was quite dreadful only five years ago, and for which I now have the highest respect - and Lewisham schools are changing particularly fast (my daughters may well end up at a secondary that I wouldn't have considered only three years ago - they can't go to the other one because it's boys-only).

[autodidact]

There really aren't that many dreadful schools in SE London these days, imo. I'm in Nunhead and was surprised when I did the secondary transfer thing with my boys last year and looked round them all. A couple were a bit lacking in energy but only one had an unmistakable stench of grimness and anhedonia that made me run a mile. Politically I don't really approve- all these academies and foundations and federations and the like are confusing and wrong- but in practice most are doing some good work, I reckon.

[nooka]

I'd not look at a private primary school on your budget in this economy. I think it might be very stressful. Rather if you think private is an option, save through the primary years so you can consider it at secondary. I don't think that private preps offer a huge amount more for your money unless you need things like wrap around care.

The GPDST schools (ie Blackheath, Sydenham, Bromley High School) used to be aimed at academic but not rich families. I'm not sure what sort of fees they charge now, or if you'd like an all girl's education for your dd.

We lived in Penge (further out on the "Overground") which has great public transport links (Crystal Palace, Penge East and West) and was when we bought fairly cheap (I suspect that the revamping of the train line has probably upped prices) and were very happy with our community primary school (Churchfields, but we also had friends with children at St Marks, and Alexandra and Balgowan have very good reputations) , but moved partly because we thought the Bromley secondary schools were terrible. We were thinking of Alleyns. But we were slightly limited by wanting to avoid both single sex and religious education.

I think that good secondaries are much harder than good primaries in London, and the good ones tend to have tiny catchment areas where housing is very expensive.

I went to St Winfreds :)

[autodidact]

DISCLAIMER: am talking state schools. Don't know or care what the private schools are like.

[SarfEasticated]

I guess my main priority is that my DD is happy at school. I worry about her because she isn't very outgoing, very bookish and shy, so don't want her to get overlooked.
I passed the St Dunstan's lot having their sports day in Ladywell fields once, and they seemed a really nice crowd. Very normal, interacting happily with their teachers, looked great, I wouldn't have thought of sending her to a private school otherwise.

We did look into moving a bit further down our railline to Honor Oak Park/Forest Hill, before DD was born 3 years ago, and didn't find it much cheaper than Brockley. Maybe the prices have gone down a bit.
We would need a 3 bedroom house for about £250,000

[SarfEasticated]

Thanks Nooka will look into Penge - hadn't thought of it before.

[missismac]

I would say East Dulwich as our schools (state) are excellent at both primary & secondary level, but if a bigger place in Telegraph hill is beyond budget then ED may also be out? Nunhead maybe, it's lovely round there & good schools too? "Ivydale" has chickens!

Someone suggested Croydon and a neighbour of mine moved there, well to Coulsdon, for exactly that reason - the Grammar Schools at secondary level are fab.

Can't comment on private Ed as that's well beyond our reach.

[motherinferior]

Autodidact - have pmd you .

[SarfEasticated]

Googling Coulsdon too missimac ? thanks!


I would much rather she did go to a state school, as I went to a private junior school and was bullied mercilessly by the neighbourhood kids for my red hat and blazer I'm over it now though .

[SpookyNoise]

There is a lovely private prep school in Bromley - I'll see if I can find the name of it for you in a mo. A lot of the kids go on to Newstead Wood/St Olaves (selective non-private schools in Orpington) or Colfs, which is private.

[SpookyNoise]

Breaside. www.breaside.co.uk/

[motherinferior]

I really cannot see any reason whatsoever why one would go private at primary level in Lewisham. And for the record I have two charmingly bookish little girls (who are doing very well academically).

It gets cheaper if you downsize your postcode round here, btw. The (imo inaccurate)image of feral savagery means SE6 is a lot more affordable than SE23.

[SpookyNoise]

SE9 is affordable too.