Dulwich-Herne Hill/Blackheath/Clapham??

[N1MTB]

Hello,

We're currently considering moving to be near good primary schools and get more space for our money and also be near parks/green space etc. (We currently live at the Angel end of Islington.)

I grew up between Blackheath and Greenwich (and went to school in Blackheath) but would appreciate some thoughts about Dulwich/Herne Hill as I don't know the area very well. It looks lovely (and if we can be in the catchment area for the village infant and junior school that would be great) BUT I'm slightly worried there isn't that much on the doorstep shops/coffee places/restaurant-wise... I appreciate I am currently extremely spoilt, having Upper Street a couple of minues walk from my front door, but our perceived lack of places for "popping out" to in Dulwich, is putting us off a bit.

Commuting time to the city is important as we both work there - Herne Hill scores quite highly on that front because of the Thameslink but London Bridge/Cannon St is ok too.

Anyway, all three areas are lovely options but would appreciate any thoughts, especially from people who know a couple of the areas well! (For a bit more background, we have two children, DS (3) and DD (18 months), and would probably like to send them to independent secondaries after state primaries if we are still in a position to do so in a few years time! So, Dulwich has at least three very good options (that I know of off the top of my head).)

Thank you!

Have you looked at Maze Hill/Westcombe Park area?

Sorry, meant to include a bit more detail. Halstow primary is very well-regarded, but quite a small catchment. A short stroll to Greenwich Park and a slightly longer one into Blackheath Village/Central Greenwich.

Halstow is extremely difficult to get into. I was talking to someone who lives there and her son couldn't get in, apparently the catchment is around 260 metres from the school! But it is a great school, from al accounts. :)

Hi Redllamayellowllama - thanks - yup! Looked at Halstow and that area. I grew up on Foyle Road and Halstow was our local primary but it was completely awful in the 80s! So, we trapsed across the heath to John Ball every day. My mother was very slim when we lived in Westcombe Park!

I know Halstow is completely amazing now though. And I do love being so close to the park but the area is just a bit too quiet for us I think... Westcombe Park was apparently built as a "dry estate" which is why there are no pubs etc and it would be nice to have a few places to pop out to (not necessarily just ones serving alcohol) close to the house. The walk to Greenwich village and Blackheath is a bit too much from the Halstow catchment area. And The Standard's not as nice. I do love the area though.

Hello - for those of you think about Dulwich village state primaries, these are the distances first round offers were made for Dulwich Village C of E primary school for non church places:

Sept2010/Jan 2011 825m (this is measure as the crow flies)

Sept 2009/Jan 2010 854m - this was measured the shortest safest walking distance

Sept 2008/ Jan 2009 851m - this was measured the shortest safest walking distance

I grew up on Foyle Road! In fact, I'm in my Mum's house on Foyle Road at the moment - she lives abroad and is selling in the next few months so we're organising.

The Vanbrugh is a very nice local pub, but agree about the Standard and distances to BV/G.

Oooh - will check out the Vanbrugh! Thanks!

Wonder if we knew each other?!? (And which end of Foyle Road is your mum on?!)

In the middle pretty much, on the left hand side if you're standing at the top of the hill. We were at Blackheath High, then Thomas Tallis. East Greenwich Pleasaunce is a little park on Halstow road which has a 1 o'clock playgroup/club running daily, a little playground and, more recently, a lovely cafe with events year round.

Oh wow - that's weird. That's exactly where we were... But, I don't think I knew you! (You are probably younger!!) Both of those were good schools then and still seem to be.

Now I am tempted to consider Westcombe Park again... Sounds really nice.

N1MTB - Many many thanks for posting up the distances for catchment. Wonder why they stopped measuring walking distance and switched to crow flies..hope they stick with crow flies for the coming years! Good point about church places, I will do some more research. House goes through tomorrow so no going back now- eek!

All these lovely places to live that everyone is suggesting - I should have joined Mumsnet a long time ago!

Good luck AprilfoolN1! I think it's a lovely road and a fantastic area.

If your DC is just 2 now, and if we do move to Dulwich, your DC could be in the same year as my DC2 (who will be 2 in August) - IF we both end up getting in to/choosing the same Dulwich school of course....

I have a very soft spot for Westcombe Park/Blackheath but think Dulwich is pipping it at the moment for us in terms of what we are after.

Agree - I should have posted on mumsnet a long time ago!

i just wanted to say school admissions seem like such a lottery - plenty of unhappy parents on the East Dulwich Forum today complaining that they didn't get into their closest schools - within 300 metres. some people got none of their choices.
I am terrified of the system, since we are planning to leave East Dulwich and move (to Honor Oak Park) almost solely for the schools!

Oh blimey... Don't say that Chandellina..!! What a nightmare. Will check it out. Good luck with your move...

East Dulwich catchments are notoriously complex - rather than just being small - so best of luck! We moved here when DS was three, so by all means PM me if you need any ideas re nurseries a couple of days a week, tumble tots, reliable babysitters, that kind of stuff (or for that matter names of people with small children nearby, once you've moved....).

I've been lurking on this thread as we are buying in Herne Hill now as well.

Legalalien - do you mind sharing your thoughts about nurseries, baby groups etc? DD is 7 months old now, I am going back to work in September. Sorry to hijack the thread, if you prefer I will PM you.

Thank you Legalalien - I definitely will do... I am especially keen on finding nurseries that take them for just a couple of days a week!!

Umnista! Good luck with the move...

We are actually really keen to move into the village itself (and accept we won't get quite so much house for our money!) so that would give ourselves as good a chance as possible to get children into Dulwich Village C of E Infants and the Hamlet. And, I'm going to do a back up private option (or two) too if I'm not too late for that. Not too late for Alleyns but still really shocked that there are 10 applications per place and that it is SELECTIVE at 3... Don't want to send the children to different schools though and we really haven't planned for private primary education... Sounds harder to get into the private schools anyway! Blinking nightmare. However, we are doing the best we can and there's no point stressing....

Thanks N1 MTB and good luck with your house hunt - My DC is 2 in May so our DCs would be in the same class if we picked/got into the same schools!

When are you moving to HH Umnista? I am moving there in 2 weeks time.

Legalalien - I would also love to hear your recommendations if you wouldn't mind sharing them again (bet you are wishing you'd never offered now!). I don't know how to PM (mumsnet/chat rooms in general novice) but maybe you could PM me.

I have heard that the best nursery is Nellys on Turney Rd but I can't get in even though i've been waitlisted since last summer so looking for some other ideas if anyone has any recommendations of other good places.

N1 MTB my friend just got into Alleyns but was refused from DVI and Rosendale (from under 800m away) so don't worry too much, sometimes it works the other way around! Having looked on East Dulwich Forum it is indeed a blinking nightmare and seems so arbitrary. That's why I wanted to buy a house we really loved and then worry about the schooling nightmare later (bearing in mind that you can't go hideously wrong in Dulwich as nearly all the schools are very good). I will probably live to regret that theory so will register at a couple of privates just in case (without telling my DH!)

Hmm - interesting AprilfoolN1. DVI are coming back to me with distances from the school for first round offers, that were from the non-faith batch AND that exclude those given sibling preference. I suspected it would be a lot under 800m if you take out the sibling preferences.... I will report back when I hear! However, I imagine they are very busy at the moment allocating places/dealing with appeals for Sept this year.

You are probably completely right AprilfoolN1 - we should just choose a house we love in an area we are happy with as there are a few good primaries.

But I am definitely putting their names down for a couple of private ones if I can too (without telling DH) just in case.... In fact, I know somebody else who did that and both her children are now at a private school with her DH's full approval.

N1MTB We put DS1 down for Blackheath Prep (generally regarded as one of the best private schools in that area) and he went for the assessment last week, waiting to hear if he got in. It's crazy as they do assessment even for him going into the nursery intake (apparently you have to get in the school through nursery, otherwise forget it as all the places for reception will be taken up by those moving up from nursery). That was always our back-up plan in case we couldn't buy/sell and he ended up in an awful local primary (there's a few around where we live now...). We saw a few others but didn't like them as much so this is our only bet for private really? Honestly? You think with the amount of money you pay, it's easy to get into private but it doesn't seem to be an easier option sometimes! Good luck... :)

oh yes, please do report back when you hear! I would be very interested to know what a difference the sibling exemption makes. Having looked into it further, we would have to apply for a non-faith place as you can only apply for faith if it's your nearest c of e school and there is one nearer to winterbrook called St Judes (which gets level 1 ofsted so must be good but I never seem to read about it on the forums).

The thing that makes me feel the best about the whole thing is knowing the Hamlet catchment is larger - even though that would mean two moves which isn't ideal.

If we end up getting rejected from the schools we want in 2013 the DH's will be thanking us for making clandestine private applications I am sure!

Anyway, the mere fact we are worrying so much about this whole thing must surely mean our kids will be fine wherever they end up. It's a sunny day outside and I am looking on Good Schools Guide again - it's bordering on an obsession that I need to curtail!

I was going to suggest Dulwich village but having read the thread I see that's where you're going so I don't have to

My sisters dcs go to one of the schools mentioned on here and she is very happy with it!

Thanks Ilovecrisps...! All good to hear.

Now, if only we could (1) sell our house quickly and (2) find a house in Dulwich village that we like (oh yes, and can afford)! There's so little on! Our house going on market on Tuesday - photos etc being done on Friday....

AprilfoolN1, how exciting for you to be moving in a fortnight! We are hoping to exchange in a week's time and then move in June.

N1MTB - good luck with finding what you like in DV. Hopefully more properties will be coming on the market now that everything is blossoming and gardens can be shown to their best advantage (that's what agents have been telling me anyway).

Until this thread I did not realise HH was a natural destination for North Londoners. We moved from Hampstead and are renting in East Dulwich now. We were rather promiscuous looking for the right area to buy - Muswell Hill / Dartmouth Park / Mapesbury but in the end HH won given transport links and schools.

I am interested in your deliberations about being in a particular catchment area. A few months ago I was totally enamoured by an outstanding primary in Alexandra Palace after reading a glowing Good Schools Guide review and even found a house which we sort of liked (in a rational rather than emotional way). I convinced myself (and DH) what a splendid idea it was not to pay for DD to go to a superb school even if we had to compromise on a house. We then viewed another property and talked to the sellers whose children went to that wonderful state primary; they were moving out because they thought the school was not good enough to prepare their daughter for a good private secondary. That was the first blow to my theory. I then called the Harringay Council to clarify catchment area and the year on year variations were massive (almost 40% - about 500 m). So we abandoned the strategy of going for the catchment area...

Sorry for this stream of consciousness, it is totally irrelevant for the property thread. I still hate the idea of paying for primary education (a year in JAPS costs almost as much as a year of my MBA!!) and I think we'll be in the catchment for Hamlets, but like you N1MTB we will be putting in applications for private schools.

LOVE that tale Umnitsa, I feel vindicated! I was walking through Dulwich today and as I passed DVI I was wondering whether we should have bought closer or whether we have done the right thing (in the way one only does post-event) so your words will make me stop worrying!

Promiscuous really is the perfect word to describe the family-in-London conundrum. We were all over the place with our thinking while deciding, including moving to the Home Counties and even back home to Yorkshire. I often questioned our own sense but I've since realised that it's the same for nearly everyone I know with kids - unless you are an indigenous Londoner it is so hard to choose a place to settle and you end up going through a totally random and often illogical thought process during which you wait for a place to jump out at you shouting "I'm the one!" but then nowhere does so you look for a good school or park or something else to make sense of your choice (that day) and then end up comparing apples with pears and getting more confused and frustrated. Saying that, I think N1 MTB is from London and it doesn't seem to make the decision process any easier..

The cost of private primary does make you wince when you think about it (and I have to disagree with it having been through the state system myself) but I was thinking today that a year at JAPS will be cheaper than what I have been paying until now for DC1's full time nursery spot. I hadn't thought of it like that before.

Who are you putting your house on with N1MTB? We used Carlton and I highly recommend them. Hope you don't have too much tidying to do before photos (I did - what a nightmare weekend I remember that was). Incidentally, have you looked at the house on Woodwarde Rd (village end)? We really liked that one but they wouldn't move on price (it was early days for them then). It comes (unofficially) with access through the garden to the Alleyn playing fields - fantastic for DCs.

aargh - typed a detailed message about nurseries and then lost it! Anyway, the gist of it was (based on comments from people I know who have direct experience, rather than my own experience):

Nellys in Turney Road - good, but as you say, long waiting list

Dulwich Village Pre-School (on south circular rather than actually in the village - www.dulwichvillagepreschool.com/index.php/site/about/ - very good feedback, have been there and it doesn't look very flash, but the staff are apparently lovely and they're quite flexible about part time attendance

Dulwich Montessori - www.dulwichmontessori.co.uk/- good. My DS went to Little Fingers montessori one afternoon per week for a couple of months aged 3 and didn't like it. Mind you he was fairly antisocial at the time.

Another option you might want to consider if nervous about the DVI catchment zone, sign up for Herne Hill school - which takes children from 3 and I think they can start doing half days - and then transfer to DVI at reception if a place is available, otherwise wait until 7 and transfer to the Hamlets. I have heard of various people doing this.

similarly the DCPS nursery level takes boys and girls, and you could transfer at reception level to the state system (only problem is that you may end up not wanting to do that as your child is settled and happy. which is what happened to me).