Where to live in London with kids and office commute

[RichaChaubey]

Hi,

My DD is 3 and DS is in Year 1 in Cheam Park Farm,Sutton. Me and my DH both commute to office 3 days a week to blackfriars from sutton.Its a 20 min walk to school and then 20 min back to station. We moved here for Grammar school but now all of this commute is killing us. We thought to move to Tooting or Streatham which would our commute to half but it would be far from Grammar schools. Our budget is 750K and with this budget we are getting 5 bed semi of 1482 sq.ft.just 5 minute walk from west sutton. Any suggestions if we should move there or think about commute to office as well. Other reason is that when we drop kids to school and nursery, we get to office by 10 A.M. and then we need to leave by 4 to pick them up.I pick my DD and my DH pick our DS.

You don’t even know if your children stand any hope of getting into the highly competitive grammar schools.

But the Sutton non-grammars are reputed to be good are they not?

Tooting and Streatham have access to excellent comprehensives. But your money won’t go as far in terms of house buying.

Your options are surely to move or else get before and after school care.

I agree but we want to be prepared when that time comes. Is it not better to give them the opportunity of Grammar from start rather than waiting and see how they perform?

It is hardly a ling commute. Could you employ a childminder to do drop offs and pick ups on days you are both in London, or before/after school care.

I think you just need to rejig your logistics. Can one of you do drop off and one of you pick ups so the other one gets to start earlier/ leave later? Can you put the kids in breakfast or after school club? Childminder for the three year old so a longer day in childcare? A before or after school nanny who can drop and pick them up?

Can you stagger the days your in the office so that you’re only both commuting on one day?

@RichaChaubey I don't know what industry you work in, but both getting in at 10 and leaving at 4 could leave you open to performance issues (from a perception perspective) and maybe even redundancy.

In your situation, grammar is a long way off and as per PP, no guarantee they will get in. I'd move, you could look at Morden which is cheaper than Tooting but puts you on the Northern Line (6mins from Tooting) and also in close proximity to Sutton for future grammar.

Morden to city commute would be easy, 20mins to Waterloo, then a 15min walk across the bridge or bus.

I think you're mad planning around schools your children may not stand a chance of attending (especially as we now have a labour government who historically are anti-Grammar).

Wait so your eldest is about six? Grammars are irrelevant to you now. You don’t know if your children will get in, you don’t know if grammar schools will even exist in five years. Move to London, have a short commute, spend more time with your children. Re-evaluate in four or five years’ time.

Bright children with motivated parents will do as well in a competent comp as in a Grammar.

All-grammar areas do not perform better, overalll, than non grammar areas.

Individual children might gain specific benefits from specific grammars but to the extent that it is worth making your working lives a misery and potentially unsustainable? That’s bonkers IMO.

And I say that as someone whose bright Dc got very good degree from a very good ‘top’ Uni from a S London comprehensive.

Yes we tried that and all child minders are full

Agree and we are looking for one but there is a long waiting for child minders. We have not tried a nanny to and pick and drop

Thanks! Can you suggest some good places to move to ?

Thanks! Any good areas to move to. Lot of my friends in inner London are worried about safety. We moved to Sutton as it is the second safest borough of London.

If not mad already then we will be in some time :). True about Labour government being anti-Grammar.

Our workplace is flexible at the moment but not sure for how long. Definitely not for years to come. Is Morden a safe area to move to? We do visit Morden from time to time and sometimes take Northern line as well.

Yes that is something we are planning to

Everyone I know alternates WFH days OR / AND alternates mornings / evenings to allow full days in the office.

But - yes you could afford a house in Tooting / Streatham. I know a few people living there who like it and many young families.

Doesn't the school have breakfast/after school club? We split it so one went to work for 7:30 am and left again at 4:30 to do pick up, and the other did drop off and a late night

Morden is a nice family area. Don't know anything about secondary schools there. But would the commute really be much better for you, unless you work the logistics so you're closer to your children's school/the station? You might struggle to get as much space as you want as well.

This is something we thought about. There are not much nice houses near school. We are tending towards near to station. This would mean everyday run to school and then come back. Ideal would be if we can drop kids and then go to station, rather than going to school and then come back to station where we are planning to move. My DH does not have a problem in leaving early from office to pick kids. Its just the morning rush where kids do not want to wake up, brush their teeth and get ready.it’s a marathon.

TBH I think all of London is safe. Yes your children or you might be mugged at some point but that will be true anywhere. The chances of suffering violent crime are very, very low. Move where you like and can afford. Off the top of my head, Morden, Tooting, Walthamstow, maybe Forest Hill, Camberwell might all suit.

You could easily have a similar issue in Streatham or Tooting. Those Cheam primaries are very good, could you move closer to the school? What does that do to your commute? A childminder is an obvious solution?

Tooting and Streatham have access to excellent comprehensives. But your money won’t go as far in terms of house buying.

I can only think of Graveney? But I guess it depends on what you consider excellent. The catchment for that is tiny though unless you pass the test which means you may pass the Sutton test.

The difficulty with Morden is the secondary options.

i live near you and I think you would be mad to move given that in a year yiu will have both at the same school therefore making life an awful lot easier

high schools are excellent and I have one in and one not in grammar .

house prices in Streatham are insane (we are in the process of selling DH Fathers house which is rundown 4 bed 1 bathroom small amount of outdoor space for 200k more than your budget

you only have a year left before it gets easier