Choosing the right area HELP!! Moving from US

[Ohiomom2]

Hi everyone we are relocating to London next month from the US. We have two boys, one in reception and the other one will be in reception next year. We need help understanding which is the best area to look for houses considering that we aim at sending our children to a state school non religious - next year of course as I understand it's impossible to get an in-year place at a good primary. We are now considering North London and in particular N10, N6, N7, N19, NW3, NW5 but open to consider anything else that is a good compromise between relatively affordable housing and good state schools. Another question is if my youngest gets a place in reception next year, will my oldest be guaranteed a place in the same school as well? I would appreciate any help and any feedback you want to give us. Thanks

hi KJ - i'm in that neck of the woods, there's a few of us - start a new thread and we can chat on there!

Ohiomom2
It is very, very hard to get in to a good state school in London. Unless you have certain very specific circumstances which give you priority entrance (such as having an adopted child or being of a certain religion) admissions are calculated by distance from school to home. In practice this means that you will almost certainly need to live under 300 yards from the school, and far less in some places!

AND

As you will be using the 'in year' admissions system as other posters have mentioned, you still aren't very likely to get a place at a good school..... The chances are that you would be offered a less desirable one.

If I were you, I'd read the admissions guidelines (I'll try to find a link for you), phone the LEA for a chat and have a good backup plan! If I were you, my backup plan would be either to move outside on London to somewhere with more good schools with fewer applicants, or to go look for a pre-prep.... But beware, many pre-preps will have competitive entrance procedures even at 3+ For entry in to reception!!

You could try our MN Local sites for those postcodes. They have thousands of listings including local schools, where Mumsnetters can add reviews, plus a local talk board... Haringey: local.mumsnet.com/haringey; Islington: local.mumsnet.com/islington and Camden: local.mumsnet.com/camden