Places to buy a house near a good state primary in London?

[zoomzoomzoomimgoingtothemoon]

Hi mums

I just posted this in the property forum, then realised it might be better here...

Does anyone have suggestions for nice areas of London that we might be able to afford to buy a house, in the catchment for good state primaries and secondaries?

Main critera:

1. Preferably a house, 3 bed, 400-500k
2. Very high chance of getting into a good Primary School, with good secondary also (can't afford to move twice!)
3. Within 1 hour commute to Canary wharf by public transport, preferably closer
4. Nice, safe area

Many thanks

What year do your DCs start school?

Hi BillnTedsMostFeministAdventure

DD starts in 2017. Any suggestions?

Thanks

None specifically but it should help other posters if they know whether you need a space for next year etc!

Equally, primary and secondary schools with good ratings now could change a lot in 3+ years.

There's no such thing as catchment - I would start by renting in a possible area, get to know it and see how you get on.

Lewisham: Hither Green, Ladywell, Crofton Park, Lee Green, Catford, Brockley. All lovely and great schools.

Thanks BillnTedsMostFeministAdventure and Limelight.

We'll take a look at Lewisham, sounds like a good starting point.

Does anyone have any suggestions for North or East London? We also need to be able to get to Kings Cross fairly easily.

Thank you!

Borough of Bromley? West Wickham has good primaries, non-church linked and Beckenham and Hayes have secondaries.

Beckenham has primaries but very oversubscribed or Bromley South?

All have transport links to Lewisham and then the DLR.

House prices come with a premium, we paid over £400 4 years ago for a 3 bed but if you are willing to tackle a bit of work you may get something in your price range.

walthamstow would suit for transport but maybe not your budget. if you can stretch and have girls then head to the village streets for henry maynard and girls school. if boys stick west for coppermill/stoneydownprimary and willowfield secondary. frederick bremer secondary reprted improving and soon to be on tv edicating east london. highams park is slightly more inconvenient travel but outstanding handsworth primary and highams park secondary.

I was going to suggest west wickham or Hayes. 30 mins to London bridge then tube to canary wharf in about 10/15 mins.

forgot to say that transport to north east london from canary wharf will improve in a few years as the stratford curve is set to reopen on the chingford line -but all is quiet on that at the moment.

Does it have to be in London? You could get quite a long way into Essex on an hours commute. You can get from Colchester in an hour and 5. Or from Chelmsford in about 40.

It's not everyone's cup of tea but the Grammars in Essex have a good reputation.

Teddington, if you look hard you may find something. Property small though. Area is expensive, take care about location of house as you could end up out of catchment. Great primaries plus teddington school which is outstanding, plus for girls best non selective school in the country - Waldegrave school for girls.

Hampton Wick Primary is good too, again in teddington school catchment.

Your budget may fall short, but you may be lucky.

If it doesn't have to be London then lots of Hertfordshire train services go into Kings Cross - Welwyn Garden City, Hitchin for example are nice places to live and have good schools but are relatively easily commutable.

Redbridge? Good schools, great for kids apart from that too (loads of great parks, lots of things on, great transport links).

Budget is far too small for Teddington. Also Richmond borough schools are bursting at the seams with a whole world of trouble forcast for secondaries.

Sadly you're not going to get a 3 bed house in north or east London for your budget. West London is out as are huge patches of south London. Just the way it is at present.

Probably get a flat though. Try Streatham - rapidly improving, farmers market, good local pubs, common and beautiful Rookery. Lots of outstanding primaries and if you move into streets around outstanding co-ed Dunraven Secondary and good co-ed Elmgreen secondary and you'll also have excellent primaries close by; Hitherfield, Julians etc.

You should get a decent flat for your budget.

Other end of Streatham puts you in the Vale, for excellent Woodmansterne Primary. Secondary places a bit more difficult but a Harris Academy close by. Might get a 3 bed for your budget.

If you are set on moving to London, then your best bet is to find an area you can afford on your budget first, You will not get much for your 500k here, maybe a flat. The schools you'll have to seek out when you have found an affordable area and yes they may not be as good as you would like.

If on the other hand living in London is not essential then you can have the luxury of seeking out good schools first followed by the house you want with your 500k budget.

London is ridiculously expensive, its beyond comprehension for those that do not live here. My advice would be to not move to London unless you really have to. Try to find areas that are outside London, but that have good commuter links in. I'm familiar with Hertfordshire. You'd get something decent for your 500k, good schools and be on good commuter links in to London. Good luck with your search!

I think you'd probably get a decent three bed within your budget round my way (near Sundridge Park station). Trains are quick to London Bridge (change at Grove Park) and then Jubilee Line or some stop at Lewisham and change to DLR. Good line overall and very good schools -Parish is close to SP station and is Outstanding and St Josephs is good if you are RC. Scotts Park has just had a rough OFSTED but that will probably have changed that by the time you are looking at starting.

Also, Bromley is just opening a French-English bilingual free school at Bromley South in case that is of interest, to be called la Fontaine Academy.

Try the Epping Forest area on the central line. There are plenty of good primary schools. Secondaries are more difficult, unless you are a regular church attender.

How about Herts, St Albans, Harpenden, Welwyn Garden City. They are more affordable than most areas of London.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! I need a bit of time to digest the info...

Petts wood.

If crofton area of petts wood/orpington then very good local primaries and for secondary there's Darrick wood which is great. If more Southborough area of petts wood then secondaries could include Darrick wood (mixed), bullers wood (girls), ravens wood (boys), ravensbourne (mixed). All of which perform pretty well. Some children go to bexley grammars (including Chis and Sid) from this area. Or kent grammars (Wilmington for example). Or if super clever, newstead or st. Olaves.

43 mins from petts wood to canary wharf according to tfl (via lewishqm dlr or London bridge and then tube).

My extended family have 3plus bedroom houses in a London bought recently all around the lower end of your budget and near outstanding high league table schools.

Namely North a Kingston, Leyton (bordering Walthamstow), Greenwich and Lewisham.

They aren't massive but all have a double garage and decent sized gardens.

Redbridge is ridiculously oversubscribed. People this year have been allocated school places miles away. Most of my friends are moving out to Essex because of the schools situation.

Hanwell in Ealing (search London W7). Hobbayne primary school is excellent (well above national average in results, good and outstanding previous ofstead). St Marks in Hanwell also good.
Secondary school is Drayton Manor- was recently featured in The Telegraph as a great state school where local house prices were lower than the area as a whole.
There's also part of Hanwell nearer Northfields/ Boston Manor tube station where you're in catchment for Fielding Primary and Elthorne secondary - area considered a bit smarter, but you pay more.
Trains from Hanwell for into Paddington every 15 mins and take 10 mins. Crossrail will also stop in Hanwell.