Primary schools in south london

[minxmum]

Hi,

I'm a regular lurker on mumsnet but very rarely utter a sound! And apologies if I'm in the wrong topic area. But big changes are taking place so was just wondering if I could get a bit of advice. I currently live up north but have been offered a job in London at the end of the year. I'm a single parent to a 20mo DD and am keen to find somewhere to live that ticks a number of "lifestyle" boxes whilst being restricted by house prices i.e. can't afford places like Clapham. My mum lives in Kent, hence south london, and I will be working in Westminster so need reasonable transport links into central london. But, more importantly, would also like nearby primary schools to be of a reasonable standard. I have lots of friends in london but none with kids so was just wondering if I could get some parents' perspectives, ideas etc. about where to start looking. Thanks!

I think you'd need to decide on an area first and then within that area try and get into the catchment area of a good school. All LEAs will have "good" and "bad" schools, have a look on their websites and see how the schools compare with the national average. We are in Wimbledon, nice place, good primary schools.

sarf east london is better value in terms of house prices and near to kent (I'm in north tho) - are you going to buy somewhere or rent?

Agree with Cristina (Buna Dimineata, Cristina! Hristos a inviat!) re Wimbledon. We are moving out of Lambeth to somewhere near Milton Keynes due (mostly but not entirely) to lousy schools. Streatham and Bromley seem to have reasonable schools too.

Ooh, thanks for speedy responses. Looking to buy rather than rent. Wimbledon seems nice but just worried it might be out of my price range. Have been considering Forest Hill and Crystal Palace but looking at OFSTED reports for CP, schools not looking too hot. How's Streatham as a place to live? Nice parks etc?

Further south than that is nice - Coulsdon, Purley, Chipstead and has very good train links into Westminster (where I work). Schools very good in Coulsdon, not sure about Purley.

I used to live in Streatham and liked it. There is Streatham Common and also Tooting and Wandsworth not too far away. Bits of Streatham are still a bit grotty (red light area), but most of it is not too bad (but I have been away quite a while!). We did think of moving there and a lot of the schools have significantly better Ofsted reports than those where we were going to be living (North Lambeth). Have you thought of Bromley? Good rail link to Victoria.

Shall we have a Westminster Mumsnet lunch meet up when I get back?

We live on the boarders of Sidcup and Eltham and I love it - very good schools as well especially if you are religeous (DD goes to local catholic school and hopefully DS will too - they have a fab nursery which has been given all sorts of awards and they take them inthe nursery for 2.5 hours every day from the term before they are 5!!)and lots to do for the kids - Greenwich Park and all that is a short hop on a bus away and it takes DP 30 minutes door to door to get into work (Old Broad Street area) - sure the trains go through to Waterloo from here or the Eltham ones go to Victoria - train prices aren't too ridelulous either as we are still in zone 4.

(ahem - but most of Streatham is in Lambeth!)
Minxmum - there are some cracking primary schools in Lambeth, and housing is indeed cheaper than in other areas with good transport links. Go to the BBC schools guide and look at the 'league table' results for lambeth etc in order of scores....but you would need to be very close to the school to be in the catchment for the really popular ones.

Lambeth is not blessed with a good choice of secondary schools. Can't think of anywhere in S London that is. Odd schools, certainly, but not the majority.

Friends in Crystal Palace not having great experience of primary schools in their area. From her research she's considering moving to Bromley/ Orpington/ Beckenham. All great for trains to London and mostly good OFSTEDs.

Yes, sorry, Blu, I did mean Laaaambeff proper as in Laaaaambeff Walk (oy!) which is where our flat is.

Aha- we looked at a school near Lambeff Walk (oy!) which was just inching out of special measures...v difficult.

if you're prepared for the derogatory looks from Islingtonites SW london is good for schools, house prices, links into central london, generally nice feeling and a good share of open spaces (Richmond and Bushey Parks, Wimbledon Common, the river) Surbiton, Kingston, New Malden, Raynes Park - somwhat lacking in edginess but generally tick the other boxes - more expensive than SE london but worth exploring as has wild local price variations depending mostly on proximity to stations and Richmond Park.

Bexleyheath is nice - good schools generally. Good train links to London (Zone 5 I believe) - 35/40 mins to London.

If you're looking for a good local school, cheap housing, and a direct link to London Victoria, you probably should look at Gipsy Hill? I am in Streatham Hill, which is great for transport links and housing is cheap for what you get - but you have to live practically on top of the school to get into the good one.

Minxmum - Earlsfield, Southfields and Raynes Park are all not far from Wimbledon and considerably cheaper.

Should also have added lots of good primaries in those areas too.

I live in Gipsy Hill (Crystal Palace). We're currently considering what primary schools to apply for. I've been 'roudn a couple and have been very impressed. The local school has improved 10 fold over the past year and I've heard lots of good things about the head teacher. As to secondary schools.... well, that's a long way off for us. But, Lambeth has the lowest no. of secondary schools per child (or some statistic like that) and has been promised more. We'll hope that the secondary school situation improves by the time that that becomes our problem.

I love living in Gipsy Hill. Loads of parks. Nice restaurants for the Mummys and Daddys and I've met so many people here. It seems to be such a friendly area compared to other parts of London I've lived in. There is an absolutely fantastic GP surgery which has been fantastic with both of my girls. Trains to Victoria and London Bridge are fairly frequent.

Good luck with the move, CAT me if you end up in Gipsy Hill/Crystal Palace or if you have any area specific Qs.

The London Borough of Merton (including Wimbledon) has excellent provision for nursery places - you are almost guaranteed to get into a nursery. Many primary schools are very good, but secondary schools stink. Most kids who are able to go outside the borough at age 11.

Wimbledon village is expensive, but prices drop quickly as you go south to Wimbledon central, South Wimbeldon, Morden and Mitcham.

Forest Hill has some nice ones. DD1's school is technically in FH and I'd thoroughly recommend it, and quite a few others.

minxmum - could you say roughly how much you could spend on a house, and how big you need it to be? that's the first biug defining factor in thinking where you could live.
If you could afford £330k for 3 or 4 beds, you could live on top of a v good primary in Streatham Hill, within 10 mins walk of two separate excellent rail links to central London.

clerkKent, out of interest, where do kids go from Merton when they turn 11? Have a 4yr old in nursery, and generally agree that the primary schools are good. So what do people do who can't afford Kings College?

They go in all directions - grammar schools in Kingston or Sutton, ADP in Putney, Graveney or St Cecilia's in Wandsworth.