Move, not to move; helps on options...

[LN2001]

Dear all, my DD who is 7 has just been offered a place at NLCS and the family is thinking about different options. I hope any of you could kindly provide some recommendations for us, and any helps would be deeply appreciated! Please bearing in mind, we are not crazy, we are just normal working classes, who are willing to spend a bit more on education.

We live in Loughton on the north east, closed to M25 junction 26.

Option A) No moving.
1． For DD, hire a reliable driver for the school runs (quite expensive!), the trip to NLCS usually takes 50 minutes each way (assume traffic is ok).
2． For DS, no change, and DS’s school fees is much cheaper in where we live right now comparing to Option B, the difference could offset 30% of the taxi fees. We aim to try 10+ and 11+ of City London boy, and nearby local school for 7+.
3． For us: travel to work is about an hour.
4． We have existing childminder to use to cover the rest of the childcare.

Option B) Moving to Golders Hill.

1. For DD，NLCS provides coach, which is 2k a year. The time is still around 50 minutes (hence the thinking of option A).
2. For DS, find a new similar private school, which will be 50% more expensive comparing to Option A); or alternatively, find a nursery, which is around 30% higher comparing to a nursery in option A. Aim to 4+ or 7+ for top schools around the area.
3. For us, travelling to work might be slightly shorter comparing to option A.
4. Need to know the area from scratch and find after school childcare.

Option C) Moving to Stanmore.

1. DD’s daily commute more manageable.
2. For DS, need to find a nursery (there seems to be no good prep-schools around), cost is higher than school, but however reasonable normal nursery cost (appreciate any recommendation of any good preschools, nurseries within reasonable distance to NLCS.). We aim to try Habs boy, Highgate or other tops school in the north.
3. For us, travelling to work may take about 1.5 hrs.
4. Need to know the area from scratch and find after school childcare to cover pick up and drop off.

You may think Option A maybe is an obvious no, however, four years later, or maybe even 1 or 2 years later, we may have to move again, depends on where our DS might get in.

Once again, thank you for your help!!!

This isn't either "crazy" or "normal" - normal working class people simply do not have the option to consider any of these possibilities, do not kid yourself. This isn't a criticism there is nothing wrong with paying for private school if you can afford it and it is the right choice for your family but trying to claim you are "normal working class" at the same time is just silly.

For your DD, option A would be very isolating. She will live a long way from all classmates, social interaction outside school would be difficult, she will be left out of things because of her long commute.

I don't get why you are limiting your options for moving to either Golders Hill or Stanmore. NLCS coaches cover a huge area of dropoff/pickup points as linked from here so you have a vast number of options, way more than just B or C in your list, but certainly moving closer to the general orbit of NLCS would be very sensible. You will be starting from scratch wherever you choose but it won't take long to settle. I would start by finding the similar coach maps for Habs Boys and the other schools you will be targeting for DS and identifying some areas which have pickup points for NLCS coaches and for at least 2 of your favourites for DS.

@KihoBebiluPute Thank you very much for your advice and information! Sorry, not trying to be pretending to be “normal working class”, I guess everyone has different benchmark, but we definitely have to sacrifice many other to spend the limited resource on education . Just trying to say, we do have resource limit. Thanks for you response