Moving to London and overwhelmed with informations

[AlwaysBusy0]

Hi everyone, Our family will be moving to London at the end of march and we are trying to understand how the primary school will work for my 5 years old kid. We will be too late to apply for the normal process so probably my daughter will be sent to the school with an available place.

• Is there a distance limit or the school could be anywhere?
• And in the case could we apply for the following year to the closest school to us?

We shortlisted few areas where potentially move, my Work will be around Waterloo and the budget for the housing is under 2.75k £ with ideal commuting under 30 minutes. Doing some research, I found few different options:

• Richmond - Putney - Wandsworth. For what I found online Richmond should be a very nice place to live with great connection to the city and state primary schools. Putney and Wandsworth are closer to Waterloo but with less good schools.

Does someone can give me a feedback on how is the commuting to the city from Richmond?

• Chiswick, few people advised this area thanks to the good schooling system and connections to Waterloo.
• Weybridge or Walton on Thames. The commuting is slighter longer but better value for the rent I would say. Good school system in place.
• Camden, Is it really worth to live in Camden? More expensive but a lot of good schools.

We would love to visit around Uk in general when we will be there and we will have a car for that.

If you have to decide where to live (With a budget of 2.75k £, commute under 30 minutes and good school primary school) would you choose one of the above or anywhere else? Happy to look into all the places that could fit our needs but I'm finding hard to screens between hundreds of different locations without real life experience in those areas.

Thanks for reading this long post and for your help.

Do not assume that the school closest to you will offer you a place, even at start of following year. Classes in state schools are usually limited at 30 children, so unless one leaves, there will not be a place available to offer - and when there is then there is a often a list of people waiting and some might be more elegible than you (which is often, but always, due to distance). Maybe people can give better advice but if you move mid-schooling you could end up being allocated a school a distance from your house.

You say your child would be 5 - would they be moving into reception (born between 1 Sept 2019 and 31 Aug 2020) or year 1 (born between 1 Sept 2018 and 31 Aug 2019)?

Is that your monthly rent budget?
I would try surbiton- great location by the river decent schools and very fast train to Waterloo

Typo - I meant often, but NOT always, due to distance

You will be allocated a school with a place within the London Borough within which you live, although maybe not immediately. Here's a map. So if you move to e.g. Richmond, it's their schools that are relevant (although if you're close to a Borough boundary, there's nothing to stop you enquiring about nearby schools across the boundary - with the main admissions round distance is distance whichever Borough you're in, but I don't know if that also applies to in-year admissions).

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_London_boroughs

I'd ring the education departments of a few likely Boroughs and ask for advice specific to your situation.

You can find out commute times on TfL Journey Planner.

If all boroughs are the same as mine you'll need to complete a mid year transfer form with 3 choices in order of preference. If all three are full they'll give you the closest school in the borough with a space and put you on the waiting list for your choices. Waiting list will be ordered as per normal admission criteria. It's definitely possible to apply for schools in more than one borough but not sure if you then need to do two forms.

You need to determine an area and secure an address. You can "choose" schools via an In Year application but places will likely be filled at the most popular ones and you could well be offered a space at a different school, less popular or some distance away, even in another borough. Unless a child leaves that will not change for the next year although you can go on waiting lists and hope. At year 3 the restrictions on class sizes can be relaxed so you may succeed with an application or appeal at that point.

You could speak to the council now and find out which schools have spaces in Reception in the borough of Richmond, you may be surprised at the amount of choice as the birth rate has dropped and many reception classes weren't full when places were allocated last April, especially around Hampton where over expansion in the past has not been reduced. But schools need full classes to get full funding (funding is based on the number of pupils in a school), and the school admin teams will have done their best to fill classes in the past weeks. It's the same with Surrey, ask the council where the reception spaces are in Walton/weybridge.

Ditto the above. My daughter is in year 1 and there's space in three very popular schools nearby which have were all over subscribed for reception entry. There's so much movement in London that come year 1 there can be a lot more to choose from compared to reception, or a short wait if you end up somewhere not ideal.

If you are moving to the UK, move to Wimbledon, it wont dissapoint, great schools, village feel but close enough to Waterloo and the central London, it has everything.

The only area on your list that comes close is Richmond.

The primary schools in London are fine too, its the secondary schools which become more hit and miss.

Avoid Camden , Wandsworth and Putney ( overpriced, terrible traffic, awful places to eat and hang out).

The thing to remember is every area has its nice bits and not so nice bits. I like the area around Clapham Junction. Very handy for travel, got a small town feel and I know of good schools in area. You also need to think about council tax and Wandsworth is lowest council tax.

Wimbledon is a bit flat in my opinion but I don't know the schools.

thanks for that....It is on the our list of places. We are shortlisting 3-4 areas and we will choose at the moment based on availability of rentals and schools.

have a great day

Is your budget a monthly rental budget?

Thanks for talking the time to answer. Yep, we know about this risk and our plan it's to find a place very very close to a good school (increasing the budget if necessary).
Is it possible that also living in the catchment area of a school (i know that change every year) it could be possible not to be accepted (also if based on distance we will be one of the closest?)? And do the "school class" being change every year based on the new potential kids arriving in the catchment area or it will be keep the same from grade 1?

thank you

Are you hoping to rent for £2,750 per month?

thank you for the information. Definitely we will call the different councils to see what it is available.
Just shortlisting areas because we want to be able to jump on what is available right away after the landing.

The class stays the same. No kids are kicked out to make space for newcomers to the area who live closer!

You can move next door to a school but if they don't have space for you, you won't get in. You'll be given a space somewhere, in a school with spaces available, and can stay on the waiting list for closer schools.

thanks for the info. I read about it from other old posts, Budget wise is good, school too but people complain about the suburban feeling of the place.
It is definitely in my watchlist (i could add more place to the pool).

I'd spend some time thinking about what you enjoy doing as a family. So do you like being in close vicinity to central locations? Museums that sort of thing and do you like a more urban feel? Then Camden is your place.
If you prefer more suburb style living then some of the other places are good eg Richmond etc. They have nice town centre with shops but realistically you probably will feel a bit far from central London.
If you are French (a guess), you may want to also look at location of amenities like French libraries or expat community resources that sort of thing.
Also commute ... will this be 5 days a week or less than that. Bear in mind train service can be very patchy. I personally like places with lots of options (bus, train, tube) so I am never impacted by strikes etc. I also personally like a short commute but everyone is different. 25 mins train may seem fast but if you then add a 10/15 walk on both ends it can add up.

Schools are important but also how you live your family life is also important !

You will get an allocated school place in borough once you have an address. You can be on the waiting list for preferred schools.
Is there a reason why you are mainly considering South West London? The places you have named are all pretty pricey and you may find you get more bang for your buck in South East London.

Consider New Malden, Raynes Park, Surbiton.
all within 30 mins of Waterloo, all with great schools

OP- I wouldn't discount Putney. Yes, the traffic is particularly awful at the moment but it has great local Primaries, a good community feel and is near the River which is a big plus. Good transport including river boats and far nearer to lots of places than some of the other areas mentioned. Not sure where you're coming from but lots of international families as well.

Do you mean 30 min train journey or 30 min door to door?

London primaries are suffering from low birth rates, many will have spaces.

The vast majority of London primaries are good or outstanding

What is 2.75k £ ?

Do you mean £2,7500 per month, or £2.75 million to buy?

Or something in between?

we are looking at the south manly because it would be a direct commute to Waterloo. Just trying to know as much as possible on one area but I will be checking others too.
What would you recommend for a 30 minutes door to door commute?