Moving to Surrey from NW London

[CCC8]

Hiya!

We’re wanting to move out of NW London and to Surrey in hope of more space, greener streets and access to strong performing schools. We have 2 boys, one of which will be starting reception in Sept 2023.

I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations of parts of Surrey or lower SW London to consider? Ideally the commute into London is a manageable one (happy to make a short drive to another station if it means a faster train into Waterloo). Our budget is between £850K-£880K, a few musts are: 4 bedrooms, off street parking, a decently sized garden and access to academically strong performing state primaries.

We presently have (1) East Molesey (but more towards the end where it just meets West M and is close to St Albans Catholic Primary School). (2) Thames Ditton (any suggestions of strong performing schools would be great!!). (3) Teddington/Twickenham (not been able to find anything that fits our criteria within budget). (4) Surbiton (but can’t find any strong performing state schools. Looks like more go private). (5) Weybridge (once again, budget really limits our options - any roads to try and target ?)

TIA x

Thames Ditton has an outstanding infant and junior school and all the primary schools in Surbiton are excellent. I would have thought your budget is a bigger problem in Thames Ditton.
West Molesey is more of a problem as the secondary state school options are less desirable. The most sought out secondary state options are Cobham Free and Hinchley Wood so maybe look in those catchments.
The trains from Teddington and Hampton to London are slower so house prices a bit lower. The fastest trains are Surbiton/Twickenham and Esher - with large car park.
Claygate is lovely but slightly slower trains. Claygate primary schools feed into Esher High at age 11.

Will you be staying with state for secondary? If so I would choose a house in an area with an excellent state school. Hinchley Wood is excellent.

If you are going private for secondary i would look at houses in hampton or in Twickenham but past the green where houses are a bit cheaper.

Twickenham isn’t Surrey - people usually move out to Surrey FROM Twickenham!

Try Horsell or other nice areas of Woking. V fast trainline to Waterloo, excellent state primaries. You should get what you need for house as well. Basically, try looking further into actual Surrey rather than paddling around the edge of London :-)

Thames Ditton Infants and Junior schools are both Good, same as Hinchley Wood Primary and Long Ditton Infants and Juniors and all feed into HW secondary which is very popular. In Surbiton Maple Infants is Good and then SASM Juniors is Outstanding (and maintained it under recent inspection). I think your budget is likely to be the greater issue though.

St Alban's Catholic primary school is brilliant (first hand experience here!). Very dedicated teachers, very high standards and good behaviour. If you are Catholic, Salesians Secondary in Chertsey is a very high achieving school which St Alban's feeds to. Otherwise, Esher High is a great choice with a lot of East Molesey children going there. New Secondary school currently being built next to Xcel leisure centre in Walton (a sister school to Hearthside in Weybridge which is excellent) which will cater for a lot of Molesey children.

Lots of green space here, Molesey regatta was on in Hurst Park today. Amazing Scout group which gets the children on the water regularly. Huge heathland and football ground by reservoir. We love it here.

You could get a 4 bed house in Molesey borders for your budget.

Thank you for this insight @Triangle5! We have our hopes set on St Alban’s Catholic Primary but have been told they have an extremely tight catchment. We have our eyes on a house which is 0.4mils from the school (literally on the borders of East and West Molesey), just off Beauchamp Road but saw on the council reports that last year, offers were given to students within a 0.5km radius so this making me a bit nervous. Not sure if it was this competitive back when your children were applying? We are Catholics so hoping this may help?

I’m really glad to hear that your child/children are enjoying their time there 😊!

Thank you @hockeygrass - I did really feel that we are working to quite a tight budget with everything we have on our ‘want list’. Current interest rates have been the key determining factor. We technically can stretch our budget to £930K but will be looking at pretty chunky monthly repayments (and in fact, £930K doesn’t seem to give us much more options in the more desired locations).

Do you have any insights on Esher High? Do you have children or friend’s children attending?

@CCC8 Have PM'd you. It wasn't quite as competitive when we applied. The recent outstanding OFSTED has certainly increased competition but I think St Albans now attracts many non-Catholic families. You will be in a much further up the selection criteria if you are Catholic.

As I understand it, the published catchment data can vary from the actual intake, as some children living further out might get in (over the Summer) via the waiting list once the data has been published.

Yes I know many dc at Esher High. FYI, Esher College is an extremely large and popular sixth form college near by so many secondary schools don't have a 6th form and this includes Esher High. It's difficult to say what the intake will look like in 7 or 8 years time particularly if East Molesey gets its own secondary school.
Personally if you are planning on state all the way through to 18 I would buy near Hinchley Wood secondary school or go further out the area to get more for your money.