Areas in SE London with good schools

[Mushi83]

Hi all
We have just had a baby and are thinking a buying a house in an area with a good primary and secondary school for our DD.
We don't drive so hard to move further out of London.
Ideally we are looking for:

• a 4 bed in a nice and relatively safe area in zone 2/3 with good links into London bridge/cannon street/charing cross
• good schools nearby (I've read catchment areas can change. Is that right? Doesnt this make it tricky to buy a house relying on current catchment areas ?) Any tips on good schools very welcome
• shops, cafes, some local restaurants within walking distance/short bus ride
• green open spaces and a nice community feel are a bonus

Our budget is £1.2m Many thanks in advance

@JimDixon

Mange tout, me old mucker, mange tout

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The power of marketing, eh????!!!!

That house is in Nunhead. Twenty years ago when I was buying in the area, I kept being told there were 'good' bits of Nunhead and 'bad' but every flat I looked at weirdly kept being in the good bit. But it's not Peckham - just shares a postcode.

Penge. If you're ok with single sex there is a good girls school there.

Trains to Cannon Street from new beckenham. Other good train connections from Penge east and west.

We have a car but tbh I don't use it for a lot, just the weekly shop mostly.

I really wouldn't put too much value on an Oftsed report of a primary school when deciding where to live and buy a 1m+ house... Even a secondary!

While schools are important I think it's very important to look at other facilities are there and what you think you are likely to want and use. For example Forest Hill has been mentioned - has nice little sports centre, library, train links....but the only supermarket is a smallish Sainsbury's. To do a 'decent' food shop with no car you would need to travel either by taxi or bus or rely on home delivery.
You should write a list of what you think is important to have in your life as well as schools.
For example... would you want in easy walking distance a swimming pool and/or a gym ?
A large supermarket that sells everything or farmer's market that's sells organic local produce? Or a mixture of both.
Shops like Poundland or would you prefer independent ones?
A place of worship?
Community Centre?
Pubs?
Cafes?
Library?
Schools are just one tiny part of a community. Don't make that your only focus.

One thing I don't get, OP, is it's a bit of a leap from "We've just had a baby" to "We want a 4-bed house", isn't it?

Would you not consider an amazing 3-bed house, or an enormous 2-bed garden flat? You would then be able to look in much better areas, and then consider moving again in 5+ years if you needed to.

@HolidayPleeease thank you for sharing. It's reassuring other people have gone through the same thought process and that I'm not missing something obvious
@JimDixon when I say 4 bed I mean ideally. I'm taking into consideration having room for family to visit and space to work from home etc. I'm looking for a forever home for want of a better phrase
@skippy67 thanks I will have a look then
@Needmorelego yes definitely take your point on the other things and they would certainly be very important considerations. Good point, I should write it all down