Moving to London in three weeks. Looking for a good primary school.

[confusedmum1]

We are looking to move to London in about 3 weeks. DH will be working in Moorgate in one of the banks. I am very confused about where to look for houses in the catchment of good/outstanding primary schools that wont make life too difficult with commute etc. Please suggest.

[nicename]

Are you catholic? There are some good RC schools around wimbledon.

[FamiliesShareGerms]

I don't want to be gloomy, but it is very unlikely that that there are any (Ofsted rated) "good" primary schools in London with spaces, at the KS1 end at least

[nicename]

A friend moved mid-year and got spaces for her two children (year 7 and year 5). Do the councils advise on space availability?

[Artandco]

For moorgate I def wouldn't look at Richmond area etc as that's a really long commute ( and expensive). I would look north east/ east/ south east

In comparison we are central/ west and £1500 gets us a 1 bed flat.

[nicename]

Richmond is a bear to travel in/out of. The roads are a nightmare! When communting in london you need to have two+ half decent routes!

I always need an hours walk at worst.

[SavoyCabbage]

My friend just moved to Richmond during the summer holidays and got her dds into school straight away. Year one and year five. She didn't know it was a possibility that it would be hard as she's not British.

[singersgirl]

There is huge movement of pupils in London so plenty of excellent schools do have places as families move away. Our Richmond primary is oversubscribed every year in reception and took a bulge last year, but here are now a couple of spaces in Y 1 as families have moved. They will almost certainly get filled but not always immediately.

[tricot39]

free spaces depend on the school and its area. speak to the schools and the lea to get a clear picture. there are threads on mumsnet where families are still waiting after 2 years...... a school that i looked into which was only 2 miles from us said that their local population was very stable and places rarely come up! so check the local conditions rather than what is said here as there are big differences across london depending on the area.

[Herisson]

I don't want to be gloomy, but it is very unlikely that that there are any (Ofsted rated) "good" primary schools in London with spaces, at the KS1 end at least

As I said before, there are no full KS1 classes in my daughter's school, rated good very recently under the new tougher guidelines. It is less popular than other schools in the area because it was only rated satisfactory until last year. This is in Richmond. For commutes, Richmond isn't bad, although the journey may be longish because for the tube you are the start of the line so get a seat and for the train it's not always too full by the Richmond area. DH generally gets a seat at North Sheen. However £1500 for a three bed house does sound a bit optimistic!

confusedmum, PM me if you want to know the name of the school so you can draw your own conclusions. You could try calling schools direct if the council are no help.

[singersgirl]

Last week I know there were 3 spaces in Y1 in an 'outstanding' rated Richmond primary. They may have gone by now... But in our part of Richmond, there are lots of expat families who move back to their home countries and locals who get posted abroad as well as people who just want to move somewhere else.

[Herisson]

Yes, there is lots of expat movement in our school, too. I know there will be children leaving in Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4 and Y5 by the end of term (all going back to the US).

[cassgate]

Look at cuffley in hertfordshire. Trains go into moorgate i think. Cheshunt as well ,Trains go into Liverpool street. We live in cheshunt and Dh works in Fenchurch street and if u time it right with the fast trains he can do it in 40 mins door to door. 3 bed houses in cheshunt rent for around £1300 p/m.