Help needed! Looking to move and seeking advice

[stoopstofolly]

We currently live in West London, and are considering a move to somewhere a bit greener & with a bit more room. We've been vaguely considering Teddington, Kingston, Hampton, St Margarets, Strawberry Hill etc but just don't know where to start looking. What areas would people recomend? We're looking for the holy grail of locations- commutable into London, good schools and ideally a small local centre. I'm aware that this will cost- I think we're probably priced out of Teddington but what about the surrounding areas? We're both originally from Manchester, so we've no frame of reference at all!

Children are 3 and 8. Any advice gratefully received.

Richmond borough schools are generally very good. Have you asked the council what places would be available for your 8yo? Catchment areas tend to be really small for reception entry but if you could get a place for your older child and wangle a sibling place that way you wouldn't need to worry.

Teddington's nice but I know two families who find it a bit quiet having moved there from st Margarets. If you're considering strawberry hill then the rest of twickenham towards st mags is probably worth a look, school spaces permitting.

Twickenham and Hampton more affordable than Teddington . Prices seem to have sky rocketed .
Kingston some parts again cheaper

Schools however at bursting point in key stage 1 . Over pan number of 30 in Teddington .
Key stage 2 should be easier to get a spot .

Good point about the schools... It might be a starting point to look where there are vacancies and take it from there... Obv the school would have to be good though...
Goodness me. Moving school shouldn't be this difficult!

If you're looking for the holy grail of locations, I would suggest Kew ;)

Very nice as long as you can put up with the plane noise

What's living in Ham like? We are moving to Richmond from Florence, Italy and our kids may go to the German School. That's the plan. We've family in Kew. Kew is probably better as my husband will be commuting to Hammersmith if all goes as planned. Any advice in renting and commuting as well as life around these parts is welcome.

I'll think about kew. We know it well as we're in Ealing at the moment, so not far away....

You have Richmond Park Academy ('Good') for secondary pupils from Kew, or Grey Court ('Outstanding') in Ham. A relatively high proportion of pupils living in Kew go private at secondary. Some nice houses in Kew but Ham can be cheaper.

Muminlondon you are right about Ham being cheaper from what I see on Rightmove so far. Kew seems awfully inflated and less choice. BTW, even though we are looking at the german school, would love to have a couple of suggestions for good schools for a kid who will be 9 when she comes over to the UK next year. The fees at the GS will be around 630 euros a month. Not sure how the pvt schools in the area compare. Taking the Grey Court suggestion on board. Heard lots of great stuff about it but may be out of our league… Will check it out!

Grey Court is a state school and comprehensive so if you moved to Ham you'd get in! The German school has a good reputation though, and is cheaper than other local private schools, and the German connection is quite established in the community (e.g. German bakery). This article is a bit old, from 2008 (Grey Court's present head started around that year]] but it is a good description of the property market, transport connections and local primary schools.