Desperately need advice - moving to London from Edinburgh

[AuldReekie2017]

Hello Darlings,
My first post here, so please bear with me.

Our family has been living in Edinburgh for the past decade and we've been raising our three kids here as well. Sadly, my husband recently lost his job in the financial sector and there's little hope of finding something similar in Scotland due to the ongoing trend (mergers/acquisitions leading to the job cuts). He's been exploring opportunities in London as the next best option, and was lucky enough to get a couple of solid offers.

As such, we started thinking about moving down south as a family, with housing and schooling emerging as two biggest concerns. I'll park the former for now, and focus my questions on schooling.

Everybody loves Edinburgh's independent schools, and that's indeed one of the greatest things about living there as a family. My three kids go to George Watson, and are starting in P6 (boy), P4 (boy) and P1 (girl). We're quite happy with the school and appreciate the fact that they go to the same place, i.e. co-ed. Both boys are doing really well academically, and were awarded "best pupil" awards in their classes last year.

We figured that upon moving to London will go down the independent root as well, even though it's notably pricier compared to Edinburgh's school fees. The obvious difficulty is finding the right school and, obviously, getting accepted. Whilst we'd much prefer co-ed with all 3 children going to the same school, we're opening up to the idea of separate schools as well.

After doing some research, the school that is coming on top of our list is Alleyn. It seems to be ticking all the boxes (good school, co-ed, academically strong), although I realize that getting there won't be easy. Our oldest boy can apply for the 11+ admission next year (2019/20), and our youngest can apply through the 9+ option, although, again, his chances would be slimmer due to smaller intake. The problem is that leaves our little girl hanging - she'll be 6 next year, and will have to wait another year before going through the 7+ program. That means she'll have to be somewhere just for a year which is less then ideal....

Another option we're looking at is Dulwich College for boys / JAGS for a girl, but that leaves the same problem open, as the girl will only be 6 next year (after finishing P1 in Edinburgh).

You can tell that we sort of like South-West, albeit we're open to moving to any other part of London if we manage to secure a good school arrangement. Hence we looked at some other options, like Ibbstock Place...

Long story short, I would really appreciate some help from this forum:

• What independent schools in London would you suggest us to consider?
• What other general advice could you give in our situation to minimize the disruption and ease the transition for all 3 children?

Thank you so much in advance!
Trust me, I've had enough sleeples nights thinking about our situation, so any advice you could give would be hugely appreciated

Appreciate this advice and this is indeed something we're keeping in mind as a backup plan. We also got to know a few WILLIEs (work in London, live in Edinburgh).

For most families who chose to go down this path there's usually an additional factor keeping them in Edinburgh: wife's job, parents/inlaws who also live in Scotland, more general family heritage etc.

I don't think this an ideal option as I view the main shortcomings as follows:

• you don't end up saving as much, due to the cost of commute and the cost of renting a place to stay in London. Weekly round trip commute isnt cheap, especially once you add trains/taxis to/out of the airport. Renting a bolthole in London (even as a lodger) will add even more cost.

All in all, adding this incremental cost to the average Edinburgh monthly mortgage payment, you get the average London mortgage (at least!)

• doing this for a prolonged period of time (years) sounds like an ordeal and not like a family life... Again, I know people who do this with their kids in the senior school, i.e. handful of years before they fly the nest. In our case, DD is only just starting the primary hence we got many years of schooling ahead of us

• finally, this commute is not that reliable - flights regularly get delayed etc. Depending on the line of work one's in, this may not be an issue, but my husband needs to be in the office during regular hours.

So, not an ideal option after all......

Dara - many thanks for such thorough advice.

Just to let you know as a courtesy, that the link to your website doesn't work when you click on it, as it appears to not support a secure connection (https). I was only able to open it as a non-secure connection (http) by typing the link manually. You might want to raise it with your web-hoster to address that.

As a plan B I would consider living outside of London. Most rural prep schools in the home counties have spaces outside of the main transition windows and prepare for a wide range of schools. Cross Rail will get you into Berkshire with many excellent schools, or an hour's commute will also get you into Oxford or Cambridge with a great choice of schools and usually vacancies at all ages even at league topping institutions.

The Dulwich area is a good area to move to: Herne Hill, Dulwich, East Dulwich.

Access to the schools you have identified, Alleyns, JAGS (which has JAPS, the Prep school for your youngest). And other good independents close by. Sydenham, St Dunstans, and actually the state schools are also excellent. Herne Hill is close to Streatham and Clapham GDST Prep school.