Best areas commutable to London with primary and secondary schools

[Shrirao]

HI Mums,

I will be moving to UK next year with my 12 year old son and 9 year old daughter.. I am clueless where to start from. My main aim is to be closer to good state schools from commutable distance from London.

I was looking at welwyn Garden city area. Is there any other area you guys recommend? Any tips will be helpful. Thank you in advance :)

I will have more queries post this query.. please bare with me :)

Shri

In my view - if your children are academic avoid a full grammar county as your older one will not have sat the test and your younger one won't have much if any time to prepare/register for the test (and even with prep may not get in). It's a horrible system.

I imagine there is a list somewhere of which counties are full grammar (rather than just having the odd one). There aren't many so it's easy enough to avoid but it wasn't on my radar at all when we moved here pre children so I didn't realise...

You want an area with good comprehensive schools.

Which London station are you commuting to? Buying or renting and what size of house? Budget?!

Surrey isn’t a grammar school county, but prices are very expensive. North Hampshire is similar.

What age will your children be on 1 Sep 2025? This dictates the school year they go into.

Welwyn is Herts which is not a grammar school county.

Mostly comfortable, middle class families with schools which are fine. It's a nice town with good connections to London and much cheaper than some.

Honestly, most of the commuter belt around London is ok.

Most schools in London do better than comparable schools in other parts of the UK.

Grammar counties are Buckinghamshire and Kent. Bucks grammars are always full so no change for the 12 year old. There are late entry tests though. However there are sought after secondaries in Bucks, but they won’t have spaces either. Hants would be my choice. They do have the huge 6th form colleges which are very good. I’d look there if you can afford it.

Budget is likely to be more of an issue.

Also which country are you coming from? Some countries have education systems that don't link well with the U.K. one; others do.

You will want a secondary for your teen and a primary school for your 9 year old. These are not standard admission points so it may be a case of where there is space.

Schools are much better in St Albans than Welwyn Garden City.

Thanks Mums.

We will be re-locating from India. We need to stay commutable distance to London and Cambridge for work.

My Boy will turn 12 in 2025 April , Girl will turn 9 in August 2025.

We are more keen on state schools with good rating. Is it recommended that the ofsted rate should be outstanding ? or good is fine?

Is there any catch getting into schools if we are placed in the right catchment area?

We will be there sometime in end of May back in UK. Should we apply to school in advance?

We are looking to rent first and buy in and around same area.

Budget around 650,000 should be ok,

Shri

If you are coming in the middle of the year or after the normal entry points (i.e. year 7 for starting secondary) then I don't think you would get a place just by moving into the catchment if the relevant year group at the school you want is already full. You would need a space to come up in the right year for your child and if it's a very popular school there may already be waiting lists for spaces that come up. It sounds like they may be going into year 5 and year 8 in September 2025? So unless you move to an area with middle schools that start at year 5 that isn't a normal entry point and it would depend where a space is available.

So I wouldn't get caught up in good vs outstanding because you may well not have a lot of choice unfortunately. I would probably look for somewhere with a good secondary that you can aim for with your year 5 and then hope there may be a space for your year 8.
Other people may have more helpful advice though as I haven't personally done a move for my children.

As above, you may have little choice about schools if you come mid-year. They will not consider your application until you have an address to apply from so you cannot do this in advance. £650000 will limit your options even further in most of the area you are looking at. You would be able to get something in Welwyn Garden City but schools are only ok. If Cambridge is relevant then you might want to look at Hitchin.

For London and Cambridge I would consider Bishops Stortford, which is halfway between the two and has excellent schools. It is also on a cheaper train line than the Cambridge to London King's Cross line, which seems really expensive. Trains from Stortford take 25-35 minutes to Tottenham Hale and about 40-50 minutes to London Liverpool Street.

Depending on how often you have to travel, and whether you prefer a town or village, you could look at other locations on this line.

This might be helpful for Hertfordshire schools. Obviously the information will change regularly (and sometimes quickly) but will give you an idea of which schools currently have places in every year group and those with no places at all.

www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/school-admissions/in-year-admissions-change-schools-during-the-year/school-vacancies/vacancies-in-hertfordshire-schools.aspx

What would be the best time to shift then so that I don’t have trouble
getting into state schools ? I can come in early

Trouble is OP, the application point for your DS to go to a state secondary at the normal entry point would have been last October when he was 10.

He would have started in year 7 this September so whatever you do, he will be a late entrant and you will have to take the place that is available. The local authority has to provide you with a school place once you have an address in England and apply. It might not be where you want tho as popular schools are less likely to have places.

We’ve just done an in-year move and apps are right, the council allocates your kids to whichever school has spaces - sometimes that’s in the whole borough or county so it can be quite far. The UK school system is labyrinthine and there are exceptions where schools manage their own in-year applications.

Often on the council website you can find a spreadsheet of schools with spaces. This gives you an idea of where your kid would go if you moved today.

We needed two places in the same primary so looked for areas with two schools very close together. We knew from the spreadsheet there would be a place at either.

In terms of secondaries, that might be harder. An option is to move to a very new school that has been less popular because it hasn’t had Ofsted. Lots of online research is your friend.

After we found a school then we picked the rental. (Which was also pretty gruelling!) Really good luck.

You could consider speaking to an education consultant - probably not cheap (no idea, you'd have to Google) and you'd want one who also knows state schools as I imagine many are private.

Otherwise you could contact the local council if the areas you're looking at - find the schools nearby and look up their admissions policies and then see if you can talk to the admissions team to get a better idea - they'll maybe also be able to tell you if there's already a long wait list for in year admissions.

Unfortunately as others say, the system here isn't great and you might not get a place in your preferred schools..if you move near a good secondary (in catchment area) your younger child would hopefully get in when time comes, but your older child might have to start elsewhere. I've also read about people looking to start at the start of the school year in September but the admissions teams don't work over summer so they don't get a place until a few weeks into the year and you basically have to home school then. So May sounds like a good time, ideally one parent comes first to secure a rental address as you can't apply till you have this. But also renting isn't easy without a rental history so you might struggle there - same with getting a mortgage.

The only way to guarantee a spot somewhere is to go private, you could end up only getting a place ages away from where you live and then just have to try to move again later.

Also don't worry too much about Ofsted, good is probably fine - it depends on the school, what your kids are into, how long ago the report was done, etc.

I’d look further north in Herts if you need London and Cambridge.

Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock sort of area. Not Royston, school is not great.

Are you in a position to pay 6 months rent upfront, say? That could help with securing a rental.

Thanks mums ,

idea is one of us will come first (6months prior).
i am not too worried for my younger one .. older one going to secondary is my concern.. don’t want to come there and change schools.. leaving the country itself is a big change for them.. As much as possible I want to get to good state schools and not worry about his school.

post that we will think about buying place around the area..

Maybe Buntingford? - as it has a three tier system. No rail line but otherwise well situated.

@FraterculaArctica what is three tier system mean ? what is the advantage?

They change schools twice (after year 4 and year 8) instead of after year 6. So if you arrived e.g. at the start of year 8, you would have the same chance of anyone else of getting your older child into your preferred upper school.

The problem about one of you coming earlier to apply for schools is that if you apply and are offered a place/s the schools will expect you to take up the places within a couple of weeks, they won’t hang on to them for you. It would be a good idea to have an idea of where you want to live, and for one of you to come and secure a house/flat in that area, before the children come, because you will need an UK address for your school application. Most applications are made through what is called the Local Authority, which is the administrative office for the area you will be living in and which you can google. Some state funded schools, called Academies, administer their own admissions.

So 1) decide where you want to live and research schools in that area. you can ask the school and the local authority which schools have vacancies in the appropriate years. But be aware that this can change very rapidly. Because of the way boundaries are drawn you might find that the schools you prefer are in a neighbouring authority, don’t worry, you can still apply to them.

2. rent accomodation in that area, as close to the preferred school/s as you can , not that it will make a difference to your application, but it willmake it easier to get the children to and from school.

3. make the application when you know the children are coming over. They will either be offered a place which you will need to take up quickly, or they will be refused.

if refused you have several options.

Either :Go on the waiting list for the school you want but accept a place at another school

Or : Appeal against the decision ( come back to Mumsnet if you need advice on appeals , they are complicated things)

If there are absolutely no places within a reasonable distance of where you will be living you can apply for a place through what is called “Fair Access”, again , this is complicated , so if you need to come back and ask.

Good luck.