Area with good schools that actually feels like London?

[PancakeCloud]

I’m very much a city person, I like busy areas, I’ve lived in zone 2 for most of my life. I like having cafes, shops and bars around and feeling well connected to the rest of London.

I’m now in the position of being in a too small flat with small children and trying to work out where I can move to that still feels like London but has decent state primaries and secondaries for a girl and a boy. I’d prefer non-selective, non-grammar schools as I hate the idea of having to tutor primary school kids.

Does an area like this actually exist?? I suspect not but thought I’d ask anyway just in case…

In Wapping, St Peter's is a Primary.

https://www.splds.org.uk/

The closest vibe you could get is Bristol (I'm very much a city dweller and find anywhere but London a misery but I can tolerate Bristol). It would be difficult to commute though.

Historically overpriced N London is falling so you could find a 3 bed in some non-fashionable parts of it more affordable than before. Alexandra Park school is reasonably good.

Or Islington and apply for DAO, but Islington is still expensive (not for much longer though).

Well the best London secondaries are the grammars but there are still some non selective options just not many.

South wise outer boroughs it would be Kingston, Richmond and Sutton.

Richmond probably has the most options.

The problem with inner London boroughs is gentrification has pushed a lot of families out and of the families who stay a lot prefer private for secondary or you need the budget to be in the tiny catchment of the one excellent free option. Inner London schools are suffering from following rolls which isn’t good as it means less money, you want a full school.

For that budget I would look round Nunhead, Brockley, bottom of Peckham Rye park. Lots of good primaries and choice of secondaries. Personally would look west of the railway line once south of Brockley.

Looks like Islington is going in the red, too https://houseprices.io/?q=Islington
Apt 33 is a 3 bed and it's £565k.

Have you looked on this site?

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/?searchtype=search-by-la&keywords=Richmond+upon+Thames&page=1&schooltype=1,2&radius=3&schoollevel=IsSecondary&la=318

Outer boroughs won’t feel like z2 though but they tend to be safer, have more families & lots of green space. There are plenty of nice little pockets where you can be 15 mins walk from a decent high street & station, some you may even get a house for 750k

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/174949436

Fellow Herne Hill resident here (hello @glowfrog!) and it’s good for schools although agree the catchment for Charter North is small. Charter East is newer but I’ve heard good reports and friends who live further away have got places there. I think all primaries are rated outstanding or good - Judith Kerr is very popular and over subscribed but we have friends at the others nearby (Rosendale, Jessop, St Saviours, Bessemer and Dulwich Village Infants/Dulwich Hamlet Junior) who are all very happy.

750k is a tight budget but possibly doable. You need to make sure you’re the North Dulwich side for Charter.

it still feels very central - 10 mins to Victoria and 20 mins to St Pancras on trains from Herne Hill. Also trains to London Bridge from north Dulwich and easy to get to Brixton/peckham.

London doesn’t even have a global
comparison - New York maybe?

Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester are all biggish cities with a good vibe but none of them feel like London or have the range of activities.

How about Zones 3-4 or further out, so you can still get back in?

Lewisham is quite urban feeling and will be cheaper than zone 2.

primary schools are good all over

I’d try Hither Green (Lewisham Borough) or Greenwich. Both have excellent primaries and some good secondaries (non selective). Leigh Academy in Blackheath Standard is good. Nice area, close to Greenwich, park and river.

@jw13I can vouch for how lovely Judith Kerr Primary is! I have seen some places for 750k not far from Charter recently on Rightmove. HH is so great for getting into central London, isn’t it? As well as giving that village feel.

i really need to win the lottery…

It does also depend on what you class as a good school, academics are important to me so I want a high % achieving grade 5 or above in maths & english and a high attainment 8 score. Annoyingly you can’t drill down to see the spread across ability & pupil characteristics at the moment. I like to see how the middle achievers do etc.

I know the kind of area you are after OP - we have found it in Camden, but we have 2 girls and close to Camden School for Girls. The options for boys aren't as good - I think Acland is not too bad but not so great you'd move house for it.

I think Fortismere is mixed and is still fairly good although not as popular as it used to be. The primary schools around there are very good. Alexandra Park school is nearby and is mixed and popular, but strict. Muswell Hill is where a lot of families move to for schools, but it feels quite quiet and cut off to me.

London, including central London, has lots of absolutely brilliant state schools. It is incredibly well served with schools. The only difficulty is that the "catchments" (not really catchments) tend to be small so you have to do your research. I would suggest finding areas you like and then looking at the schools rather than starting with the schools, simply because there are so many areas where he schools are good.

How about Angel? Hugh Myd-outstanding primary, City of London Academy- outstanding secondary. Zone 1 rather than zone 2. A flat is doable on your budget but it would be small.

Or Highgate/Crouch End/Muswell Hill- lots of great schools. Obviously much less central but you still very much feel like you're in London. Again it would be a flat.

Absolutely no need to leave London for what you want.

Willing to look further out but life is in London so reluctant to go to a whole other city. I don’t know Lewisham at all, does it have decent schools? Any particular areas to focus on?

Thanks this is very helpful. Had assumed Camden was out of budget but will take a look at the boys school and get on rightmove to see if anything remotely doable

Highams Park used to be good for schools. I don’t know recently as we are beyond that stage now but worth a look.

I’m on a similar boat OP. I live in zone 3 and our nearest school is one of the very strict but high achieving ones similar to those a pp mentioned. Its aim is to get results for its main demographic - hard-working 1st-3rd gen immigrants with a STEM focus - and it does a great job and is Ofsted outstanding.

My kids are not that though - eldest especially is more interested in the arts - and I’d like them to have a wider range of options including extra curriculars, so I’m a bit at a loss. Schools in London generally seem so polarised - if you want a proper comprehensive that is actually diverse you’re better off looking outside London where the rich and bright kids haven’t all been creamed off to privates and grammars, but like you we love living in London and I don’t want to lose family time to a commute, so watching with interest.

@PancakeCloud many of the areas being mentioned at Lewisham - Brockley, Hither Green, Honor Oak, or Nunhead and Peckham are in Southwark.

Good to know primaries good all over and yes I am finding it very hard to assess based on info online. I think academic achievement is a very good indicator that a school is good but of course it’s not the whole picture, and I want somewhere a child can thrive whether they are academic or not.

I wouldn’t touch a Michaela style school with a barge pole.

Ah got it thank you. Don’t know SE London well but - and perhaps my info is out of date - suspect it may be a bit cheaper than some other areas so I will definitely do a bit of digging. Do areas like Brockley, Hither Green etc feel a bit more suburban? They’re just not areas I know or ever have heard much about

the rich and bright kids haven’t all been creamed off to privates and grammars, but like you we love living in London and I don’t want to lose family time to a commute, so watching with interest.

There are plenty of rich & bright dc at schools like Charter North, Graveney, Glenthorne, Kingston Academy, Waldegrave, Orleans Park etc & definitely in the Catholic options

@PancakeCloud so what you tend to find when you can drill down is that higher achievers do well even in an ok school although they may not make as much progress vs a great one. And girls do better than boys. So I want a school where lower & middle achievers progress & boys do well for example. Those schools tend to have the 70% plus achieving a 5 in maths & english.

Demographics play a part of course, my dcs primary gets excellent results. Now it is a very good school but plenty of parents are tutoring outside for grammars which pushes up the results.