any view on these areas - Brockley, Honor Oak, Forest HIll, North Finchley, Pinner, Walthamstow - a small family of three need schools

[zurich09]

Hi,

Just starting anew thread. Was wondering if anyone has views on these areas to live as a family: Brockley, Honor Oak, Forest HIll, North Finchley/Woodside park, Pinner, Walthamstow? Moving from abroad and dont really know London. Ideally looking for a two bed flat - priorities: schools, safe, nice green spaces - cafes etc......got a DS so looking for state secondary schools.....Would anyone like to share their experiences of any of these areas??

Don't know Pinner but all of those other areas are nice, diverse parts of London. With a son, look at the school catchments - some state schools unfortunately have gang issues/police presence etc. I would move somewhere a bit further out that has less of a reputation if you're not hell bent on being in Zone2/3. Somewhere like Orpington (Bromley Borough) or the Borough of Bexley - still great train links to central London (15-20 minutes to London Bridge) but safer and leafier for children (and cheaper housing too). Best of all worlds.

thank you! and i know that am generalising and being completely sexist here, but i am a lot more concerned coming back to london with a son than if i had a daughter......schools seem alot worse, casual violence is much more prevalent etc. .....

I know exactly what you mean - we moved from Zone two to Zone 4/5 borders and are very happy. Feels much safer for our son (no gang related violence that I've heard of) and the schools are great and the journey time to central London has only increased by 10 minutes max! Blackheath is a lovely area - Thomas Tallis school is good. Not sure what your budget is though - flats generally £375-500K for 2-3 beds and some houses around £420. Good transport links.

Pinner is possibly more suburbia than the other areas, its zone 5 and fairly near countryside. I think the schools are good (i grew up near there but haven't lived there as an adult) The commute into central London would be about 40 min on the metropolitan line.

@Schnitzelvonkrumb - i think lots of people grew up in that part of London (guess it used to be the place to live) and have now migrated to SELondon or ELondon (from what I hear). I've never really been/lived in either .....so both NW and SE London are just places on the tube/train maps. Will check them out once we're over....

Brockley, Honor Oak and Forest Hill are great for primary aged kids. A lot of families do stay on but a lot of families leave for secondary. If you are making a decent boys secondary school your criteria I would not really pick those areas. In SE London I would probably pick Beckenham, Bromley, Hayes...

@Puffthemagicdragongoestobed Wherr would you pick in other areas of london for ok secondary schools that are either mixed or for boys? have to commute to Euston and do pick ups so mindlful that the further out un SELondon we go the hard that gets

zurich I am sorry I cannot really comment on other London areas for boys or mixed secondaries but maybe if you search on mumsnet you will find other schools discussed elsewhere?

thank you! Will do that.....sometimes i feel like i need to employ a full time research just to coordinate livng in London - schools, location, costs, commuting......

Some of the secondary schools on those areas are 'gritty'. Check out Ofsted, visit and look at the crime stats for those areas too.

Pinner is beautiful- very picturesque and with good/outstanding schools and several parks. Central London is about 35-40 mins on the met line. Pinner is a village and has an annual fair and bands that come and play in local park in the summer months. Look up 'Proud of Pinner' on FB.

I live in Brockley and love it, it's a great area for families but state secondaries in the area aren't great. I think we'll move out to Kent for secondary for better schools and a bigger property.

I must add that because of the fantastic schools, catchment areas are small so consider where you want to live carefully. A two bed flat would probably set you back £1200-1400 a month.

www.pinnerassociation.co.uk

@dummarodum which secondaries would you particularly recommend?

People have suggested to check out Ofsted reports...not had any experience with them. Are they an accurate reflection of what the school is like?

I work in education and feel the whole Ofsted inspections, while giving a good overview of the school, are generally a farce. They are bot an accurate reflection of the schools. For example, I worked in an 'outstanding' school in a neighbouring borough and realised very quickly, how not-outstanding it was- it had just been good in collecting the necessary paperwork required to pass their Ofsted inspection so proceed with caution. ALWAYS visit the schools you're interested in, see what feel you get for them and ask as many questions as you can. Having said that, there's this:

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&parliamentary=Ruislip,%20Northwood%20and%20Pinner&geographic=parliamentary&for=secondary&basedon=Overall%20performance&show=All%20pupils

Also, there are several highly-thought of schools that are academies so have their own rating criteria. Also, the area is awash with private schools, including the infamous Harrow School.

**not an accurate reflection

I forgot how old your little ones are @zurich09 :/ so can't comment on specific schools.

Primaries are fine, but the reality is that you’ll be best to base your search around good independent/grammar schools for secondary for some of those areas.

Are London secondaries really that bad nowadays? we probably cant afford private and was a bit concerned that grammars are super competitive to get into i.e. tutoring etc (from what I've read on here) and i was wondering whether its worth it...though i wpuld lime DS to go to a nice school where he feels safe and kids do their work without too much bullying....but does that mean we basically have to send him to something like a grammar? i.e. in terms of where to live/buy...

also from looking around the compare schools website - are boys or mixed schools really that much worse than girls schools. We've got a DS so its not like we can 'swap' but I was just wondering. any area in London that are ok for state secondaries that are boys only or mixed?

Eltham (SE9)? Two or three good mixed secondaries; Thomas Tallis, St Thomas More (Catholic but has places for non catholic too). Easy to get into the neighbouring Borough Grammar schools if academic too. Nice area, good links to London Bridge/Charing X.