Just moved to London, and confused about schools!

[Devina]

I have just moved to London from SE Asia with my DH who works in Canary Wharf and my DS who is 1.5. We ended up renting in Canary Wharf as it is close to DH's work but now regretting it - we are not able to find a good nursery (that is not overpriced) or a good primary (that is half decent)!. We also find the area a bit dull and hardly see other moms/babies around - so difficult to make friends!

We are considering moving to one of the below areas to get DS into a good nursery/primary - but know nothing of them:
Hampstead, Islington / Barnsbury, Richmond, Kew, Greenwich, Blackheath, Clapham.

Our budget is 600-700pw. We need to be near the tube (commutable to CW), and in a child-friendly area, preferably with a good mix of diverse population. Need to have parks, independent shops, leisure centres, cinema, etc. within walking distance. Coming from Asia, I would love to have LOTS of people around! Any areas I should look at? Any recommendations on the areas I have listed? Any help in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!

Clapham has all the things you need but you'd need to move very close to a good state school to get in - the popular ones are Honeywell and Belleville. The area is called Nappy Valley because of the enormously high birth rate, and the most valued and arguably the nicest part is the area "Between The Commons" ie. between Clapham Common and Wandsworth Common, on one of the residential streets coming off Northcote Road. That said, 600-700pw won't get you that much in the way of a family home, but it's worth a look!

We live in Earlsfield which is next door (other side of Wandsworth Common, and still part of Nappy Valley) and which still has good schools (Earlsfield and Beatrix Potter primaries are very popular) and a villagey feel but instead of a tube has an overground station (trains run into Waterloo every 3 mins, taking approximately 12 mins) and is a little further away from the cinema, but you get more for your money.

HTH! :)

I moved to London from Ireland with 3 children in sept 2011. My dh works in canary wharf also. We moved to Greenwich, just across from the park. I love it, good primary schools, nice shops really nice place, swimming pool gym and loads to do with babies etc. secondary schools ar not great, but tht is along way off yet. Also really quick commute to canary wharf.

I second around Northcote Road. If you want Honeywell or Belleville though, you practically need to live on the chimney stack...

This is the closest place I can find for your money (ish), depending on where it is on the road you will be in Honeywell's catchment.

My older three went to Honeywell, and it was fab. I would dearly love for my youngest to go there next year, but I can't pull the sibling card (next one up is Year 10, so long gone) and I am the other side of the Common now. Will def be trying for BP though, lovely little school.

Why don't you just move a bit north in tower hamlets? We live up by Victoria park, really easy commute to canary wharf and so much going on it is unbelievable! We have fantastic new playgrounds, the museum of childhood, lots of children's centres, dance classes, drama, basically everything you need. I have a wide network of mum friends here and everyone is desperate to stay in the area if they can afford it. Primary schools are almost all good although over subscribed. It is also cheaper than clapham.

I live in west hampstead which is lovely and not as expensive as hampstead. Lots of families lots of activities. State primaries are good, but you need to go to church to access them!

Closer to the tube in Clapham is the catchment for Clapham Manor which is a very popular 'outstanding' primary - and close to Clapham 'Old Town', within 5 mins walk of the cinema, 5 mins walk to Clapham Common.

Sorry to add again but do you know about tower hamlets NCT? It is a great way to meet other mums and there are coffee mornings every week in e14. You don't need to be a member of the NCT to go. If you search for tower hamlets NCT on the yahoo group website and join the yahoo group you can introduce yourself and find other local mums. Tower hamlets is a great place to have kids, so diverse and friendly, I really recommend it.

Thanks for all the ideas!

chocolatecrispies - what are the good state primaries in the Victoria Park area? Will def check out NCT, thanks!

Blue - how is Clapham Manor compared to the popular Belleville and Honeywell? I know the ofsteds for all of them say outstanding..

I looked at Victoria park before we decided on Greenwich, however found it really hard to get a nice house near the good schools. One great primary school Lauriston has a catchment area of less than 100m from the school gate! Also thought as the children grow older there are less amenities, loads for babies and toddlers but not much for older children. Just my thoughts.

You don't necessarily need to restrict yourself to the tube. There's some excellent overground train routes that will take you very quickly to the docklands area too. Trains are usually every 15minutes or more. You can get better value for your money if you look in these areas as many people dismiss them because of the lack of tube. Beckenham Junction is one of these. It has fabulous schools, green spaces, lots of epople and lots of families.

Devina, I wouldn't be able to comment on any of the schools individually as I don't have a child at any of them - you can ask to be shown round, and have a look at the area close to the school - ask them how far their catchment extends.

Good primary schools around Victoria park include Chisenhale, Olga, Bonner, Globe, and Old Ford. There are more but these are the closest to us and I would have been happy for my son to go to any of them. There is also a private primary school if you want to look at that - Gatehouse. They are all oversubscribed but people do get in, 86% of tower hamlets parents just got their first choice of primary school place for their child. Lauriston is in hackney and does seem to have a ridiculous catchment area but it is not the only option. Basically tower hamlets primary schools are good, well funded and resourced and they seem to be happy places.
I disagree about there being less for older children, we have two leisure centres within a 20 minute walk, there are all sorts of groups, Chisenhale dance space is fantastic and has classes for all ages in expressive dance, children I know do drama, martial arts, Spanish, all starting from age 4 upwards and central London is 15 mins by tube. Also Stratford which now has Westfield as well as the fun Discover Centre is one stop from mile end tube. The new playground on the east side of Victoria park is geared for older children, as is the playground by mile end leisure centre. And there is loads of stuff on in the school holidays, like camp outs in the local park for 5-11 year olds. We did look at Greenwich and Clapham but both were more expensive and greenwich felt much further out of London than we do here - this might suit you or might not!
Well I sound like a great advocate for tower hamlets but we genuinely love it and think it is a great place to have kids. If you join the NCT list you can come to coffee mornings in E3 or E2 as well and so check it out and ask other mums what they think.

choc - I actually visited Victoria Park early this week and loved the feel of the park! I was genuinely surprised at the family friendliness and "Londonish charm" of the area. I think I also like that it is closer to central London than Greenwich/Blackheath. But I found only a few streets in the area that I would consider living in - maybe I just need to start searching actively.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!