Can someone explain the state school catchment system to me?

Some admission deadlines are just a few days away! Essex is October 31st.

Calming makes some great suggestions - those three areas are lovely for families, plenty live there, easy commute, loads going on, you can be in town in 30 minutes. Nowhere is completely safe, but I don't think the stations the train goes through is the main factor. Look for houses very close to the stations or on main bus routes from them (Streatham Hill for example is very well served by buses north and south), so your children can be independent, and close to those schools. I would get a big street map - Myatt's Fields is not in Herne Hill (a bus ride away) - and then ask about specific streets or pockets of streets.

The other advantage of moving to Herne Hill, say, is that if places don't come up at the Charter soon, your kids will be an easy commute from the other schools mentioned, and more, because the area is so densely populated and has such good transport links.

Do you know how much you can afford to spend each month in rent?

There are so many nice enough areas of London that do not require an hour and a half each way commute. All thse long commutes will also cost a lot in train fares, and your DH will miss out on being at home.

Clapham - easy tube journey to Tottenham Ct Rd a short stroll from Holborn, some good primaries and a perfectly OK secondary (Lambeth Academy), Clapham Common, nice shopping area.
Herne Hill - great parks, v friendly area, Thameslink line to City Thameslink and an easy walk to Holborn. Move v close to Charter school on the H Hill side, or else closer to Elmgreen School.
Streatham Hill - move very close to Dunraven School, easy overground on the Thameslink line from Tulse Hill station, to City Thameslink, walkable to Holborn.

Personally if i were moving to london I would prefer my DH at hime rather than sitting on a train for hours. And also to live closer to London so that you can experience it!

Yeah, but OP, this is London - it's unrealistic to think your DH won't be spending hours commuting. Friends who commute to the square mile from Guildford allow an hour and a half each way; from a zone three suburb to Holborn and back is likely to be more than an hour door-to-door. I'm not sure how long a commute from St Albans to Holborn would be, but I would imagine an hour and a half each way.

I would go for St Albans if I was going that side of London. Forget about catchments and schools, you will be making an application as an in year transfer. Try to get near to schools you like.
When you get there come back and ask advice about Appeals if you don't get a place at schools you want.

Surrey deadline for secondary applications for secondary is imminent. Most round here don't have catchments, some have feeder primaries, others allocate some places on religion then distance, or just distance.

I only know ST albans and windsor both nice places but not the cheapest.

www.stalbansreview.co.uk/li/secondary_schools.compare.St%20Albans/

St Albans (again!)

OP if I were you, I'd consider renting somewhere near the station in Cambridge - about 50 minutes from King's Cross and consistently good primary and secondary schools. Lots of good quality Victorian housing near the station, too.

Blu - that's a thought (on catchment areas). Thanks.
I looked it up for my local schools and found some interesting results.

www.islington.gov.uk/services/schools-learning/5-16/admissions/cut-off-distance-maps/Pages/2012-13.aspx

www.islington.gov.uk/publicrecords/library/Education-and-skills/Information/Leaflets/2012-2013/(2012-09-13)-Secondary-Brochure-2013-14.pdf

I would not rely on the Good Schools Guide catchments for one moment. They are wildly out of date, unrealistic and better and more accurate info can be found (for free) on the LEA website in the admissions booklet, published online.

I feel for anyone who bought or rented close to my DS's primary on the basis of the GSC info.

Ohhhhh, Holborn, of course! In that case yes, north London is probably a smarter choice for you. Good luck.

I'm sooooo glad I live in Scotland: we do have defined catchments up here, so you can know with certainty which school you are going to go to. :) In most areas, you even have a choice between non-denominational and Catholic.

The difficulty can be in finding a map which shows you the catchment boundaries - you can put in a post code and it'll tell you which primary/secondary school it is served by, but if you are trying to work out where to buy/rent because there is certain schools you are interested in, then it's more difficult

You can still do placing requests if you want to: ds has just gone to a different secondary (5-10 minute further walk away) to the one that his primary school feeds to.

If its Holborn it is also quite easily accessible from Liverpool street and the East.

Holborn is much more accessible to Kings cross/Euston Station (only a couple of stops on the tube vs several stop and a walk from tottenham court raod from Waterloo) so I'd be inclined to go north.

St Albans is nice but no idea what the schools are like but 36 min commute into Kings cross and only a couple of stops to Holborn.

Some, but not many, state schools are on the good school guide website. They have "catchment maps" that show where students have come from. It might help you get an idea.

Holborn.