Bromley area advice

[Suspicioussam]

Hi,
I'm going to be a bit careful not to give too much away but I currently have one DC in school in the Bromley North/Sundrige area and we live in a flat. He is very happy in his school and I love the mix of parents and children. It feels very cosmopolitan, all the parents are from different areas/different countries/social classes, even though we are not from Bromley I definitely don't feel like an outsider. It is so convenient for London and we are generally very happy but we do fall out of catchment of all the good secondaries.

We are looking to move to a house and this is where I need some advice. I'm leaning towards Hayes but my DH thinks it feels too 'kent like', too local and less like London. I haven't personally noticed this particularly but
I wouldn't like to move to an area where all the other parents had grown up in the area and not open to making new friends etc. I do love that Hayes feels quite open and near to green space too. We found a property near Hayes Station which fits the bill, right near the high street, Pickhurst Road I think it was called. Is it nice round there?

Also considering Bickley direction, love the idea of good transport to London, close to the grammar schools, is bullers wood boys any good?! Would rather send DS to a mixed school but not completely against single sex.

Beckenham is probably our favourite area but a bit too expensive for us. We want a 4 bed or a 3 bed that could be converted. Has to be a semi or detached, max budget 800k but probably less. It seems that the Langley catchment is mostly West Wickham, but I don't know much about that area. I read a thread once where someone hated it as they felt they had moved somewhere way too suburban.
Then there is Orpington, Darrick wood area. The only issue is we would quite like our DS to keep going to his school as he is happy there, driving back from Orpington is a bit far.
Or maybe we should just move his school and make our lives easier all round. We really are very unsure what to do!

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I live in Hayes. Pickhurst Rise is nice, if a bit busy traffic wise. Hayes itself
is a nice area. Not sure what your husband means by 'too Kent'?

Most of my friends moved here from other parts of London, myself included.

If you choose your spot right to be in the catchment of Bullers Wood Boys you get the choice of the Kent, Bexley and Bromley grammars as well as BWB (no direct experience of that school but from what I hear people are very happy with it, not to mention brand new school buildings!).

@skippy67 I think he means less London, more Kent. It feels very quiet and suburban. He isn't from the UK, he prefers the feel of the areas closer to London and more diverse. If we could afford it he would choose Crystal Palace, also likes Beckenham, but he is open to Hayes as the school has such a good reputation and it is still so close to London. He is warming to the idea.
Thanks for all your responses so far.

When we first moved here over 20 years ago, I felt the same as your Dh. We're a mixed race family and I felt very self conscious. Hayes has changed a lot since then. Both dc went to hayes school and did very well.

@skippy67 thank you that's really great to hear.

I love that Hayes is a mixed school. My son is only 5 but he has more girls as friends than boys. This may change but at the moment he would hate it if I said he was going to a boys school. So that is something I want to consider.

@MsFogi thanks for your post, it's good to hear you've heard good reports about Bullers. I do like the fact it opens up Chis and Sid and the other grammars to be on that side of Bromley.

Beckenham isn’t very ‘London’ at all. It’s very white and suburban in my experience. Beckenham on a Saturday night is like being back in my Essex home town.

@FrownedUpon that's interesting. I think it's more London than Hayes and the border to Penge feels more London IMO. We can't afford London proper, and the bits we can afford are too dangerous or have bad schooling.
We're not looking for a Hackney or Brixton feel as we have a young family but Beckenham is more bustling and has a good atmosphere about it. We won't be going out at night very often and if we did we would often go into London itself which is so fast from Beckenham.

If you want to be in the catchment for the Langley schools with your budget you could also consider the area around Eden Park. It is part of Beckenham and depending on where you end up, you might not be too far away from the central part of Beckenham.

Eden park is a good call, has some really good restaurants coffee shops rail/tram schools are good as well some really nice roads mainly thirties houses which can easily be converted to a four bedroom, most have large gardens.
Don’t know Hayes that well, people seem happy enough in the area.

Posted to soon, my dd moved from beckenham to west wickham a couple of years ago, has settled really well made some good friends again some lovely restaurants & coffee bars along the high street has a swimming pool/library some nice parks dgd goes to Langley park primary might be worth some consideration.

I would also suggest taking a look at Eden Park and West Wickham and comparing then to Hayes.

I like Hayes a lot.

I grew up in Beckenham which has changed a lot!

Thanks for your responses, I hadn't really thought about Eden Park, didn't realise it had much there. I'll definitely check it out.

The good thing about Eden Park is that you are in catchment for the Langley schools as well as Eden Park High. All extremely popular schools with small catchments.

With your budget you could get something in Beckenham, which sounds more like the type of place you would like. Alternatively, Hayes is really nice and West Wickham is similar. West Wickham High Street is thriving with lots of restaurants and cafes and plenty of shops. Hayes secondary school has a good reputation, though not as much as Langley. Eden Park would be a good area for Langley catchment and easy to go to West Wickham or Beckenham for shops and eateries.
These areas definitely do have a suburban vibe which is very different from Crystal Palace and less cosmopolitan but are very popular and great for families whilst still commutable to central London.

We love Beckenham!

Everything we need within walking distance, fast trains to London too

We're now looking to move as we're in a 2 bed with 2 young children

Have been checking out Hayes and West Wickham

We're not at secondary school age yet but am sure it'll come around soon enough!

The issue I foresee is that there isn't a great deal of secondary choice where we are currently and we're out of catchment for the decent ones which are over near Hayes and West Wickham

Park Langley area is absolutely lovely but utterly out of our price range

Park Langley is absolutely lovely yes. It’s where I grew up. But it’s a bus ride to trains at either Beckenham Junction or Bromley South.

I've saved several Park Langley houses on my Rightmove account, totally out of our price range but lovely to look at!

Another appeal with PL is that it looks like it's safely within the catchment for the Langley schools, they always seem v popular & seem to be doing well although I guess it does vary depending on who you ask

Just to add, Eden Park is another area we've been scoping out, it seems mostly to be in the Langley catchment plus there is a relatively new school called Eden Park high which is I don't know much about but means more secondary choice in the area

I live in Langley park catchment (Shirley Croydon side rather than West Wickham side) and absolutely love the area. Diverse enough, safe enough (for London) and green enough. Having said that anywhere you mentioned is fine (Hayes, Bickley etc.) and you have a good budget. So look for the right house and a catchment for good schools in those areas and you will be fine.

Thank you all for your posts. Definitely going to look around that area. Just out of interest which school/schools is generally considered the best out of these - Langley boys, Hayes, Bullers boys, Ravenswood?
I know all schools suit different children and everyone has different views but any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Not looking for a pushy school (unless one of my kids chooses/achieves the grammar route) but just somewhere with generally nice kids, nice ethos, good pastoral care, nurturing etc. Obviously results matter but I think if a child is happy they are more likely to achieve. I went to a really rough school and it really affected me so I'm very conscious of avoiding anything like that, but I'm pretty sure these schools won't be anything like that!

I have a boy at Langley in the lower years. So far we have been really happy with the school. Kids are local and overall seem to be from families who are interested in school life and education. The ethos at the school is to educate the whole child. Teachers seem keen to build relationships with the parents. There is a lot of sport on offer - something every day. The resources/ facilities are excellent. Catchment is fairly small (just over a mile), so it's easy for the boys to build friendships locally.

I have also only heard good stuff about the other schools on your list.
I know that the catchment for Ravenswood is quite large (I believe because it's further out and includes bits of Bromley that are sparsely populated). It's supposed to be a nice school too, but I suppose potential school friends would likely live further away. But I have no personal experience with the school, so this is just a personal conclusion we made when considering schools.
Hayes is mixed, which appeals to many.
We weren't so fussed about mixed/ single sex. we were more interested in what the school offers overall.

How about you spend some time to visit the schools and surrounding areas to see which appeals for your family?

One thing to note about the Langley catchment. I can imagine that it shrinks over the coming years as they recently changed admissions criteria to include siblings of girls from Langley girls. Also, a new housing development is being built very close to the school, I could imagine this could put pressure on school places as well. Just something to keep in mind when looking at houses!

Good luck in your decision!

Thanks for that really helpful response @Puffthemagicdragongoestobed, that's really good to hear you've had good experiences with Langley. I also didn't realise that was the reason for the bigger catchment at Ravenswood but it makes sense. I actually wanted to go to open days but it said you had to have a year 6 child for a couple that I looked at!
I think we will try and find a house first in one of the catchments and go from there.

@Suspicioussam , We are now in a similar situation as you were a few years back. Where did you end up buying and do you have any recommendation on choosing an area? Key requirements are secondary schools and commute to london for work. Thank you

We ended up in Hove!
But we very nearly ended up in the Hayes catchment. The house we liked fell through and we ended up randomly looking down here and fell for the area. I still love Bromley though so if you need any advice I'm happy to help.