Moving from Highbury to Walthamstow - stay in primary school?

[HighburyFamily179]

Lack of affordability in our current location in Highbury and the need to upgrade to larger accomodation means me with been looking at larger shared ownership flats in Walthamstow. The reason for this being we love our children's school in Highbury and we and they don't want to move school but our current flat is so small and we can't afford to rent or buy anything bigger. The areas we are looking at in Walthamstow means we can commute the girls to their primary school in 30 minutes using the victoria line. Is this too long and would you do it? We absolutely love it he area we love in Highbury and we're born in this borough ourselves but the lack of an additijal bedroom means we are trying to find a way to stay 'local' and in the current primary school system without moving too far away. Is this an unreasonable commute for my primary school children.

I wouldn't, personally, but it's not absolutely impossible, I suppose. How old are your DDs? can you not stick it out in the flat until secondary?

It would make things difficult in terms of after-school clubs – would one have to hang around with you for an hour until the other one's club was done and you could all go home together? Same applies to playdates if all their friends are in the Highbury area.

And it would probably mean waiting longer until they could travel to school under their own steam. Mine walked to school with friends from year 5 or so, but at that age they wouldn't have been ready to get the tube by themselves.

You would also be a bit stuffed if the Victoria line went down.

You don’t say how old your children are, so it’s not clear if they are old enough to travel on their own , I am assuming not. So what will be the plan when one is too ill to go to school and the other isn’t? What happens with after school clubs, after school performances and concerts,parents evenings, when one of them comes down with a vomiting bug at school and you need to get a vomiting child home on the tube, when the school offers them a cycling proficiency course and they need to take their bikes in. What are you thinking of doing for secondary school when that happens, if you apply from Walthamstow for Islington ( or possibly Camden) schools then distance could be a huge factor in getting a place.

I don’t know Walthamstow schools, that’s something you need to investigate, but a closer to home school always starts with bonus points.

If you decide to change boroughs then start looking now, but time your application carefully, most schools want children doing in year changes to start within a couple of weeks, to secure places you might need to move them mid term if places in the right school and the right year groups come up.

I would definitely be staying in Highbury.

Depends - how old are your kids, what are the school options in Walthamstow ((primary and secondary) and how big is your flat.

If you’ve got a two-bed, I’d try to stick it out until the start of secondary rather than commute. If not, then commit to the move and find good primary and secondary school options in Walthamstow and become part of your new community properly.

We tried this when DD was at nursery- couldn't bear to disrupt her and no available places for three months. It was bit further - Kentish Town, but direct on overground. It was pretty horrendous with small kid at commuting times, any disruption to the line and you are stuck, harder to do after school activities. Also trickier to manage swimming classes and other extracurriculars?

Also not being in a local school makes it harder to integrate in an area. So many friends are school friends and parents of school friends in those years. I appreciate you already have that in Highgate, but some of those will last and great to have good ties in different boroughs.

Local life in Walthamstow is pretty easy and manageable, primaries are good, secondary variable but pretty good.

l think making a commitment to going might be healthier than being split?

It is certainly doable, but I don't know that I would bother because there are plenty of good primary schools in Walthamstow, and it is wonderful to walk five minutes to school and have dozens of school friends within a half mile radius.

The secondary school options are less good...I have to say I would think twice about moving here if you would still be here at that stage.

Is it 30 mins door to door? How old are the dc now?

We had a similar distance when dc started at her prep school. It was doable, but always planned as a short term thing as we moved house after one term (we live 5 mins walk away now). We were able to do one after school activity that I took her to, some other activities on the school site and swimming lessons at weekends. It was OK for that one term and very common for other dcs to commute a similar distance throughout their time at school. It's harder work though and it does eat up a fair bit of your day. School friends are scattered around North London as there's a fairly wide catchment for preps.
We had a couple of tube strikes and had to deal with a horrible bus journey - you definitely need a plan B for strike/disruptions.

Tbh if it were me and you accept that you have to move, I'd move schools too as long as you can move near a decent one. Highbury is a great area but Walthamstow has a lot going for it too. I would only hang on to the school place if it were short term, maybe a year left before secondary perhaps.

I know both areas and see the dilemma!

Thirty minutes doesn't seem that bad to me and lots of private school kids do much further. It just sounds like . . . such a hassle, and going with the commuting traffic, and then having to turn around and go home/on to work. Playdates and feeling connected to the school is so much harder too. And I'd think of how far the school/house is from each station (considering walking in the rain, uphill, etc.) Honestly, it sounds like more of a hassle to me than having too little space.

Would you not want to settle into the new place and meet new friends there before secondary. esp. since adult friendships and community often develop in primary school? (Particularly true if kids are still little.) I might just bite the bullet and move the kids if the primary schools are at all good; they'll be separated from their own friends anyway at secondary.

I'd still say it's doable though!