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.

door to door will be great ( I will be dropped off to the station and pick it up so it won't impact too much the length of the commute).

we hope so, is that not reasonable for outside london?
I'm looking on rightmove and there are several options (richmond etc) at that price range.

i wish 2.75 million to buy :)
just 2750 £ to rent

Dropping off a Richmond station isn't really a good option!

South Wimbledon - Northern Line to Waterloo is a short commute. Good primary schools in the area (Pelham, Merton Park, Merton Abbey)

at the moment I'm following advices from people. I'm going to check Blackheath and Kent once i have a clear idea of the South West.
Any advice on the South East?
thank you

SE London and Kent trains often head into London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross but can be pretty slow suburban services.

There is a fast service from Orpington to London Bridge.

Orpington is not posh, however.

"dropped off to the station" only works if you move somewhere with very little traffic. That is not going to be the case near many London stations which presumably means your partner and child could be stuck in traffic quite a bit. Especially at rough hour

Most people in London with children make their way all the way home after work, so that the child can be fed, do homework etc without spending half an hour in the car every night.

I would also look at East Dulwich, Herne Hill, Crystal Palace, Sydenham and Forest Hill

Blackheath and Kent are both South East. Kent is enormous.

I agree with others, Wimbledon is a overpriced because of the name, far from London and its just OK.

I will pick Richmond over Wimbledon as there are fast trains into Waterloo

Worcester park / new Malden will be better value and similar time/distance if going on train (I forgot which stations but some have fast trains into Waterloo). Kingston is so lovely but more expensive.

Camden is very nice lots of child friendly areas, easy to get to central London, is a lovely child friendly area with great amenities and safe

Chiswick is very lovely area too

depending on what you are looking for, you might only get 2 bedder flats with the budget these days

Another top tip (as someone who's brought up a primary age child in one of the areas you're considering) is look into the detail of the commute before committing. Actually do the commute, via one or two of the likely primary schools.

My rule of thumb in the suburbs is all journeys from one part of London to another take one hour and 15 minutes door to door. Maybe an hour if the connections are great. Involving a primary school that's a mile from a station can easily add half an hour.

Parents are generally expected to collect kids in person, right up to summer term of year 6.

Wimbledon is a overpriced because of the name, far from London and its just OK

Far from London?! Have you ever been to Wimbledon?! It's about 15 minutes on the overground and about 20 minutes on the Northern Line from South Wimbledon.

Unless, of course, you mean 'very different from'/'not actually London'? (Although I'm not quite sure what that would be!)

Parents are generally expected to collect kids in person, right up to summer term of year 6.

Since when?!

Kids can normally start walking to & from school at the start of yr 5…

Whilst I do think Wimbledon is somewhat overrated & South Wimbledon is very different to Wim Village I’m not sure how it’s far from London or any more overpriced than Richmond.

Everywhere is overpriced for goodness sake, and Wimbledon is no more expensive than Richmond , Camden or Chiswick.

Agree Worcester Park / New Malden is better value, but its boring and dull and there's no tube!

One thing, what do people mean by 'Camden' ?, as a born and bred Londoner, Camden to me means the area around Camden town, which is horrible place to live , overrun with tourists , shops selling tat and overpriced cafes and has some of the worst crime ridden estates in London just off the main roads. BUT The borough of Camden is huge and covers places as different as Clerkenwell and Primrose Hill, so I cant comment that 'Camden is child frienly and safe.' where in Camden??

The borough of Camden consistently comes top as most crime ridden in London, chiefly as so much of it is in central london

https://chiswickherald.co.uk/the-most-dangerous-boroughs-in-london-revealed-p24938-249.htm

Everywhere is overpriced for goodness sake

True dat!

Agree Worcester Park / New Malden is better value, but its boring and dull and there's no tube!

Some great food options particularly NM, WP has some excellent schools, both in very safe boroughs . No tube in the SE either.

Wherever you go in London there will still be a compromise even with a budget much higher than the OPs

Certainly when we bought our house (a gazillion years ago), there was a price premium for a house in 'Wimbledon'. Ours still has a SW19 postcode but was considerably cheaper, just because it's not ' Wimbledon'.

You’ll get more value for money in south east London and Blackheath and surrounds have nice primary schools. See eg this house where you are in easy walking distance of train station and also Brooklands Primary school (and others) : www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139370390#/?channel=RES_LET

Maybe our school was unusual. Had to take the kids till Easter year 6.

But never mind, year 5 or year 6 - still a lot of picking up ahead!