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…

Not Catholic so not an option - there’s always a catch isn’t there. This is what I mean about London schools being polarised. There are very few areas where all the kids seem to just go to the local comp.

Graveney grammar stream is good but the rest is not (apparently). I don’t know all of the others but I do know that there are well-known private schools near at least some if not all of them.

I think Hither Green feels quite suburban, but it's very popular for families. Brockley feels more 'inner London' but haven't lived round there.

Lewisham primary schools are generally all good, although would avoid the very south of borough (Downham, Bellingham). Secondaries are more mixed, but depending where you end up can consider travel to Southwark or Greenwich. I'd avoid Conisbrough College, Haberdashers Knights, and St Matthews Academy.
Reputation/achievement of other schools seems to be going up or down quite rapidly in some cases so it could all be different in 5-7 years.

What about Forest Hill, Honor Oak, or Brockley? There are many brilliant primary schools in the area, house prices are relatively reasonable, and public transport links are really good.

I don’t know what your budget is but I think London is spoilt for choice for schools. I would say Hackney, Waltham Forest and Haringey all feel like London and have some brilliant schools - primary and secondary.

Graveney grammar stream is good but the rest is not (apparently). I don’t know all of the others but I do know that there are well-known private schools near at least some if not all of them

Thats not true but a myth often peddled. It is very hard though to get a place based on the test. There are plenty of dc who end up in Whitgift, Dulwich etc who don’t score high enough for Graveney.

A lot of the polarisation comes from parents themselves who went private & genuinely think a London state is like the school in Adolescence!

@PancakeCloud a lot of people have mentioned places outside London, but you want zone 2 or as near to it as possible. As you are happy with a flat take a look at:
Little Venice - there is a popular Cof E primary school, but I can't think of the name at the moment and Marylebone Girls School isn't far. You need to attend the church attached to the school for two or three years to guarantee a non selective spot.
Camden, Tuffnell Park and Kentish Town - Hawley Infants and Eleanor Palmer Primary are particularly good. Then you have Camden School for Girls and Parliament Hill (secondary). I don't know much about the boys' state secondary schools in that area.
Crouch End - all the primaries are very good, and Highgate Wood is popular as it's co-ed.
Borders of Bounds Green / Muswell Hill are quite boring, but in the catchment for Rhodes Avenue primary and Alexandra Park Secondary.
There is a secondary near Alexandra Park Station (can't remember it's name) which seems to be popular on Mumsnet.
Mossbourne Victoria Park is very popular and also offers rowing.

It doesn’t matter where it comes from, my point is that it exists, as you seem to agree.

I went to a state school myself but not in London and there was none of this angst as everyone just went to the closest one. Ideally I’d like that for my own kids to have local friends etc but at present all of their peers seem to have plans to move or are saving to go private.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/167347871

If you can plan and time things right, you can get into a sought-after school by renting a small place very close by (even a 1 bed flat if you can tolerate living there for a fixed period), rather having to buy, then buying out of the area once the child has got a place. Your younger child could hopefully get in on sibling priority (so you'd want a mixed school). You would have to not own another property at the time, and time it at the right point in the admissions cycle, andfor a school which has a sibling policy where it doesn't matter if you have moved out of area. But it's a known effective strategy and can work if you are clued up with the admissions policies of a specific school.

I’m looking for an area to settle in for the next 10-15 years

It doesn’t matter where it comes from, my point is that it exists, as you seem to agree.

I was agreeing with you!

Thank you. Hackney and Waltham Forest are definitely areas I had in mind but wasn’t sure about the schools so this is reassuring. Mossbourne in Hackney has been mentioned but any insight on the good secondaries in Waltham Forest?

Im a Londoner and went to state, it wasn’t the polarisation you see now. But London was a different city in the 90s

Woodford Green. Wells School is very good.

Echo comments above re Dulwich and Herne Hill for charter north and lots of good primaries. Also worth looking into whether you’d be happy with charter east as gives more options to live in a wider area . Pretty much all primaries are good or outstanding in north and East Dulwich

Near Kingston academy? I really like kingston and still feels "london"

Forest Hill. You'll get 3 beds for that, good primaries, and Sydenham (girls) and Forest Hill (boys) which are good non selective comps that still feel London. You could have a look round Streatham and Tulse Hill as well, watch the catchments. Zone 3 and on the east London line.

Or if you wanted to be more central again, what about Brockley, New Cross or Deptford- near enough to either Addy and Stanhope or Deptford Green. Basically Lewisham has a lot of decent non selective schools and reasonable house prices.

Obviously most Londoners go for state! We have the best state schools in the country.

@PancakeCloud

How old are your children at the moment, OP?

2 under 2! So thinking long term, appreciate things may change by the time they get to secondary

Secondaries can change quite a lot in that time then.

un all honesty you don’t really get true comprehensives in London.

my ExH grew up in the Peak District and there was only one secondary in the local town and everyone for twenty miles around went to it.

London has so many private schools, grammars, religious schools that the non selectives aren’t really comprehensive.

Chiswick has good schools but very expensive houses!

A lot of the highly regarded London secondaries have been highly regarded since I was a dc.

Waltham Forest has a plethora of excellent primaries and the secondary schools are very decent. There is Walthamstow school for girls if you're looking for single sex, and Woodford County grammar is also girls only (the boys grammar is further out in Redbridge).