Stay and pay for private secondary or move homes? (Sutton/Clapham)

[ulavera]

So the usual dilemma really, just looking for opinions :)

We have a lovely house in Sutton, DD is in a great state primary. I am not very keen on the all girls schools and do not think DD will enjoy them, so don't really want our local grammars for DD. We are not in catchment of any good secondary schools, pretty much in a black hole for secondary schools locally.

I have friends living near Clapham Junction, I have visited them a lot and love the area. They speak very highly of both their local state primaries (Belleville and Honeywell) and secondary - Bolingbroke Academy.

I have also changed jobs recently and now my commute is really long, so I have started thinking about possibly selling our house and moving to near Clapham Junction, which will shorten my commute almost by half.

The usual problem is that moving is expensive in itself, and we will get a smaller and not as good a house in Clapham, most likely with a number of compromises in terms of the size and location/street.

In terms of money, it is likely to cost us about the same money to take DD through private school from Y7 until A levels and to move houses to a smaller house in a more expensive location.

So my options are:

1 - stay put and DD applies for local independents (City of London Freemens and Caterham):
Pluses: we stay in our excellent house (I love it and it's all I ever wanted), DD can stay in her lovely primary until the end of Y6 (which she loves and has lots of friends), she will get all benefits of private education and there is no hassle for us
Minuses: her commute to school (30mins by school bus) and future school friends likely not living very close (issues with playdates if they are 30mins by car away?), my commute to work remains long, the cost of private school can rise more than planned, possibly disadvantages for uni admission (less of a worry for us right now to be honest)

2 - move to Clapham Junction at the end of Y5 and send DD to Bolingbroke Academy
Pluses: local walk-to school, most classmates local, my commute to work much shorter, I am much more flexible if I need to change jobs again (location wise), closer to London so possibly more opportunities for DD as she grows up?
Minuses: need to move DD in-year (uncertainty - what if no school places in feeder schools? what if she doesn't fit it or does not like the school and loses motivation to study?), the new house will be worse that the existing one (less space, renovation needed etc), does Bolingbroke really compares well with the good private school and offers similar experience?

Any opinions / views very welcome!

Thank you in advance!

We had a similar dilemma (except we had two DDs so double the cost for independent!) and decided that we'd rather spend the money on a fixed asset via our mortgage, than school fees.

We moved (we're in Sanderstead, just over the border from you in Croydon Borough) where there are a number of outstanding primaries and within catchment for an outstanding secondary. Our commute is 20/25 mins into London Bridge or Victoria, so it's much better than the longer stopping trains.

Is it Clapham Junction or nowhere, I suppose is the question? I'd personally not want to make so much of a sacrifice in my living space (especially as CJ does not suit my lifestyle in the way it did in my twenties 😂) so is there a compromise to be made elsewhere?

Thank you LBOCS2!
It is pretty much stay put or move to Clapham Junction - my commute is 28mins to London Victoria now, plus 20mins on the tube from there, so I wanted to shorten it to 5mins to London Victoria, anything else will not really make that much of a difference, given that if I change jobs again the new job could be anywhere in London...

I don't know the specific area and schools you are wondering about but I had a similar dilemma in a different city. We chose the private option and haven't regretted it.

To address some of your concerns in option A -
By the end of the 2nd week of commuting in, DD will be comfortable enough with commuting on public transport that socialising with other pupils isn't a problem - they can readily work out how to navigate to an appropriate midway meeting place if they want to see each other at the weekend, or do something after school and travel home later.

The idea that being at a private school is detrimental for university applications is bollocks and fake hyperbole. Private school applicants are still significantly at and advantage over state school pupils for university entrance, it's just that the advantage is less now than it used to be. You are definitely not disadvantaging a child by sending them to a private school. 47% of private school A-Level entrants get at least one A or A* against 22% of state school, so thats approx 22,200 A-grade people from private schools vs 50,200 A-grade people from state schools which is about 30% of A-grade people having done the A-levels in a private school. A lot of high-calibre universities have more than 30% of their undergraduates coming from private schools which is generally entirely in-proportion to the available high-calibre applicants. Oxbridge has been reducing the proportion from private being the majority to being closer to a fair proportion based on the pool of potential candidates but that's by being careful not to unfairly be biased in favour of private school pupils rather than unfairly biasing against them. Many universities whose offers tend to be BBB or lower have much higher proportions of state school students but these variances are in most cases entirely in keeping with the applicant pool.

are there any open spaces at either of the schools? nappy valley gives the impression both are significantly oversubscribed.

CJ is a different lifestyle to Sutton. It's urban and busy. You need to think about whether you want that. Personally I'd choose Sutton as it's quieter, but that's me.

@ulavera

Have you looked at greenshaw in Sutton - mixed comp not single sex.

It takes 70 11+ places which takes away the distance issue.

It's not streamed when you are in it but majority of my daughter's friends got in via 11+ and plenty of them got all 7-9's.

Building is a bit run down but it's just started work on a major rebuilding programme.

Also if you are skilled in drama / music etc I think glenthorne is meant to be pretty good but no personal experience. You can get in based on auditions with no distance criteria.

Not sure where you travel on to from Victoria, but Purley is worth considering for Riddlesdown school, and the Thameslink trains from there are very convenient for cutting through London (and it’s a much quicker line than the annoying stopping ones from Sutton).