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…

Do you think you have to bite the bullet and try and get kids into selectives to get a decent education? It’s a way off for us, and I had a comprehensive education so assumed my children would have the same, but perhaps I’m naive in not considering selective options

Sutton has good schools. Camden obviously but that's too central to get a big enough house presumably. Places like Tottenham and Newham are near enough to central and more reasonable?

Anywhere within a few mins walk of an Elizabeth line station to the east or west?

@PancakeCloud

Do you or your partner need to be in an area with easy access to a route to work, OP?

That might influence your choice.

My issue with Tottenham and Newham is the schools. Perhaps they’re not bad? But I’ve never heard specifically good things

Yes, we will and it will also be a factor but less of one than it has been in the past due to hybrid working.

We're in Barnet. Yes, it's more suburban than Camden but it is undeniably London not St Albans or Hitchin.

All of the local comprehensives are good or better. They are truly comprehensive as there are very, very few selectives in the area (QE Boys and Henrietta Barnet take very few local kids) and they have populations that reflect the diversity of our area. Almost all of the kids I know went to a school within walking distance of their homes. Most don't try for selectives and, of those that do, a fair proportion end up in the comprehensives and their parents are generally satisfied.

Might struggle to get a 3 bed in SN for £750k

Waltham Forest has good schools. Lots of people rate the girls’ school though I haven’t heard the best things about it. My kids are doing brilliantly at Frederick bremer which doesn’t have the best results on paper but is incredibly nurturing and caring and my kids are on track to come out with great results. I also hear good things about Highams Park, Leytonstone, Heathcote. All the schools are rated Good by Ofsted. It’s a fab place to live and while im not a green voter I’m delighted to live somewhere with no reform councillors and a progressive left council

Do you think you have to bite the bullet and try and get kids into selectives to get a decent education? It’s a way off for us, and I had a comprehensive education so assumed my children would have the same, but perhaps I’m naive in not considering selective options

I definitely think there are non selectives that offer a great education. There is nothing wrong with trying for a grammar, some have no catchment, some have priority postcodes etc so you need to check the schools. The competition is fierce though and many dc are tutored from yr 4 or earlier, I know dc who do 3/4 hours a week.

Walthamstow apart from the village is an absolute shithole. Been there recently.

Hither Green is good. My DB moved there (Catford but HG side) and his 7 year old goes to Sandhurst which is good. Torridon is round the corner from them but no offer from them when they moved. Short bus ride away is Blackheath which has the Conservatoire for art and music lessons and there’s a maths school there too.

Beckenham has a villagey feel and has lots of good schools there and nearby.

Lauriston primary in Hackney is excellent. Nephew used to go there.

I’d go Hither Green. Very well connected and lovely area. Better value than many places.

If you’re interested OP my DB got a nice 3 bedroom Victorian house in Catford Hither Green a year ago for £550K. With your budget you’d get more. Some streets near Lewisham are surprisingly nice and leafy. Parks good round there though they tend to go to Beckenham Place Park.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?sortType=2&channel=BUY&transactionType=BUY&locationIdentifier=REGION%5E70415&minBedrooms=3&maxBedrooms=3&propertyTypes=detached%2Csemi-detached%2Cterraced&displayLocationIdentifier=Hither-Green

Also Hither Green Catford has a very strong community feel and is up and coming. DB moved from Hackney and his kids now 2.5 and 7 and they’re very happy. Toddler goes to little elms nursery in Muirkirk road.

Newham has some of the top state schools in the country - see below.

They aren’t usually mentioned on typical mumsnet school lists because (a) they are quite strict (in the Michaela mode, if not as extreme) and (b) minority white students - eg Brampton Manor is 2% white British and 80% English as an additional language.

Brampton Manor
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jan/19/this-is-not-a-fluke-how-one-state-school-got-41-oxbridge-offers

London Academy of Excellence (also has a branch in Tottenham)
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-academy-of-excellence-oxbridge-offers-stratford-b1268869.html

Forest Gate Community
https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/25407866.gcse-results-day-2025-forest-gate-community-schools-best-results/

Streatham -Dunraven school
Tooting Broadway - Graveney school

Thank you. Great it has a community feel. Does it have cafes, bars, shops and a bit of a buzz about it? I had thought of Hither Green as somewhere with just lots of houses but I could be way off as I don’t know the area at all.

Incredibly helpful thank you. Not sure how I feel about the Michaela style of school yet but being diverse seems like a good thing to me, so these could be options.

London really does not have enough grammars to make a difference to the wider state comprehensive sector in ‘creaming off’ academic high achievers, and most are in the outer London boroughs.

And London grammar results simply reflect the super-selective cohort.

There’s nothing academically wrong with the other streams at Graveney.

The Charter schools are very well run comps, and favoured because they have a significant middle class intake (even now , after the school was stopped from gerrymandering by trying to exclude a big estate from catchment)

There are countless comprehensives in London where children do very well indeed at their own level.

OP: start threads about areas you are interested in asking for school advice.

But I would agree that Herne Hill, North and East Dulwich are good

Streatham (and surrounding Tulse Hill, West Norwood) is full of excellent primary schools and a range of good secondaries.

And the whole of this S London area has the option to apply for a Lottery place at Kingsdale (v well regarded)

Ealing has got some really good state and independent schools. Lots going on, excellent transport links, lots of green space and summer festivals, good pubs and cafes, great facilities for families at all ages and stages, definitely worth exploring. A few 3 bed houses as well as apartments for your budget in W5 and W13.

It’s an area I’ve known for a long time and always liked! We’re all different I suppose. I’d take a bit of grime but a more vibrant feel than somewhere leafy but with nothing going on any day.

Thanks, will take a look at Ealing