Commuting from Twickenham to Chiswick for school

[Mom84]

Hi All! I need your help!
We currently live in W4 and DD goes to a local school 15/20 walking. We would love to buy a bigger house but it is proving difficult in this area - extremely expensive. We found a house that we love in Twickenham though, and we are trying to understand if we could get the house and still keep the same school. Our idea is to do drop off by car - average time 45 min (but really anything between 30min and 1h) - and get a nanny for pick up (1h by public transport).
Could this work or we need to give up on the house we like to keep the school?

How old is DD? We lived in Isleworth and DD rowed at Chiswick, she got the train back and forth several times a week when in high school.

DD is only 7

it’s not a very attractive job for a nanny is there an after school club or childminder from which you could collect her later on in the afternoon?

Our DCs went to a private primary in Chiswick and we lived nearby. Almost all of their friends lived in the neighborhood, with a few coming from Shepherd’s Bush, Brook Green or Acton. We did lots of playdates and spent a lot of time getting together at places like Gunnersbury Park, Chiswick House, and Ravenscourt. If your child goes to one of the local schools like Orchard House, C & BP, Falcons, Heathfield, etc., you may find it a real pain to stay in the loop socially. At 7 it may not matter that much but as they get older they will definitely want to spend more time with their friends.

I also think 45 minutes each way is a lot of travel time for a child that young, not to mention the parents who will be spending 3 hours a day going to and from school. Is there a particular reason you want to stay at this school? If there’s something about the school itself that is particularly special then I would say it might be worth the commute. But if it’s just about keeping your child with their friends I wouldn’t worry about it. I know it feels important now but 7 is really so young and friend groups change SO much during the primary years. There is also a good amount of turnover in the primary schools in that area and new children assimilate quickly.

Yes, school offers aftercare until 18.00, but I would like to avoid late pick up every day. At the moment I pick her up after club - at 16.40 - and usually it is already a rush to get homework, bath and dinner done before bedtime.

I would try to get her into a school nearer to the new house in your shoes. This is a crazy long journey for a 7 year old. Yes, in a couple of years she might cope better but in the interim you are stuck with a very long journey and a v tired child. There are lots of good primaries in Twickenham.

Ok - but if she’s coming back on public transport for an hour, with a nanny who has just spent an hour getting there on the bus/tube/train, she’s not going to be in the best state to do homework when she gets in.

The school csnt take tyour DD's place away on the strength of your move out of the area, but... looking at this from another aspect - how under / oversubscribed is your DD's year group at her current school? I know that the general trend in London is a falling birth rate, but if I were a Chiswick parent trying to get a (?year 2 ?year 3) place at a local state school, I'd be ever so slightly t'd off to know that there was a pupil in their year group continuing to attend from their new address a 45 / 60 minute journey away.

Is there a problem with Twickenham primary schools? Are they all oversubscribed? - in which case, I can understand why you would prefer to leave your DD where she is, pending a place becoming available, but such a long journey to / from school for the rest of her primary school career seems excessive.

Most primary schools in Richmond borough have been undersubscribed for the last few years, so there will certainly be spaces in the state sector, which quite frankly is excellent. If she is 7 then she is likely in my son's year - we are down the road in Teddington - and had 5 "outstanding" schools we would definitley have got into had we put it as 1st choice.

I wouldn't want to drive Twickenham to Chiswick everyday, particularly in peak traffic. It would be a horrendous drive, even in "great" conditions.

Thank you everyone for the comments and feedback, it is really helpful.
it looks like we really have 2 options 1) stay put with the house 2) get the bigger house and change school.
thank you again!