Eton House, The Manor School, Clapham

[gmanisha04]

Hi all

I am new to Mumsnet and am seeking some advice/help. I have a 2 year old and we've recently got him him registered at Eton House, The Manor, in Clapham. We currently don't live in the area but will move there closer to the time when my son starts school. We have looked at the houses for sale around the school and they are super expensive for not much value for money! I was wondering if anyone living in the area/whose children attend EH could shed some light on:

1. Opinion about the school- it will be a huge upheaval for us to move to Clapham. I have heard wonderful things from previous blogs, but would appreciate any recent comments.
   
   
2. Bus route for the school- this does not seem to be readily available, some very generic information e.g. goes from parsons green to EH, does anyone know what the exact bus route is, as this would determine what options we have for moving.
   
   
3. Both my husband and i work in the city- I work in Canary Wharf, and we don't have family here, so anyone out there in a similar situation- how do you manage drop offs and pick-ups as the school timings seem to mean late arrival at work and leaving early?!!
   
   Sorry for the long post, would really appreciate any help!! Thank you in advance!
   
   M

[Needmoresleep]

Have you considered

1. Further down the Northern Line, eg Balham or Tooting? Cheaper and greener. and you can drop off on your way to work.
   
2. An au pair for pick up. We kept to the standard au pair agreement of room board and pocket money in return for about 15 hours childcare a week and lots of time for study etc, and were rewarded with having some lovely young women live with us, two of whom we are still in touch with.

[Helpys]

Why are you moving there? You're right it's expensive and it doesn't sound as if you know the area.
Where are you now? The answer is probably to stay put at least area wise and chose a different school.

[meditrina]

Email the school and ask about current bus routes (bear in mind they could change if level of demand does).

Is it really a school worth moving for? There are loads of good preps in London.

If the streets near the school were too expensive or you, you could try the Shaftesbury estate.

[basildonbond]

For a start it's Eaton House, not Eton - no connection with that other school ...

It's fine as far as I know - plenty of people around here use it and seem happy but I don't think anyone would move house because of it. As a pp said there are many many good preps and state schools in London ...

If you're both working in canary wharf why don't you have a look at schools and housing which won't mean you have such a long commute but if you're both working and can't have flexible hours then you are going to need to use some form of childcare once your ds is at school

EH also has very long holidays - they follow boarding school terms making their holidays even longer than prep schools' normally are so you'll have to factor that into your childcare plans as well

[meditrina]

Is this a first move to London, planned for wider family reasons, or a relocation within London?

You don't want to find yourself driving every day. Public transport options are the bus routes 137, 345, 35 and 37 (or short walk up from Lavender Hill with 77, 87, 156 and 452). Nearest Tube is Clapham Common (northern line) and it's within reach from Clapham Junction (plus bus) or overland (Wandsworth Road).

[gmanisha04]

Thank you all. This is all very very helpful. meditrina, this is a relocation within London. We are looking at some other options as well, e.g. Hall School in Wimbledon and Cumnor House in Croydon. We are pretty fluid with where we move, as long as the school is good (we are looking at Ofsted Outstanding/ISI Excellent at the moment) and transport links coming into Canary Wharf/central London are good.

Hadn't considered au pair Needmoresleep, thank you, will need to look into that. Basilbond, I saw from the Parent Information that EH has many breaks, some longer than I would have thought! Now that you've explained why, I understand...

Helpys, I am current in Canary Wharf, but wanted to move to a greener area. We did look at some of the schools in and around CW, but haven't quite loved any of them. Also, wanted a more family-friendly area so gravitated towards Clapham…:)

I think once we figure out the bus route we will know what options we have (we asked the school, they said they didn't have one to disseminate at the moment), that's why my question is anyone knew what the actual bus route was. If anyone has any information on this please do let me know.

I do appreciate all the advice, thank you!

M

[Helpys]

What about Greenwich/ Blackheath for school and living? don't think a bus commute at early primary is ideal tbh.

[Helpys]

What about Greenwich/ Blackheath for school and living? don't think a bus commute at early primary is ideal tbh.

[Helpys]

Oops

[ImAThrillseekerBunny]

Helpys may have repeated herself but she's got a point - Canary Wharf would be a messy commute from Clapham. Where does your DH work?

[areyoutheregoditsmemargaret]

I think you're making some very odd decisions, as everyone says decide where you want to live then look at the schools. Many state primaries have breakfast and after-school clubs, which make life a lot easier for working parents, plus the holidays are shorter.

[basildonbond]

The Hall School, Eaton House The Manor and Cumnor House are all wildly different - different areas, different demographics, different ethos - and frankly none of them would be worth moving house for - plus the commute from Wimbledon or Croydon to Canary Wharf would be even more hellish than from Clapham

[Nancy66]

what's your budget for a property? That should be your starting point really.

[hatsybatsy]

I'm with everyone - I think you need to backtrack a little bit here. You've chosen a school in Clapham for no apparent reason than that you think Clapham is friendly family?

I'd like to second the recommendation for Greenwich/Blackheath - if you're in Canary Wharf this has to be the most convenient? Pointers? Heath House? Colfes? Blackheath Prep? Lots of independents - and also lots of good primaries depending on where you live. Surely that's better than bussing him over to Clapham?

[Triplespin]

If its schools and good connections to CW, then I would suggest Dulwich. Greenwich schools are good but not in the same league as those in Dulwich. Alternatively have you considered North London? Excellent prep schools and plenty of people commute to CW.

[hatsybatsy]

Triplespin - what a sweeping statement! The Greenwich/Blackheath school listed all get excellent 11+ results. What measure are you using to compare to the Dulwich schools?

[Triplespin]

Ok so I have just looked at leavers record for Blackheath Prep and Pointers. The best schools in the leavers destinations are the Dulwich ones: Alleyn's, DC and JAGS (only exception being CLSG and one leaver to WUS). So on that basis why not go to a school in Dulwich in the first place?

The other Dulwich school is Dulwich Prep which has leavers going to Eton, Winchester, Westminster, KCS etc. I don't see any leavers from the blackheath schools you mention in the same league.

We actually lived in Greenwich and chose to move to Dulwich for the schools.

Maybe there are other blackheath schools I don't know of which are placing at the top London day schools or boarding? Do share the info with me as honestly Blackheath is a beautiful area to live in.

[hatsybatsy]

sigh. The Blackheath schools you mention finish at 11. The public schools you mention start at 13. Hence none of the leavers go there.

You are referencing one Dulwich prep school (presumably the one you chose) -the rest mainly finish at 11 and feed directly into their own senior school.

The Dulwich senior schools are indeed all very good, but choosing a Blackheath school means you aren't funnelled into one school and gives you lots of options - you can choose a Dulwich school, you can go to City or indeed you can head out into Kent. You seem to have omitted Sevenoaks and all the Kent grammar schools from your "best schools" selection...

[Forago]

croydon to canary wharf is a very good commute BTW - I did it for years. way less stressful and quicker than when I lived in clapham. 45 mins instead of over an hour and only a few hellish stops on the jubilee line from London bridge instead of the dreaded northern line.

cumnor house doesn't grab me tbh but there are plenty of good prep schools in the south croydon/Caterham area with a good commute to London Bridge. People also really like Reigate for the clapham family friendly vibe but I personally found the commute more of a pita.

I would aim to live local to the school and drop on way in and puck up on way back. he will be very young for all day care initially and you may need to get a Childminder or such at first.

[Triplespin]

Hatsy - I am basing the list of blackheath schools based on what you mentioned. They seem to finish at 11 - but DC does have a big entry at 11. The leavers results for all of those blackheath schools were not anything to talk about and hence I would consider the Dulwich schools superior to them. This doesn't mean they are the best either. For us they are a stop gap, hopefully if our DS is bright enough we would like him to go to the top London day schools.

No I did not mention the grammar schools as it seems the op was considering independent schools for her DS. Grammar schools are certainly off our radar - dont want to start a public versus private debate here again. To each their own, but they are not for us!

[Triplespin]

Also to add, I have already mentioned North London to the op. Hatsy - hopefully you will not dispute the quality of schools such as The Hall, Arnold House, Habs - all of which again would be considered better than those in Blackheath.

[ThinkAboutItTomorrow]

Canary wharf from clapham's not so bad anymore. You can go overland to Canada Water then jubilee one stop.

Schools wise though it's not worth moving here for though.

[hatsybatsy]

triplespin - you decrtied Blackheath leavers lists as they did not include "Eton, Winchester, Westminster, KCS etc" - I noted merely that it is not possible to go straight from one school to the other.

At 11+ 50% of the kids from our school get scholarships to Dulwich/JAGS/ALleyns/Sevenoaks/Eltham/Bromley High. I'm very happy with that as an outcome.

You continue to compare coed schools ifnishing at 11 with traditional boys prep schools feeding to (assorted quality) public schools. I do not accept that they are intrinsically better than those feeding into day schools no.

You came onto this thread to support Dulwich schools and now they are merely a 'stopgap'? Don't follow that.

[Triplespin]

You state the facts that 50% of blackheath school leavers are moving on to (good schools) such as JAGS (dulwich girls), Alleyns (dulwich co-ed) and DC (dulwich boys) and other Kent schools (which you rate very highly). Now to someone who is willing to relocate for schools wouldn't the natural suggestion be to move to either Dulwich or Kent, since your child will most likely end up at one of the schools there?

This was all I was saying. Please don't take the comment about Blackheath schools so personally. I can see you feel that it offers better schooling choice than other areas in London, I just beg to differ.

Btw I also think EHM is a very good school and we did initially consider it for our DS.

[jzhu1104]

hi gmanisha04 have you actually moved to Clapham and your son started with EHTM? Going through a similar consideration as yours and wondering what actually happened? thanks xxx