Where to live in West London??

[DaHe]

Hi all! My family (2 kids, age 5 & 3, & husband) & I are moving back to London after 10 yrs living in NY. We live in Brooklyn and love it for great parks & lots of family friendly restaurants, great community & loads of classes/interesting things to do for kids. We’re looking at Chiswick, Turnham
Green, Ealing Common, West Ealing, etc. Would love to know peoples experiences, and any call-outs/thoughts. DD will prob go to St Augustines, DS to St Benedicts. We’re not religious but seemed to be great private options, but open to knowing about great state schools. All very confusing/exciting...thanks in advance!

If you are set on those schools, I would strongly suggest living as close to them as possible.
Avoid driving a school run if you possibly can - lots of traffic at that time, highly stressful etc. Be walking distance from school if possible or take the tube.

Most state schools are good across Chiswick and Ealing. But they will usually have relatively small catchment areas - places in non-religious state schools are allocated by proximity. You can look up the catchment areas for last year in the local education authority site and it will tell you the furthest away someone lived who got a place.
If you are not religious, you would be unlikely to get a place at religious state school. Catholic state schools require evidence of regular church attendance (eg letter from priest) plus baptismal records etc. Only if they cannot fill their places with religious applicants will they consider non-religious. Some CofE state schools are equally as strict, some are a little more flexible and keep a small share of places for more diverse applicants.

It's maybe a little weird to go for a full Catholic private education if you aren't religious at all. I know some people who went to St Benedict's years ago and someone who had a child there briefly. The religious aspect of the school is very strong - do you envisage your children taking confirmation? Quite a bit of family participation in the religious stuff as well...
This may have changed since the monastery aren't allowed to have any direct management of the school since 2012....a long series of sex abuse scandals at that school.
www.indcatholicnews.com/news/38166

Ealing Broadway is pretty tired these days - would say Chiswick has a much buzzier high street and shopping/dining options. But Ealing has a faster tube line option (central line) if commuting into central London is important. The district line is much slower.

South Ealing is fine. Chiswick is great. Ravenscourt Park is lovely too.

South Ealing and Northfields are both good options with nice high streets and yes, you are going to want to be able to get to those schools without having to drive or it'll be a nightmare. West Ealing is a little shabby, Hanwell is also shabby around the edges but fabulous green space, and very friendly. Tons of good state primaries in Ealing, but you would need to be v close to the school to be in catchment.

Chiswick is fun, but overpriced IMO. It depends on your budget a bit. Also not as good on tube as PP says.

Oh, and there's the Montpelier/Pitshanger area, with a great park and play centre and a lovely high st.

If you're looking at West London, one thing that will make a huge difference to the area you settle in is your budget, and what you are looking to buy/rent.

Some of the areas mentioned are much nicer than others, however you need to start with the budget, then think about which areas will stretch to it.

In general, I prefer Chiswick of all the areas mentioned, though the district line is pretty slow, and you need to be on the other side of the M4 if you prefer overground trains to get to Central London, however they are also slow.

Ealing is the best for public transport links, the Central line gets you into town reasonably quickly, plus Ealing Broadway has overground options in and out of town, and the Elizabeth line (whenever that appears) will get you to Liverpool Street in about 15 minutes.

Yes, I'm assuming that given your stated intent to send both DC to private schools, you're high earners, but a lot will depend on whether you want a spacious family house with garden or are happy in a flat in a swankier area, whether you intend to buy or rent, and where exactly you end up looking at. You will pay through the nose for any home in Chiswick compared to some of your other mentioned areas.

What's your budget? There's this...
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/67565824#/
to this...
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87486880#/
with half a mile of St Augustin's

Also not sure it's relevant anymore but are you aware of St Bennedict's past?

I can recommend St Benedict’s for your DS and DD. A wonderful, caring school. Ealing is lovely but you would need a good million £ for a family house.

Thank you for the reply! Is the traffic that bad?? Very useful to know, as we were def thinking of driving!
I went to the open day of St Augustines a few years ago, and loved the pastoral care. They said their students approx 60% catholic/40% not, which appealed.

Thanks @knitterbabe... do you have any thoughts on fit for non-catholic families?

Thanks @MothershipG... our budgets on the higher side, but not as much as Hillcrest! I was aware of the past, but assume now with all the attention there must be extra scrutiny. I think I’ll ask a more specific Q in the education section. I’m new to Mumsnet, so figuring out the navigation!

We live a bit further out as even in the 1980s could not afford Ealing or Chiswick (and catholic). We chose on the basis of academic and other factors private schools by the way and the Catholic ones for us did not tick enough boxes.

With private preps the most important thing is where the children go to afterwards as you tend to work backwards from there so do check.

We are American and we love living in Chiswick. We live in the eastern part of Chis between the high road and the river. (Though if I had £3m+ I would be in Bedford Park.) In my area most people who do private school send their kids to the local pre-prep/preps — look at Orchard House, Ravenscourt Park, Chiswick & Bedford Pk. At age 11 they take exams to her into secondary school. Any of the preps will prepare them for that process. My DCs had a lovely lovely primary experience at Ravenscourt Park and all got into the secondary schools we wanted. The only hitch is you have to literally put their name down from their first birthday for a reception (age 4) spot. But after reception things open up as people move around. I don’t know anyone who goes to the schools you mentioned for primary but I’m sure someone will be along who does.

@DaHe

Thank you for the reply! Is the traffic that bad?? Very useful to know, as we were def thinking of driving! I went to the open day of St Augustines a few years ago, and loved the pastoral care. They said their students approx 60% catholic/40% not, which appealed.

It'll be fucking hellish at pickup and drop-off time, yep. You could easily spend 20-30 mins going nowhere. Bike or walk is the way to go if you possibly can (or scooter speeds up young DC a good bit). A lot of primary schools are also buying into the "School Streets Initiative" and temporarily closing the streets around the school at pickup and drop-off time.

Driving at school drop and pick up really is that bad. Don't do it to yourself and kids. Stressful, a total waste of time and energy.

If you are set on the school, live near it and as needed compromise on house. Walk or cycle to school. If you really can't live near it, then move somewhere by the tube, get the tube to Ealing Broadway and walk the last part.

Quite rightly, councils are deterring driving around schools and may institute temporary road closures. This might not be the school your kids attend (I think it is only state schools) but it could make your journey harder.

Most definitely not West Ealing , it’s a shithole , I lived there when I first moved out on my own from Hanwell.
Used to be nice when I was a child but it’s just getting worse .
Northfields now has loads of those low traffic neighbourhoods and they are hellish!
Agree with st Benedicts school run, that area is gridlocked around that time and most of it is permit holders .
My friend was always telling me what a nightmare it was .
Houses are also massively expensive but I do like Ealing , grew up there but it’s very different now .