Moving to Richmond next week--need advice

[Newtoallthis12]

Hi everyone,
My family (husband, 9-yr-old son) is moving with me to the UK next week from NYC area!
My company is putting us up for several weeks in downtown Richmond, during which time we want to find a rental within walking distance of the train (I will commute to Canary Wharf).
Here is the problem: timing. This is all very compressed and we want to get our son into the lovely Richmond schools. We also need to meet with the corporate housing rep to try and quickly find a place.
We fly in late Aug 25. Housing person can't see us til Aug 28. Would you go ahead and register your child for school on Aug 26 or wait til after the housing person saw you and you hopefully found a place?
We are leaning toward registering for school and then working out from there since we think the competitive school system will lose spots each day to others.
I am a mum, so of course I am heading straight to Mumsnet! Any and all advice appreciated.

I think you should call the Richmond borough admissions team to ascertain which schools have potential spaces for your boy and then find a rental based on this information. I have no idea how full the schools are for children of his age. They are full to bursting for age 4's and lots of children still have no place for starting this Sept. I am sure the pressure eases at some point though.

Thanks for the advice. We shall do that. Spoke to someone last week and there were still schools with openings for our son's age group, but I know that could all change when we get there next week.
This is my first corporate relocation and there are so many moving parts. But school is the priority for us. Am trying to remain calm amid all the chaos -- I really need to take up meditation or something. Maybe England is the place to do that

I imagine they talked you through this on the phone anyway but if it's anything like the process for reception entry (ie first year of infant school), the council probably won't commit to anything until you have proof of address. So that should probably be your priority although I can understand you wanting to confirm school arrangements. Most schools in Richmond have a good reputation so you should be OK wherever you end up.

I love that you've described it as downtown Richmond In reality it's just another part of London but I suppose near the station is downtown. Richmond is lovely so I'm quite jealous. I lived there a few years ago and loved it.

We returned from an overseas posting and even though we were moving back to the house we owned and had proof we were moving back, tenants moving out etc. Richmond Council would not consider our application until we had proof we were actually resident, in the form of utility bills etc. it is not a kind system for those moving. However the advantage you have is that by age 9, year 4? Some schools will have places. I am afraid though that you will have to take the gamble of renting close to the school of your choice with vacancies and hope there are still vacancies when you actually move in. Any of the schools in Richmond, Teddington, Twickenham, Sheen and the other suburbs in the borough are good or outstanding, you can find OFSTED (the governments school inspection body ) reports here www.ofsted.gov.uk

It is quite a trek from here to Canary Wharf though, you would have a less onerous journey from other closer suburbs of London? Eg Greenwich, Blackheath, both lovely places to live though I don't know the local schools.

Also is private education out of the question? you will find private schools far more flexible to your moving plans and willing to offer a place now. That was the route we ended up taking as we were moving an 11 year old who would be starting secondary school and the uncertainty was unfair on her.

We looked high and low and found some nice places but they were a bit too tight for me, my husband and son. I know we are relocating at the worst possible time. Found what appears to be a winner in Kew, but still walkable to North Sheen station. Anyone have thoughts on that area (about 10 min walk to the train)?
My son will be going to school in Richmond on Thames and appears just walkable.

You are probably looking v close to where I live. Perfectly nice part of Kew- really there isn't a non nice part of Kew at all. All safe, family friendly etc. I commute via Richmond/North sheen and my husband via Kew so it works brilliantly for us. Short walk to Kew Gardens where we have a membership and Richmond is a 2 min bus ride or a 15-20 min walk away, plus the Sainsbury's is v handy and being expanded massively.

Thanks so much for this Potol,
It is hard to get a good feel for an area when relocating so far away and in such short time. But Richmond and Kew seem very nice.
Where we lived near NYC, we were in an area with a nice feel, but some rough areas were on the edges and crime pushed in fairly regularly (car break-ins etc). That's what I have been trying to figure out now that I am here--where are those areas so I stay away. But I have heard only good things about Kew and Richmond so far.

Kew is fantastic for Americans - lots of you guys here and at Thanksgiving the local butcher stocks turkeys and pumpkin pie! The local schools are busy, but with people coming and going, some will still have places, and their offices should be open now. Welcome to London, hope you enjoy living here.

Oh yes, lots of Americans. We are not, but we came here after two hefty stints in Boston and SF. And in honour of our time there we still do a Thanksgiving meal and all. It is by and large quite an international place.

HI there, Would like to learn from your experience. We hope to move to Kew/Richmond area in Jan 15 and one kid will go to the German school in ham and the other- no idea, perhaps Russell or whoever will take him in Jan. My husband is German and I am from Sri Lanka and we ve lived in Brussels and right now Florence for long spells. How was your housing search exp? Main issue is the smaller housing available in Kew or Richmond. And proximity to a station/Tube. Let me know how things worked out. I will be there next week house hunting ;)

Hi leavingthedolcevita,
Sorry took so long for me to respond. Things have turned out great. We have an apartment in Richmond near our son's school and I am commuting each day just fine to work via the Southwest train to Waterloo.
This all fell into place with a heavy dose of luck and research.

We decided on Richmond after reading the glowing reviews over and over online. Turns out they were correct!
On housing, we went with a corporate home finder since we had basically no time. She started out showing us things that were a bit below the rent level we had given her so that wasted about a day...sigh.
However, we did meet a lot of the local realtors that way and one of them ended up finding us our place.
While we were targetting a house like the one we sold back in the NYC area, we ended up with an apartment that has about the same space as the houses we were shown, including a separate garage that we use for storage (without that I don't know here some of our furniture would have gone).
Always ask about storage -- a key to living in London.
I was concerned we didn't have a big private outdoor space like we had at our old house, but we are near one of the entrance gates to Richmond Park, so we grab our bikes from the garage and head there often with our son. He loves it.
We are also a walk or short bus ride away from all the great stores and eateries. We are slowly making our way through afternoon coffee at all the cafes;)

Newtoallthis12
I hope you have everything sorted. We are due to move from Australia at the end of the year.....younger kids..seems like no hope with schools. Would be interested to hear what school you got and what you think. I will be commuting too, for work.

Hi Ozmumof2,
Our son is at Marshgate and we couldn't be happier. Great school. We lucked out that there was a spot open in his grade.
I commute to Canary Wharf, so I grab an express in the mornings from Richmond (one or two stops and you are at Waterloo in about 20 mins), then I change to the Jubilee line for a few stops.
One thing to note -- while that all sounds great timewise, you really have no chance of getting a seat for the trip to Waterloo in the mornings (I always get one coming home though). Same goes for the tube, but sometimes I get lucky.Who needs a gym?!
I was shown a couple tricks at Waterloo to avoid the dreaded "gate," which they pull down to stall the flow of people into the tube when it gets crowded.
Turns out there is another big entrance to the tube, right near where the Richmond train comes in around platform 20, that is almost never closed I am told. Also less crowded. It's the little things;)
When I come home, I walk right by the Waitrose so I can grab any last minute items we need like milk etc -- very handy. Bus is right outside the store's front door and I usually hop on for a few stops to get closer to our home at the end of the day.