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…

Look at Redbridge!

Well to be fair I’m only going off my old schooldays and parents with children at same schools. There’s a reason I switched at 14 to a private school though, because it was better.

Ealing, West Ealing and Hanwell. All
on the Elizabeth Line, full of good schools and activity.

This is such a shit thing to do.

If you are paying 750k for a property that’s nearly 30k of stamp duty? you don’t really want to be paying that again in a few yrs to move for secondaries.

Honestly bits of Walthamstow, Crystal Palace, maybe even parts of Ealing fit that vibe. Busy enough to not feel dead after 7pm but still decent schools around. The trick is accepting you probably won’t get huge space AND perfect transport AND cheap rent, London always wants sacrifice lol.

The problem with these is that they’re not in the catchment for Charter North. The Herne Hill side of Herne Hill Road could be and there’s a cheaper flat on Herne Hill itself which would be. But a lot of them are the Brixton/Tulse Hill sides which are not in catchment.

But there have been smaller houses/large flats on delawyk crescent (https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/5e82f89f-9259-4f47-a1f6-04ddc3e26366 ) and Pond Mead (https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/718d55c5-389b-4b58-989e-33693412b655) for example, which would be in catchment. And would be in catchment for Judith kerr primary (which is small as 50% of places are lottery). Maybe also round Casino Avenue, although the prices there have increased a lot recently.

Ps also this one is a very recent sale in catchment -
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/d40ee8d9-a627-452b-8ee9-327b2666afc7

Luckily Elm Green, Dunraven, Norwood School and Kingsdale are all schools where pupils of all abilities meet their potential, and have a range of specialist places etc, alongside other local-ish S London schools that offer specialist places for arts, music , languages etc. regardless of distance.

Who knows what distances / admissions criteria will be in place in 9 years time.

@ArtAngel I don’t disagree there are other good schools, I was just highlighting this as people had specifically mentioned Charter North/Charter East in the context of Herne Hill.

I heard recently on a thread here that Dunraven wasn’t as good as it’s said it is.

My Dc went there and loads of local families have Dc there and are really happy.

It isn’t quite in the heady days of the old Head but it’s a good comprehensive school. And other local schools have been improved and become sought after. So the middle class advocacy for ‘the best school, the one we all have to try for’ has spread out a bit. IMO.

Even City Heights is on the up.

Fully agree. OP you could buy a lovely 3 bed house in a buzzy but safe part of south London and be in catchment for most of these schools.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/172033574#/?channel=RES_BUY

Who knows what distances / admissions criteria will be in place in 9 years time.

They will likely increase although schools may close/reduce their PAN. Lambeth doesn’t have the pupil numbers. Lots of schools were angry at Kingsdale expansion.

Dunraven was very good at one point but not so great in recent years.

Not to say dc can’t be happy there

I think the best school in that area is still the Catholic one

The prevailing view among people I know in Walthamstow, which I love, is that if you have a girl, you're sorted, as there's Walthamstow School for Girls, but if you have boys, you're a bit screwed. Lots of people then find themselves moving further out, either to Highams Park which has a decent mixed sex state with a sixth form or even into Herts/Essex, which doesn't sound like your vibe at all. (However you'd be surprised how much people's desires and preferences change as they get older!)

Hmm, I don’t recognise this. I have friends and family in Walthamstow and their boys have all had really positive experiences at local schools. All doing/have done well academically and socially.

And do really well.

It's this pursuit of 'the best' that is so bizarre in London, people vying for places between schools that would all be seen as a 'good comprehensive' if it was the local school in the regions.

And BTG is strict on Catholic credentials, so not much use to the OP. (and I remember when it was not particularly good - a lot can change. Either way)

Though for some reason La Retraite, which would be within transport reach for girls, is still very excellent on paper but consistently under-subscribed and open to the lower non-religious admissions criteria.

It's this pursuit of 'the best' that is so bizarre in London, people vying for places between schools that would all be seen as a 'good comprehensive' if it was the local school in the regions

Why is it bizarre to want a great school? There are good schools in other parts of the country not just London. Take Elmgreen, it’s GCSE 5 scores in Maths & English are 30% vs a national average of 45%, so I wouldn’t class that as great in or out of London.

It’s ok to not choose a school based on academic results but equally it’s ok if that’ is important to you.

And BTG is strict on Catholic credentials, so not much use to the OP. (and I remember when it was not particularly good - a lot can change. Either way)

I remember too, when I was a kid. But it’s been very good for a long time, more than a decade. Although yes irrelevant to the OP.

What about Holloway/Archway? All the Islington luvvies adore St Mary Mags and Islington primaries are mostly great.

Islington has a lot of deprivation and poorly performing schools, so I'd be very careful about distance to schools when looking at properties as there are many primaries which definitely aren't great. E.g. Christ the King scored 39% in KS2 performance, St Johns Upper Holloway scored 58% and Hargrave Park scored 61%. There are some excellent primaries but you pay the price for living close to them.

Look up progress 8 scores OP. A score between 0 to 0.5 means the school performed 'above' the national average, while scores above 0.5 means a school performed 'well above' the national average. A school with a score below 0 means students made less progress when compared to the national average, though negative scores don't mean students have made no progress, it just means they have progressed less than the national average.

Looking at tower hamlets as an e.g., Swanlea School in Whitechapel got a score of 1.27. Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School was the second highest-performing secondary school with a Progress 8 score of 0.74.

I don’t think you can get progress 8 scores currently due to Covid.

My DD’s secondary school publish them. Covid was years ago.