Moving to St Margarets, Twickenham

[Megs1987]

Hi,

We will be moving to St Margarets soon and had a few questions for the locals:

1. What is parking like in the area on residential streets. We will be moving to a house without a parkway but has parking by the road. How busy is it normally?
2. What are the nurseries like in this area and is there a long waiting list? We are expecting a baby so not immediate rush but just wanted to get sense of situation.
3. How big are the catchment areas for the schools and how strict are they on going to church for the CE schools.

St Margarets is lovely (I am in Richmond but know it well)

Street Parking genuinely varies from street to street. As a general rule of thumb, the bigger the houses the easier to park. Some of the roads of small terraces and cottagy houses do get quite full in terms of parking because there are two car families and the houses don't have off street parking and aren't wide enough to 'hold' two cars if that makes sense? But it's not as bad as some places....

Loads of nurseries in and around St M, Twickenham, Strawberry Hill and Richmond. The Montisorri one - Sunflower - sometimes has quite a list but I don't know about the others (my DC are teens now!)

You can see catchment area maps on the Richmond Council Website. CE Schools not strict at all about church attendance. Catholic schools pretty strict!

Hi Megs,

St Margarets is a fantastic place to live. We moved here about 3 years ago from Chiswick. We are in North St Margarets (north of the A316).

1. Parking: depends on the street but most areas have CPZs that helps a little. I'm on Haliburton Road and it's just luck and time of day if you get a spot close to your house. I'm at the busiest end of one of the busiest roads for parking and at worst I might need to be a block or so away (usually when I have groceries and all the kids have fallen asleep).
2. There are a handful in the area (e.g. Buttercups at Syon; Twickenham Day). We stayed at our one in Brentford when we moved ; even though it's not as convenient we loved it. They are not cheap around the area!
3. On the Richmond Council website you can download the admissions report that gives you the distance for the last child admitted to each school. There are lots of good choices for primary schools in the area which is the draw for many families. My eldest goes to Deer Park which is about a mile from our house. The Blue School in Isleworth is a high performing CoE primary but there is no chance you will get in without strict church attendance.

Hope that helps.

Thanks both for your comments. We will be moving to north of A316 too so I expect parking will be similar to what you are experiencing @scottdoyle. As for nurseries, as we will both need to commute into London, I was hoping for somewhere along the way to station but seems they all slightly out of the way which means we need to take a detour.

Brook house maybe worth a look. www.brookhousenursery.com/

Or teddies Twickenham and get the fast train from Twickenham
www.brighthorizons.co.uk/our-nurseries/twickenham-nursery-and-preschool?utm_source=Parent%20Marketing&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=Listing%20-%20GMB

Thanks @Mary19 will check it out.

The CE school on three sites in Twick has declined significantly in its popularity in recent years. Apparently the new head only cares about her fundraising, and not so much about the children's education. Most of the staff has left. The governors have all resigned, and some have even removed their own children from the school. Parent opinion is sharply divided. It's not a happy place. Most years have vacancies, which was never the case under the old head.

Parents at St. Stephens are happy. And the associated church is very child friendly. Whilst not CE, Orleans is a lovely school.

Just echoing what was said above a I’m in twickenham and we have lots of friends with kids at St Stephens and they are very happy and they all got in on a state place and not a church place

St Mary’s is a wonderful school; yes the new head is quite different from her predecessor and that prompted a few changes but most parents I know are extremely pleased with it. They do lots around promoting good mental health. Re the vacancies, bear in mind the school has expanded fairly quickly from single-form to three-form entry; at the same time new schools have opened, relieving pressure on places, and in some recent Reception intakes there has been a comparatively low birth rate.

Hi,

We are hoping to move to St Margarets in the near future and have short listed a couple of properties and need advice from someone local on the area:

1. Ailsa avenue
2. Orchard road

I underatand that both these properties are north of A316, is that a positive aspect?

Any specific suggestions as we would like our children to go to Orleans primary and eventually Orleans Secondary.

Thanks

I think a place at Orleans Primary would be unlikely from those roads unless it’s a low birthrate year, assuming you’re applying for a reception place?

The area south of 316 is nicer, and as has already been said, the area you mention north of the 316 is unlikely to be close enough for a place at Orleans in reception (although you might find spaces open up later). I'd suggest you look at the schools you like, check out their admissions policy and then look for a house. The Blue School in Isleworth would probably be your nearest good school north of the 316. Although I personally would steer clear of LDBS (who run C of E schools).

Have you looked at Deer Park? There are also some nice schools (and cheaper houses) in South Twickenham. Have you looked at Gems Twickenham Primary Academy near Twickenham Green? It's a kind and supportive small school with a genuine focus on academic achievement.

Hello @Omai we are looking in those areas/streets too! We might be neighbours!

I’m also interested in the north bit and where the nearest play park /green space is. We are also considering teddington but there are so few houses coming up at the moment and we need to move quickly.

Do people generally prefer st Margaret’s or teddington?

And what is the flight noise like in both? It’s hard to grasp right now as it’s so quiet, we are in Fulham so get higher planes and it doesn’t bother us much but we’ve looked at kew and north richmond before and it seems quite noisy there.
Thanks all!

As a fairly recent arrival in St Margaret's I thought it might be helpful to add my experience here. We moved here early last year - just before Covid - from North London (Marylebone) and it was 100% the right decision - we love it here, even though with lockdown we've not yet had a chance to spend as much time out and about in the area as we'd like.

Initially we focused our househunting in the roads surrounding St M's village itself, but once we realised we'd be looking at either 2/3 bed flats with limited or shared garden space or teeny weeny cottages, compared to 3/4 bed Victorian terraced houses with large-ish (for London, anyway!) gardens north of the A316 we moved our search there and didn't look back. Obvs everyone has different priorities when househunting, and for some being in the village itself may be more important than square footage/garden space - but for us personally we felt we needed more substantial space inside and out. The house we ended up buying is perfect for us and we still feel it's miles better value than south of the A316. We live on Haliburton Rd, which is lovely and friendly, and have plenty of space to grow into this house over the years (I think if we'd bought in the village we'd have needed to move again in a couple of years' time).

In terms of access to parks etc. - this was my main reason for wanting to be in the village itself, but actually we're really happy with our local green space options in the end; our nearest park for short lockdown walks is the Old Deer Park just over the river, which is easily accessed from our house in about 8 mins by walking down to the river via St Margaret's drive then across the footbridge. The river path in both directions is also lovely for walking - either up to kew (past kew gardens on the right) or down through Richmond, Petersham and out to Teddington. It's also a nice easy walk from here to Richmond (15/20 mins using the footbridge) for eating out, shopping, cinema etc - (remember that?!) obvs when we're actually able to do those things again!

I was also a bit worried about plane noise @BlindMelon123, but it's really not that bad where we are and after a while you get so used to it that you don't notice it anymore. Before living in Marylebone I lived in Putney for years, which is also under the flightpath, and I'd say it's about the same here - it certainly doesn't feel any noisier to me. Obvs it was lovely in the first lockdown when there were no planes flying, but being under the flightpath is way less disruptive than I worried it might be, and imo it's more than worth it to live so close to the river (which I love), walks, parks, all the great restaurants/cafes/shops etc. that Richmond, St M's and Twickenham have to offer.

Hope some of this is useful to those of you looking to move here, anyway!

I actually came across this post because I'm pregnant and am researching nurseries in St M's / Twickenham, so if anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them - thanks ladies

Thanks so much @Emwils this is invaluable info! We’re actually going to view a house on Haliburton Road next week, we’ve been considering it for a while but read mixed things about being so close to isleworth. Do you know which school catchments you’re in?

Congratulations on your pregnancy! We have a 19 month old so looking at nursery options too. I think someone mentioned a montessori which I’m going to look into and also the little folk forest nursery looks great, we live near Fulham palace at the moment and the kids who go to the forest folk nursery there always look v happy and well cared for!

Anyway, thanks again for your lovely post! I feel much better about viewing this house next week now!

Ah glad you're excited about the viewing next week - it really is a lovely road and a lovely area . Who knows, we might end up neighbours!

Not 100% sure about school catchments as when we bought we still felt as though kids were a way off for us, but I definitely remember double-checking that we would be in the catchment for a couple of schools rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted, and we are - I just can't remember which schools they are! I remember being satisfied that we'd definitely be within the catchment area of a highly regarded school though.

Yes, I also remember reading mixed things about Isleworth when we were househunting too; but now I can't think why, as it's really not a bad place! The riverside at Isleworth is actually a nice walk with lots of boats to look at, and Syon Park and House are really pretty. Tbh we very rarely go in that direction anyway though - we always head south towards St M's or Richmond for shopping, travel etc. - but on the odd occasion I've been through Isleworth I actually thought the little high street was quite cute, and the hospital there seems to be highly rated, which is convenient (it's part of the Chelsea & Westminster trust and seems to have a good rep, especially for maternity - rated outstanding).

Thanks for the recommendations re. nurseries - I'll definitely look into the little forest folk! Ah, Fulham Palace is nice, I know it well - my bestie lives on the alphabet streets with her OH and little one and she loves it. DH and I actually looked at buying there when we were househunting but in the end we decided we wanted to be a bit further out of town - bit more for our money out here, but also we just love that river and park life (DH runs and cycles a lot, so having Richmond Park on his doorstep is the dream ).

Best of luck with the viewing next week and your househunt in general, hope it all goes well for you!