Southeast London areas to live with a family?

[OneBrickSloth]

Hi all - we are a young family looking to move to SE London from the Islington area, mostly due to being able to afford a house. We are looking at Brockley, specifically the Myatt Garden primary area (just where the house we saw was listed - not tied to it).

Is Brockley a nice area to live? Any recommendations on schools? Primary/secondary/ state/ private all welcome.

thanks!

Brockley is nice very family friendly

People who live in Brockley like it. Personally I've never understood the attraction - very little to do and I don't like the housing stock. But the locals will talk about the farmers market and a few chi chi shops near the station as if it's the centre of the universe. Maybe they have cars and it's easy for them to get to other places.

Personally I'd rather live in Forest Hill or Sydenham, but I don't know about schools. (In fact, I'd rather live in Catford than Brockley...)

But as you're coming from Islington you might feel more at home with Brockleyites. However there's no equivalent of Upper Street. But the Overground goes to Highbury & Islington so you can easily go back to visit your old stomping ground.

West Norwood

Forest Hill has more going for it. Or there’s Dulwich.

I’m SE London and really like Brockley. Have you thought about Forest Hill - Kilmorie is a great primary and brilliant community around there. Friends also have children at Horniman school and Fairlawn in Honor Oak. Crystal Palace and East Dulwich also lovely but more expensive and I’m not sure about the schools.

It’s lovely but I know a lot of families who have left Myatt Garden over time for Ashmead, Stainer, Beecroft… so double check about the school and perhaps speak to current and former parents there.

Knowing your budget would also help - right near Myatt there are a few rows of 1930s houses which are a bit cheaper, then it’s full-on conservation area ££££, but then moving out in both directions it gets cheaper again.

Brockley is nice. Quick access to central London, lots of green spaces. The whole area from Brockley through Crofton Park and Honor Oak and up to Forest Hill is very family friendly and green and the schools are good

What an odd post. Why would you need a car to get away from Brockley to other places? The public transport has improved out of all recognition since we moved to this area in the mid 80s (it was incredibly cheap then! How times have changed). It's perfectly easy to get all over the place without a car. We've been doing it for decades. And because we're further in we have more options than you'd have in Forest Hill, Sydenham or Catford, including the Windrush Line and main line from Brockley, different main line services from Crofton Park, St John's, Lewisham and Ladywell, DLR from Lewisham and several buses. Plenty of people cycle in and out of the centre these days.

I've also never met anyone round here who talks about Brockley as the centre of the universe. Horses for courses. What we like about living here is the amount of green space, the tree-lined streets and the architecture. Shopping and bars are admittedly not really on our radar. Our children are adults now, so I'm not up to date with schools, but I have the impression from younger friends that the local primaries are all fine. Ours went to a magnificent state nursery school called Chelwood, which seems to be still going strong.

Brockley is lovely and very family friendly, as are Honor Oak, Forest Hill and Sydenham (which are also all on the Windrush line and have the same train links as Brockley 🤔 )

We bought our first flat in Brockley before moving to a house in Sydenham and finally Forest Hill.

I don’t know the primary schools in Brockley as well, because we moved to Sydenham/Forest Hill before we reached that stage, but friends have been very happy with John Stainer.

Mine have all had an amazing time at Eliot Bank, and because of the federation I know that Gordonbrock is brilliant too. But there is no shortage of fantastic primaries around to suit all tastes!

Where we are now in FH/Sydenham borders we have Dulwich woods at the top of our road, Crystal Palace park a stone’s throw away, the Horniman museum and East Dulwich just around the corner. Honestly, it’s a great part of London and I wouldn’t swap it for anywhere!

I also don’t understand the Brockley thing but I live in a conservation area very close to it and there’s literally nothing here (except schools, a pub and a community cafe (with excellent pizza) and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Im sure people of Brockley feel the same about where they live.

The Brockley conservation area is nice with a lovely green space, Hillyfields. The transport is very good as you have both Brockley station and Lewisham stations closeby and you can even use Crofton Park for Thameslink. The primary schools are ok but the secondary schools options aren’t so good. The best primary school (Oftsted and performance) is the Haberdashers Hatcham free school in Telegraph Hill SE4 so again that’s Brockley. The Telegraph hill conservation area is also really nice. New Cross Gate station is in good distance. The park is lovely with a volunteer run play centre for children. The secondary school options are ok but you can consider private schools in Blackheath or Dulwich.

If you are looking for an all rounder then look at Dulwich village/Herne Hill. Loads of green space (Dulwich Park, Bel air park, Brockwell park, Peckham Rye and common) shops in the Village, East Dulwich and Herne Hill, good and outstanding primary and outstanding secondary state schools (again performance, progress scores and Ofsted- Charter North, Kingsdale, Harris boys/girls -depending on what you are looking for) and JAGs/Alleyns and Dulwich College private schools all within walking distance. Transport is again really good. North Dulwich, East Dulwich, Denmark hill, Herne Hill, Forest Hill stations and West Dulwich are the main options and have good links to London Bridge, Victoria, St Pancras, and are easy to get to Canary Wharf or St Pancras (Thameslink). Brixton tube is also not too far so handy to get back from central late at night or it’s east to just Uber from central London.

Also check out Blackheath and Greenwich ( around Maze Hill station) I recall good primary’s but secondary states again not as good as private. Good transport links and plenty of green space too.

The best primary school (Oftsted and performance) is the Haberdashers Hatcham free school in Telegraph Hill SE4 so again that’s Brockley.

For the benefit of anyone who stumbles on this thread in the future, the school mentioned is in SE14 rather than SE4 and (at the time of writing) has a catchment the size of my ass, so it'd be a gamble trying to gain admission from Brockley. But there are lots of genuinely good primaries around SE4 and SE14.

I agree....I find Brockley a bit nothingy

I was relieved not to be allocated haberdashers! Plenty of choices around the area.

Yes apologies I wasn’t precise enough. The Haberdashers Free school itself is in postcode SE14 in Telegraph hill but the small Catchment area includes roads in Telegraph hill Brockley postcode SE4 e.g. Pendrell road, Drakefell road etc SE4 as well as some roads in Telegraph hill SE14. The closest station is Brockley station. I think that some parts of Telegraph hill SE14 will not fall within the catchment area? but that would need to be checked. Also the ‘best primary school’ is an individual choice and will depend on many factors not just Ofsted, progress scores or KS2 results…blah