Buying house - borderline of Bromley - Lewisham boroughs

[atadmuddled]

Hi everyone,

Really hoping to get some advice from you all. My DH and I are looking to move for more space, hoping to start a family in the near future. We have been tempted by Bromley as a borough as there are lots of leafy green pockets, we liked Beckenham and have some family currently within 20 mins drive of us in this area...another big plus was generally good state schools in Bromley..

We've seen a property that we are really excited about, but realised its not in Bromley, it's actually considered Lewisham borough because of where the border forms. It's near downham, but not in downham, our nearest station would be ravensbourne. Don't want to be snobby at all, but there is a distinct difference when you drive down the road where the border changes.

I have no idea what this would mean when it came to applying for schools - can we only apply to Lewisham borough schools even if we might be closer (as the crow flies) to schools in Bromley?

Totally appreciate that it would be a while before we have a child to send to school, but we see this house as potentially a forever home! Any thoughts/ advice very welcome!

You can apply to any schools as long as distance/ catchment works. I'm currently Lewisham and they are a decent local council and while overall more deprived there is a real mix of areas in there (a good chunk of Blackheath for example). Dont know the area sorry.

I'd check admissions distances carefully if you're talking about where I think you are. It can be a bit of a black hole for both primary and secondary admissions.

There is a pan-London admission system for schools so it doesn't matter what borough you are in.

There are some black holes where you aren't really in catchment for any schools - school catchment obvs changes every year depending on how many kids of a certain age live where.

@atadmuddled I just tried to reply to your PM but it won't let me for some reason, so I'm just going to post it here!

I don't want to put you off too much because it's not a bad area at all, but if schools are an important factor then I would just be a bit cautious there. Obviously it will be a while before you need to worry about it and things could change, but the 'desirable' Bromley secondaries are very likely to be too far away as things stand, unless your DC qualifies for one of the grammars.

Primaries I'm less in touch with as we're several years past that stage now, but again I know people in that area had issues in the past. Bromley publish distance information in their schools admissions booklet so it's worth having a look (I think the new version should be on the council website in early September).

Of course, the trade-off is you get a bigger house for your money! Hope that's useful information, and good luck with your house search.

What others said. I don’t know Bromley well but do know Lewisham. All Lewisham primaries are Ofsted “Good” (or were a year ago, in case a few have slipped!) and in practice good - I work with the most deprived of them and would still happily send my own child there. Secondaries are much patchier.

@bananananadakrie - thanks so much - yes we were looking for a house in Catford on the corbett estate originally and have decided to edge out further for more space - but I know there are some really good primaries around there....just depends on how far the catchment goes in the future.

Thanks @MojoMoon - will need to look into the each boroughs stats for how far the catchment goes and see if we are in a blackhole or now. Annoying that Bromley publish their proximity data as miles and Lewisham as metres...are they trying to make it harder to figure out on purpose.

@ItRainedForever - thanks so much! I've had a look at the tables for Bromley as you suggested and have a better understanding of how far (or not) some of the catchment areas for the primaries go...and now done the same with the Lewisham primaries.

I understand what you mean about the area being really nice - we felt the same when we have been there on multiple occasions. But like you say, its a gamble with taking a risk on the school situation and potentially being in catchment for only 1 school and hoping it remains good (not just by OFSTED standards).

Thanks @TheWayTheLightFalls - agree that Lewisham primaries seem to provide plenty of good options. Just need to check if we are close to enough of them and aren't setting ourselves up to be in a black hole for catchment for 5+ years time!