SW London area info - schools & commute

[architectlife]

Thinking about moving to SW London ahead of my DC applying for secondaries but I don't know the area well, other than the occasional visit to Richmond. Feeling overwhelmed with the various areas and the mix of commute times and secondary schools!

Can anyone who lives in the area breakdown done of the pros and cons or suggest good areas please?

We are prioritising secondary schools (state) and a good commute.

It goes without saying an attraction of the whole area is riverside walks and green space. Ideally we would want a house but could live in a larger flat as long as there was some outside space.

We don't have to apply for a couple of years but just thinking ahead, so in that time our budget might change. Not sure what it is but I imagine Richmond will be too expensive to achieve this, though that would be a lovely area to live in.

I'm interested in Teddington which I've heard is lovely but not sure if the commute is bad. What about North Kingston as an option? This would potentially mean commute from Kingston but still access to Richmond Park on foot, and also good schools?

Don't know about Kew, St Margaret's etc or how they compare?

I've heard that Grey Court is amazing but we'd need to live in Richmond (pricey) or Ham (rubbish commute) to get in I think.

What about Teddington School? (But bad commute?) or Kingston Academy?

Any other suggestions?

Sorry for all the questions but we are new to the area! Moving from East London. I need access to the City and partner to Heathrow.

Thank you

Have you considered Twickenham?

SW London is pretty big & it depends what schools you want eg grammar, faith, private etc & where you are commuting too.
It also depends on how good you want the schools to be.

I would say the best in SW I can think of are the below

Wilson's
Tiffin
Nonsuch
Sutton Grammar
Ursuline
Graveney
Wallington high school
Wallington grammar
Glenthorne high school
Wimbledon College
St Philomenas

A lot are in Sutton

Are your DC likely to get into selective schools or do you fulfil faith criteria for secondary schools? Impossible to advise without that information. Also you might find pockets of Surrey better for commuting to the City and Heathrow and also for schools. Very much better.

SW for me includes:
Clapham
Wandsworth
Balham
Fulham
Putney
Wimbledon
Barnes
Sheen
Richmond

Kew
Brentford
Twickenham
Teddington
New Malden
Kingston
Worcester Park
Sutton
Croydon
Carshalton

2nd list I regard as outer suburbs.

OP, you haven't given us a budget.

Teddington is lovely, but is at the end of the train loop, and doesn't have a fast train service to Waterloo, though Twickenham does. We are in Strawberry Hill and often take the bus to Richmond to pick up the tube or the fast train. Similarly, people further than Twickenham Green from central Twickenham would probably be looking at bus routes as well as the train journey. Teddington school has had a ropey few years so I'd look carefully at Ofsted reports before making a decision. Orleans Park and Turing House both seem excellent, from parental reports.

Ham is nice in parts, though the nice bits are hellish expensive.

All of Richmond is hellish expensive. Parts of Sheen are cheaper.

Other posters have mentioned Kingston, which is generally a little cheaper than Richmond borough and has good state schools though the Tiffin grammars skew the mix of kids a little.

Prices are a bit variable at the moment but I'd say that £550k upwards is broadly the going rate for a three bed house in the cheaper parts of the borough, more like £750k in Teddington and £900-1m in St Margaret's and Richmond.

@LisaVanderpump1 I've considered Twickenham yes, but heard it wasn't as nice as other areas?

@doorheckk thanks for your lists. We need to commute to the City and Heathrow regularly. Schools-wise we are looking at state secondary, but not religious. Definitely not private. Grammar maybe but I dont know and we don't fancy tutoring our DC.

To answer other posters' questions, we are definitely keen on the area of SW around Richmond, rather than veering down towards Wimbledon or across to Tooting.

We don't want to live in Surrey-proper - as in country areas or outside London.

Re budget- it's hard to say as it would be 3-4 years off. We might be able to stretch to £1m or slightly higher by then. But I know that's nothing in Richmond!

If you live in Kingston North can you still walk to Richmond Park and is it a nice feel? Richmond would be our first choice really but it's just eye-wateringly expensive!!

You need to decide on the school first then as you are removing a lot of options by taking out faith & grammars & those options tend to give you the option of living further away.

Other state secondaries will have very tight catchments & sometimes some selective entry.

This does of course depend on what school you want eg academic or not.

Thanks. I know Grey Court is meant to be great but not sure we could afford catchment. Therefore asking about other good schools where we could still access Richmond Park- eg Kingston Academy?

Grey Court is good

I don't know anything about Kingston Academy.

I've pretty sure Richmond has a high % of dc in private schools.

Look at the Times list

What age are your dc as schools can change a lot & budgets are certainly going to impact schools over the next few years.

To be entirely honest op, I think if your perogative is walking to Richmond Park, you don't want to consider tutoring and you don't have the faith card up your sleeve, there won't be many outstanding or good schools available to you.

I think you perhaps need to compromise on location. You could buy ex local authority in these areas but catchments would be a problem. Sorry.

Do you know Bushy Park, OP? It’s wonderful. Worth considering if you love Richmond Park but can’t afford to be nearby as you’d like.

@HerculesMulligan I don't know it, but it definitely appeals! Where can one live locally and have good commute? Do you know about secondaries?

What about West London Free school in Hammersmith and living over Hammersmith Bridge in Barnes?

£1m doesn’t buy a whole amount. For Kingston Academy the catchment is tiny so you would have a bit of a walk to Richmond Park but not too bad. You just need to be prepared for living very close to the school. Teddington is on the up but very recently had a very poor Ofsted so I would still ne wary. You need to go visit and scrupulously review school websites and catchment data.

I think perhaps you need to look at this slightly differently. First is budget, no point spending time looking at areas you can't afford. Second is schools. Then third is access to Richmond Park. You may well find that you care a lot less about this once you have lived there for a couple of years and have a busy local life. I really wouldn't have this override a good school.

North Kingston is very close to Richmond Park! Very pricy though due to the excellent schools: Tiffin, The Kingston Academy (TKA), Grey Court and now Teddington doing better across the river. Catchment areas for the schools are tiny though - less than 1km from TKA in recent years! Grey Court and Teddington slightly bigger catchment but still need to live close. North Kingston is great because you are on the river tow path, have Richmond and Bushy Parks all in near walking distance. North Kingston has Kingston train or bus service to Richmond for tube/ train. Kingston is a slower train service.

Teddington is lovely but more suburban though and further from train line (slower train).

Surbiton is nice, close to river, short distance to Richmond Park but has a fast train line to Waterloo.

Hi @architectlife .Just spotted this thread, so late to the party, but don't rely on the Times list for schools this year. It's only partial info because the Government didn't publish league tables this year. One of our local news sites compiled a table for Richmond schools here: https://teddington.nub.news/news/local-news/results-how-boroughs-schools-performed-in-2022-gcse-and-a-level-exams-156408 which might help.

For other boroughs you might have to look up schools individually using this government website: https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables. I read that The Kingston Academy got the best progress measure for Kingston borough in 2022. It might not be in The Times list as it is quite a new school.