Schools outside London

[UMESH1]

Hi,

I have recently moved over to UK from India. My family will be joining me later this year. I have an 8 year old son & I am looking for an area which has higher probability to get him into a grammar school. I work in London so connectivity to London has to be good.

I have done some research however very confused about which area to consider. Would really appreciate your advise on the matter

Why Grammar?
Where in London?
What is your housing budget ?

Do you mean state grammar? If so there are relatively few areas with selective state schools -South
London, Essex, Kent, Bucks - and if not successful the other options are mixed. Many "grammar" schools are actually private fee-paying. Where in London is the destination for commuting?

Kent has grammars and lots of good primaries. I'd consider Canterbury or perhaps a village outside of Ashford so you can use the high speed service into London.

Hi OP

A previous poster has listed the areas which have grammar schools. This Wikipedia entry may also be useful - if you need access to London, look at London, east of England and the south east.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_grammar_schools_in_England

Hi All , thanks for your response. Sorry, i forgot to mention i would prefer living outside London. I work in Blackfriars.

Being new to the country, i am not able to decide which places should i be looking at . It would really help if anyone can suggest me specific places around London that has good schools and would help my sons to get an entry into Grammar School in 11+

I have a 8 year old and a 6 year old, both boys. Would really appreciate any advise .

sorry forgot to mention outside London

I'd go for Slough as it's a full grammar system so the grammars are a bit easier to get into. It's also served by crossrail.

You've Burnham Grammar, Herschel Grammar, Langley Grammar, Upton Court Grammar and St Bernards (Catholic) to choose from. They take about the top 25%, so a safer bet than a super-selective.

But you still haven't said what your housing budget is and whether you are only looking at state schools or if you would consider fee paying!

State primaries generally do not do 11+ preparation, grammar area or not. Can you afford tutoring or do so yourself? Look along the Thameslink line, north and south. There will be some towns in Kent served by it and South London (Croydon, Sutton etc) for example.

www.swhertsschools.org.uk/

Sutton has very good Grammar Schools and a sizeable Indian population @JoJoSM2 has lots of info.

Bromley and Bexley good too for getting into Blackfriars.

Why Grammar schools particularly?

Would you consider outstanding state secondaries?

If you could let us know your approximate budget that would help enormously.

Thanks Reefedsail, i will check Slough. @titchy I would prefer state grammar as i understand fee paying are too expensive (don't mind fee paying if it's only nominal fees upto £200/250 pm or in that range; don't know what sort of fee one has to pay). I am ideally looking upto £250k, however can stretch it upto £300 or so.
@Lizs dont mind tutorial, have had some friends telling me about Sutton, just bit concerned on house pricing though! @wakemewhenitsallover would prefer Grammar however wouldn't mind if they are outstanding secondaries.

So, i will be looking at Slough and Sutton for now, would recommend more suggestions on any other specific areas . Thanks for your help guys!

Secondary independents in South of England can easily be upwards of £15-20k per child even for day fees, well beyond your budget. Bear in mind that this is from net income. Slough is not a particularly attractive town but even there I fear £250/300 won't buy you much, check out Rightmove.

Unfortunately your budget is on the low side for a house in outer London/South East but you should be able to find a two bed flat in the BR5/DA15 postcodes. Or are you willing to rent which would help to widen your areas. A 'cheap' rental in those areas is around £1100-£1500 a month. Housing is cheaper further out (for example Gravesend) but the train costs into London will be high.

As a previous poster has said, private school fees are around 1.5-2K per month for a day school.

Dartford is another area to consider as the Thameslink runs through to Blackfriars and housing is cheap and it has excellent Grammar Schools.

Your budgets an issue unfortunately. Areas will be rough, and assuming you're Indian ethnicity some won't be welcoming to immigrants. Sorry that's quite blunt, but maybe check demographics and constituency voting patterns for UKIP strong areas.

There's plenty available in Slough for just over £300K!

I must admit I don't know the area, so maybe someone local can advise, but here's what RightMove shows for around £300K or so.

This one looks great for example (as long as you don't mind not having a garden).

Interesting layout ([possibly not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it!), very near to Upton Grammar school (anyone know what it's like?) walking distance to the train station and the centre of town:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67805615.html

It's on for offers over £300k but looks like it's been on the market for a while and they've dropped the price several times, so you never know, perhaps they'll even take an offer.

Here's a 3 bed flat for £279k www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74307100.html

A 3 bed house for offers over £325k but again, they've dropped their price once so maybe they're keen to sell, you might get lucky with a lower offer: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-75114715.html

By the way, if you want to know the history of a property, get Property Tracker, it's a Chrome extension.

It puts a little arrow next to every property on Right Move to let you know if the price has changed at all. And if it has you can hover over the arrow and find out how much it used to be.

e.g. I can see this 3 bed started off at £375k back in February, but is still on the market, having dropped the price a twice to bring it down to £319k. Useful info when deciding what to offer.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-78851483.html

More properties in Slough and nearby here

UMESH1 do you know how the pricing works in the UK? So, if there's a price given and it doesn't say anything like "offers in excess of" then that's the asking price but the owner probably doesn't expect to get it, unless they're lucky. You can start bidding quite considerable lower.

How much lower is a reasonable offer and not an insult depends on the local market. In places that are popular and in the middle of a boom, so properties are moving quickly, will expect near to the asking price. But if the market is slow (and it's slowed down a lot recently in most places) then you can offer quite a bit lower.

Can anyone local advise the OP how much lower buyers might expect an offer to be in Slough, roughly?

Or, you'd get a lot more for your money in Cantebury. Which is miles from London, so your kids probably wouldn't see London much, but if that's not an issue - you can use the high speed link to get in for work.

Beware that train is very pricey though! You'd need to factor that in as a significant cost.

Offers in excess of £315k Nice 1930s 3 bed house with massive garden www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67156632.html

£315k - Nice 3 bed, walking distance to the centre of town: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-76773745.html

Offers in excess of £300k - walking distance to town centre
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-86942489.html

Lots of workable options in Dartford too.

e.g.

This 3 bed looks nice: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66933849.html

So does this one www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66816408.html

and this www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66947649.html

and lots more...

thank you all, if i am not able to afford a property with this budget, i am ok to rent. I am willing to go up to £1500/£1800 pm for rent. My main priority is an area with good schools. I can get on to buying a property later.

I have moved for a better education for my kids and if i am not able to do that then it's pointless. Any area that has good schools with higher chances to go to Grammar or Outstanding secondary school will be great.

thank you all for your suggestions, would love to hear back based upon my above requirement. Thanks