Is it normal for so many people to leave London primary schools?

[thejall]

Sorry for the crap title.
We have lost an awful lot of children from my dcs school classes these last few yrs. Some have moved to private & some have left London. Is this normal movement or has covid exacerbated it? The local schools are excellent & Ive never known them to have places whereas they all do now.

I'm in z2/3 & grew up close by but my mum doesn't remember much change & her neighbours are still the same from decades ago whereas lots of my neighbours have also left but the area is very different to how it was when I was young.

I have found it all quite unsettling & definitely put less effort into friendships as what is the point when so transitionary.

Having said that I'm moving further out to z4/5 as the majority of my friends who I grew up with are that way or in Surrey. Same for DH who is also a Londoner. I wouldn't have considered this if I hadn't lost so many friends. Will there be similar movement in the outer zones?

My z3 area certainly isn't a 12min into central as I don't live on the station platform!
Does independent eateries or political leaning mean some place isn't a suburb? Wandsworth where I am has only just turned away from the Tories. K&C is still Tory. If you drive down certain roads in Upper Norwood, Streatham, Croydon, Sutton, Wimbledon, Tooting, Richmond etc they look pretty indistinguishable to me. I always thought a suburb was an area where people live & commute into the centre so I don't count Z3 as the centre & I think gentrification makes areas feel more suburban.

@Forestgate are you leaving London?

@SurreyMumOfOne yes, most people on the road I grew up had very normal jobs with only one parent working. Now you would need 1.8m plus to buy. I went to school in Wimbledon & I remember a friends family bought a house in village in the early 00s for 1m which sold a few years ago for 6m!!!

Where I live is 12 mins into London and although is a suburb of London is not suburbia as used in colloquial terms however @thejall im not sure why you’re fighting with me on a definition of a suburb, it’s derailing your original point a bit. Which I agreed with and said change is good. Hopefully will spur my children on to embrace change and take risks in life

I genuinely didn't know suburbia was a bad thing & like I said I grew up thinking I lived in a suburb 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm hoping the fact there has been so much change in my dcs school that moving to new ones won't be an issue for them.

@thejall you arent at school named for a famous author of a certain rabbit at all - as that is the one I know has been losing loads.

And is close to Wimbledon

Kingston is quite big in terms of shops etc - going there this week for bubble tea and mario cart!

No but I know the one you mean as not that far from there.

Where's the mariokart?

I have heard there is lots of movement from that area to Ewell & surrounds as I think it's on the same line.

I am in Bromley as well and yes, secondary schools are overrun at the moment.

There is definitely a move out of more central London, Bromley is not cheap in general but I do think you get more house for the same amout than in Zone 2 for example. With more hybrid working some people don't mind a longer commute for 2 days a week compared to 5.

@Littlefucker are you North, is the 12 mins door to door? I've always allowed 45 mins to get into town & know some people who live further out that have faster journeys from places in z3 SE.

@thejall a friend has booked it will let you know!

Yes it is the same line - I am the stop before Ewell - 45 mins though seems long. We are off to the theatre tomorrow and we are an hour from door to restaurant in Covent Garden!

I think it's because I spent most of my time East. Although I could drive into Sloane Sq in 20 mins & oxford street in 35 mins but it's too hard to drive into London now. DH drove into the city during the pandemic & his journey took 50 mins, non pandemic you would add an hour onto that.

Have fun!

We are pretty far from London, 1hr 20min on the train and we've noticed families moving in from London since Covid-19.