Safe places to raise teenagers - SW London

Silly to play tit for tat on school results, especially for post-Covid 2022 results, and they're both great schools, but when push comes to shove progress 8 is always a better measure than the number of 9-7 grades because it is less skewed by intake. In 2017 when the 2022 GCSE cohort joined secondary school, OP had a smaller, wealthier catchment than THS (which had only been established 2 years then).

Really though, anyone who chooses a house and school based solely on whether kids several years older were first or second in a GCSE league table would be clutching at straws.

Cant recommend anywhere in SW London - although partner was born and raised in Hampton and is perfectly fine and non-dangerous. But I did want to say that this is currently happening in our part of SE London. It is frightening.

I won’t derail the thread any further other than to mention that 50% of GCSEs were 9-7 at OP last year compared with 35% at Turing House.

Progress 8 they also have significantly better. eBacc entry is only better at Orleans because the difference in eBacc score is close to none and it is virtually the same.

But that is the main measure. For a new school these are excellent results, especially all of the "nomad school lifestyle" they had moving through all these buildings...I wonder who is occupying the old Clarendon school building now, or what is that first site in Teddington that they had. I am hesitating between Turing and St Pauls or SRR

Did they? Looks like they had a slightly higher proportion of grade 5+ in English and maths but on other measures the GCSE results weren’t as good.

😂

@RolRollercoaster1920 No idea but it suppose to be on new faster track with 10-12 trains per hour.

@ReneeX what's the journey time from Hampton to central London likely to be if cross rail 2 ever happens? Looks slow from the map.

I’d second (or third?) Richmond. It’s gorgeous.

The Crossrail 2 will make a significant change.

This year Turing House had better GCSE results than Orleans Park.

Same. Brought up in rural West Country (drugs, rural poverty and drunk driving rife). Now on east London borders. Feels much safer!

Find the secondary school you like and work backwards from that. Start attending church and you have many more options, and you'd be surprised just how far foundation places stretch 'catchment' areas. Catholics seem to do extremely well - see The Oratory for example. Church of England also.

Balham is a relatively safe area. If your kids have a £100 mobile, £100 bike, £10 watch etc they'll likely never have any big issues. Conspicuous displays of wealth (you see it all the time with the never ending spate of thefts of land rovers) in an area with such extremes of inequality will often end badly

I would agree about twickenham/ Richmond. I have lived here for 15 years and compared to other areas of London I have lived in is certainly safer. Lots of good schools but with very small catchments. Good transport links, apart from Hampton which is pretty limited.

Apologies, am getting v specific here on a thread covering all of SW London (+ Devon 😉) but Orleans Park catchment was teeny this year - less than 1km on offer day, and the second set of offers hasn’t gone much further. Think it’s because so many siblings 2 years older, so might be different in the future. Certainly many excellent schools in the area though and feels safe.

Teddington School has been Good for a while now, and getting back to its previous popularity. 10 years ago it was heavily oversubsubscribed, and it is now starting to return to that position. (It had some financial issues, which have been addressed by it becoming part of a Multi Academy Trust, and it has had two new Heads since it got its RI judgement - the first one was credited with turning it around, but then moved to Orleans Park. The most recently appointed Head was previously a popular deputy at another local school).

A lot of families in north Teddington, Hampton Hill and West Twickenham send their children to Turing House School, as it has its main admissions point in Fulwell on the Twickenham/Teddington border.

Hampton families use Hampton High (but watch out, as some southern areas of Hampton have been out of its catchment in the recent bulge years).

West Twickenham property prices are pushed up by proximity to Waldegrave (girls school) but families there with boys or who don't want all-girls use Turing House, Twickenham School or Richmond Upon Thames School. The South Twickenham families that are closest to central Twickenham can still get places at Orleans Park, but only just.

Hampton Hill is my favourite area - a bit cheaper than Teddington and Twickenham, and fewer trains (from Fulwell Station) but on the doorstep of beautiful Bushy Park, and with the fantastic Hampton Open Air Pool at one end of the High Street.

This is why we moved out of London - I lived in Norbury for 27 years. We moved to south Norfolk and it’s safe as anything here, never ever hear of any crime beyond an occasional car theft related incident. But - it’s not great in terms of job opportunities / culture / social diversity etc. I think all cities have their crime issues don’t they; but it depends on what’s important to you in the grand scheme of things. Personally I’m glad we moved even though our combined income has dipped to a third of what is was.

In London lists about safety and happiness, Richmond always seems to come first. Sutton and Kingston are usually not far behind. I'm in Sutton where most areas feel very safe. I have a Y6 son who's been going to nearby shops/parks on his own (or with friends) for over a year now and there have never been any issues. Family friends with children in high schools have not mentioned any problems but of course nowhere will be perfect. Generally speaking, there is a correlation between deprivation and crime, so unfortunately the current economic and social climate may lead to higher crime rates in many parts of the country.

P.S. a correction. Somebody told me that Teddington school was assesed again and it is marked as Good by OFSTED now

If you are aiming for grammar the best would be to move to Kingston because then you are also in catchment for Sutton etc.
If you don't consider grammar then here in TW postcode ( Hampton, Teddington, Richmknt) are good state schools. Actually the only worse school we have is in Teddington close to Kingston as it was marked by OFSTED as Req.Improv.

By looking at the crime map Balham is not safer than Kingston