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Original poster

School advices for expat - All inputs on my thought appreciate.

84 replies

Hkelaine · 07/10/2019 18:06

Hi all,

Have been spending the last two months reading on various websites and forums, esp for mumsnet, which I found the inputs/ experience sharing from all forumers here are invaluable.

We are moving in April 2020 and now the time is ticking for lots of preparation. The first thing we have to nail down by end of this year is home location. So we are planning a trip early Nov to check out some properties. So, would appreciate if anyone can share her thoughts below so we can plan better for the trip.

  1. We prefer outer London or outside London for better value for money and still keep the job opportunity open as I believe the business activities are more robust there (I am of finance/ insurance/ consultancy). I can accept to travel up to 50mins to central London. We have two kids, 4 and 2. So, school, low crime, nice residential areas are our top priority. We also think to plan ahead to find a place close to comp schools as our backup while we aim for gramma. So, is it true that we can just focus on the distance from comp as the gramma schools just look at academic?
  1. We have hired an education consultants and talked to some friends and property agents. So far, we have in our mind some places to look at. Could you please offer any comment or other suggestions you may have? 
- Barnet - near mill hill as someone said Colindale is more for working class. We are also not sure about the very high ethnic diversity 

- Sutton - good schools but again we read that some areas inside are quite rough

- Berkhamsted, St Albans and harpenden - residential area but schools are over subscribed.  Should we be concerned?  Is there a place even outside London with excellent schools, which are not heavily over subscribed?

  • Tonbridge well - nice areas but seems the neighbourhood area has high crime ratio

  • Kingston/ Richmond - I found some houses eg in Twickenham within my budget (600k for 3beds). But seems the schools are again oversubscribed and even worse not too many backup.

  • Reading - we are yet to research yet as the good school guide books we bought only cover London.

  • Watford - some recommended St Albans/ Berkhamsted over Watford for living environment. Watford does offer better transportation and convenience, supermarket etc. Which is good as my wife will need several months to get her license and I may need to travel occasionally.

  • some friends are asking me to consider Southampton and Winchester. Any opinion?

The more we research, the more we are overwhelmed by the choices and a matrix of the pros and cons. So we would deeply appreciate if you can share some light.

Many thanks.

Elaine.

OP posts:
JoJoSM2 · 08/10/2019 09:08

There's nowhere rough in Sutton. Not sure where that's coming from. It's a very low crime area with crime rates by far the lowest of the places on your list. Most of the adult residents seem to be either teachers or IT consultants. Obvs the highest attaining state schools in England too + 600k will get you a proper family house. There are 5 grammars with the back up of amazing comps so perfect secondary options. Tons of top notch primaries too. It's an amazing place for families to live and offers tons of stuf to do like sports clubs (rugby, tennis, football, cricket), trampoline park, climbing wall, several dance studios, public golf course with kids clubs, leisure centres, libraries, lots of parks and playgrounds, family events, countryside on the doorstep and very little traffic so it's save for kids to cycle places etc. And you're in zone 5 so it's cheap and easy to get around London.

Looking at schools, rather than the Good Schools Guide which (by its own admission) is completely subjective and doesn't include many schools, you'd be better off starting by looking at the official government stats. You can search by 'parliamentary constituency' for a good overview of the areas on your list.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk

I don't think you'll be able to get a house in Kingston or Richmond unless it's on a council estate or possibly in Hampton (awful secondary). There are 2 grammars in Kingston but obviously the demand is extra high as there are only two of them for miles around.

Watford and Reading have particularly high crime rates which I'd find off putting (you can check that on police.uk)

Berkhampsted/St Albans/Harpenden are all pretty areas in the commuter belt. Your money won't go very far, though + commute will be expensive if you work in central London. Some very good schools but only comprehensives.

Anywhere in Kent, e.g. Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells etc has a fully grammar system for secondary. So either your children get into a grammar or they go to an awful comp as there aren't any goodback up options.

myrtleWilson · 08/10/2019 08:34

I wondered if I'd mis-interpreted that line 1stbabs

1stbabs · 08/10/2019 08:31

And what exactly is wrong with high ethnic diversity? It's one of the things we take pride in in London, so maybe London isn't for you.

SJane48S · 08/10/2019 08:06

PS - apologies to Watford folk but it's really not the most attractive town! The commute from Winchester (nice) & Southampton would be really gruelling. St Albans is nice but the houses are expensive. Richmond is lovely (I used to live there) but the property market is extortionate and the State schools above Primary level are a bit mixed.

West Sussex is another option and is a non Grammar County with some good Secondaries. Haywards Heath is a popular commuter town - not the prettiest but next door Cuckfield and Lindfield are. East Grinstead has a mix of pretty old buildings and not so nice newer ones but also has pretty villages close by, frequent trains to London and a very good Secondary (Imberhorne)

SJane48S · 08/10/2019 07:36

Tunbridge Wells is very very solidly middle class - high crime stats??!! There may be a less salubrious street or two but then everywhere has them and certainly it's nothing on the scale of London. Tonbridge is ok - has some nice residential areas alongside some rougher ones but is a little bit c!oser to London and has a better range of schools. Sevenoaks (where I live) is very nice, closer still to London but that comes with a price tag, our houses are expensive! It's a wealthy area and State school provision isn't great - there are numerous good independent schools (if you can afford them on top of a big mortgage!) but other than that there is a good girls Grammar (with limited places), a decent Christian school (for which you need proof of worship) and a not so great large secondary. Many Sevenoaks kids do the commute to the schools in Tunbridge which mine has just started but you have to be ok with your 11 year old making the journey on public transport!

These are wealthy upmarket towns (Tonbridge being the most mixed) that attract a lot of professional Londoners wanting more space and a better quality of life for their families. Kent is solidly a Grammar county - the Kent test has had in the past questions on it that are not on the National Curriculum and no child from my DDs Primary School who didn't have coaching (paid for or delivered by graduate level parents) has passed it in the last three years. Coaching quite often starts in Year 4. There are a few decent Secondary schools if you don't go down the Grammar route but not that many and they are very over subscribed.

Of the three towns, if the commute wasn't the longest I'd choose Tunbridge Wells. It's very pretty and got the best range of shops and restaurants and is in easy access to the coast.

LIZS · 07/10/2019 18:22

And grammar schools are for age 11-18 so you are some time away from that being an issue worth taking into account yet.

cakeisalwaystheanswer · 07/10/2019 18:22

One of the less reputable papers has just produced an article on London stabbing statistics. A am googling about waiting for a skype call which is my excuse for reading The Sun. I assume they haven't made the statistics up but according to the report Sutton has a lower knife crime rate than Barnet. Parts of Sutton would be a bit Colindale but Epsom is nice. St Albans and all your Hertfordshire options have the Thameslink which is very good, anywhere South West has South West trains, not so good, also a lot go into Waterloo and it can take a while to get to the city from there due to sheer volume of passengers.

Southampton and Winchester are miles away, realistically door to door I would expect 1.5 hours at least and a very expensive season ticket.

Got to go. Good luck

www.thesun.co.uk/news/10081471/knife-crime-rising-fastest-towns-cities-outside-london/

LIZS · 07/10/2019 18:21

Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells ? Neither strikes me as high crime rate so not sure what stats you are looking at. Southampton and Winchester are well outside your 50 min commute, as maybe Watford. Where in London do you plan to work? It can take 50 minutes even within London to get from one end to another.

NetballHoop · 07/10/2019 18:12

Epsom has trains into Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge. It's close enough for Sutton and Wallington Grammar schools if you DCs get in. If not the comprehensive schools are pretty good: www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&parliamentary=Epsom+and+Ewell&geographic=parliamentary&for=ofsted
You have open countryside near by too.

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