Move to Beckenham - Langley School

[Littlepuddleducks]

ooking to leave north London. We live in a wonderful community in a good sized Victorian terraced house and kids go to an excellent primary school but the secondary schools aren’t great at all and the area is really polluted by huge amounts of traffic.

We have DD 6 years, DS 3 years and DS 1 year (busy home!). I feel if we move now then the kids can find new friendships groups easily rather when they are older.

I have searched endlessly from Hitchin to Guildford to Godalming to Hertford to Leigh on Sea to Wanstead to South Woodford for the right area but I feel Beckenham maybe the right move. It seems to have a great community which is so important to us and the right mix of everything. It’s so hard when you want the right thing for your children.

Has anyone moved into Beckenham and managed to successfully do multiple in year transfers? I would be doing a reception and Yr2 transfer. If I aim for Langley Boys and Girls, closest primary seem to be Langley or Unicorn? Are these good? Am I bonkers to even try to attempt it? Is trying to purchase a home near the school virtually impossible?

If anyone has managed a similar move I would love your feedback!

Thanks so much x

I lived in Beckenham until I moved out and went to University. We were based in the Langley Park development for a good 10 of those years and my mum and dad still live in the Langley Park. It’s an area I would say I know very well.

On schools, the Unicorn school is very good and places highly sought after (my niece luckily went there) and there are also other good private primary schools in the area (Clare House, St. David’s etc). You are also in close proximity to good secondary schools such as Langley Park Boys and Girls (they are both mixed schools regardless of their names!). There are also excellent private secondary schools in good proximity, the closest being Trinity and Whitgift, Dulwich a drive-able school run away. Both Langley schools are very good state schools though and I would be happy sending my kids there!

I haven’t had to transfer kids (our first is on the way!) but myself and my sister both moved schools mid year at different points without problems. I imagine it is near impossible to gauge these factors though.

Housing wise, Langley is dense with homes so I imagine there will be a lot of options. Wickham Way is probably the most desirable (and expensive) place to live in the area near the schools and Langley Golf Club. There are many nice and safe neighbourhoods though in the area so I don’t think you can go far wrong!

The two housing developments nearest the schools are Langley Park and Langley Waterside. Both are private, gated developments which are big, so do feel like their own communities. Having lived in one of these, I must admit I was very fortunate! I had a great social life during my formative years (all the kids from both developments mixed and many went to the two Langley schools together) and it felt very safe! There is also Langley Tennis Club and Kelsey Park is a very well known and well maintained park. As for when the kids are older and for mum and dad, you have nearby Beckenham high street, West Wickham and Bromley. The Jolly Woodman and the Chancery are your closest pubs, both with a ‘locals’ pub vibes and are a 10-15 minute stumble from Langley.

There is a new neighbouring Langley Close development being built now so there will be a surplus of new homes in the next 1-5 years but I imagine buying off plan is happening as we speak, so worth looking into ASAP.

Bottom line, I would recommend the area and If you have any other questions, let me know.

Interesting. Clare House is a state primary not private. And I was pretty sure the Langley Schools are only co-ed at sixth form. Also there’s currently a ongoing consultation on the Langley school admissions. They want to change the criteria to give feeder schools the priority which will significantly reduced the number of open distance places. I imagine these primaries will now be extremely sought after which may make an in-year place trickier.

If you do a Google search you can find the link to some articles and also there’s a section on the schools’ website. Here’s the petition and comments which will give you a bit more insight.

www.change.org/p/langley-park-learning-trust-stop-proposed-changes-to-langley-park-secondary-schools-admissions-criteria

Anyway this is all undecided as yet. May be better to wait for the outcome/ conf. of the new distance before you buy but that would be a year or two.

Apologies, missl1 is correct about Clare House and co-ed sixth forms.

The petition and admissions consultation re feeder schools are from a year ago and was rejected. There is a new admissions consultation going on, you can find everything here www.lpsb.org.uk/1406/lplt-admissions-consultation
In year admissions are tricky as both primaries are oversubscribed, but I guess you just join the waiting list.

Oooooo interesting. Thanks. Just checking in reading it right. Does that mean the feeder school idea has been totally scrapped?

@CraziFoobz thanks so much for taking the time to write such a detailed and very helpful reply! Very kind of you - I will look at everything you mentioned :)

Just came across this post randomly so apologies if it's a bit after the fact. We made a very similar move a few years ago. If it's the Langley secondaries you're moving for just be really careful when looking at properties to keep well within recent catchments for those as they're very oversubscribed. I wouldn't worry too much about primary places. As I'm sure you know for in-year transfers it's a case of where there are spaces. Both the primary schools you mentioned are lovely. There are also lots of other great primaries in the area and there's always a bit of movement each year, so I'm sure your chances of getting a place at a good school are pretty high. I'd recommend calling Bromley admissions team if you've not already done so. They may be able to give you an idea of how likely you'd be to get a place at your preferred schools and tell you about waiting lists for those year groups. Good luck with your move.

Or ten minutes further out to Hayes and you have an excellent coed ofsted outstanding secondary, better than both Langley schools. Unicorn is a good primary but with large class sizes and some behaviour issues in certain year groups. Clare House is good school, Hayes Primary and Pickhurst are both excellent too.

My dgd started reception at Langley Park infants school last September so far my dd has been very impressed, all the staff are fabulous.
The facilities are very good, dgd has settled really well.

@Littlepuddleducks did you make the move? We are now in the same position but unsure which part of Beckenham to aim for considering schools! There's so many great schools including Clare House, Balgowan, Harris Primary, Unicorn! Which did you go for? Any help would be so appreciated!