relocating to London from oerseas -, where to be based ?

[gammon]

Hi relocating from overseas and DH has a job near the tate modern and i need to find somewhere to rent.

Can anyone suggest areas to start looking in?

We need schools for 3 primary aged childredn
He want a commute of no more than 30 mins ideally not fussed whether it be train/bus/tube
We have relatives in oxford and Bham so somewhere with M40 links would be great

can someone help to narrow down my search

thanks
xx

Chiswick nice. Also Barnes, strictly speaking that is Surrey but so close as to not make much difference. Hammersmith more urban than other two but great transport links. Can reach the M40 within 10 - 15 minutes from these places, less or more depending on traffic.

Private or state schools?

After that I'd start looking at where has places in the correct year - serious lack of state spaces all around!

Couple of great primary schools in Hammersmith too, outstanding Ofsted etc. Can give you details. Don't know about Chiswick but you can look at the Ofsted site and that will tell you all you need to know.

What's your budget? That makes a big impact on where you might be able to look in London.

What's your budget?

If you can stand 45/50 mins commute then NW London (Northwood, Pinner) is great for schools. You have some good primary and excellent secondary schools. Harder to get into the state schools but there are some good ones + spoilt for choice on excellent private schools. Also reasonably green and very good for Oxford and B'hame

Anywhere on a train line to waterloo - so South, South East/West

Great forming a list now of places to google and search on right move

State school ideally
and the shorter the better communte but i would like a place where we hae a bit of greenery but are able to park the car on fri night and hae stuff to walk to oer the weekend

when we lied in London before kids we lovved Greenwich - park and a few restarants and a cinema -i look back with great memories - so a family communtiy version of that - with fetes and village halls etc etyc

Pinner/Pinner village looked on a tube map and it seems to be metropoliton line to zone one - what would be the rail overground station near there?

Met line to Finchley road and the easiest change (same platform 1 mon wait) to the jubilee line taking you to Southwark tube stn. Then 5 min walk to Tate modern.

Hatch End or Harrow on the Hill or Harrow and Wealdstone are the nearest Rail overground.

Very easy/short trip by rail to B'ham from Watford.

Very low crime rate in Northwood/Pinner by london standards.

Are you looking for Primary or Secondary schools? Boys or Girls?

State secondaries: quite a few good ones in striking distance. The better boys ones close buy are Watford Boys, QE Boys, ...amongst the best in the country....

there is also a good Cathloic school

State girls secondary: Watford Girls, Henrietta Barnet , are the pick in striking distance and amongst the best in the country....

Mixed : ST Clement danes, Nower Hill, Haddon.

Go a bit further out and there is Dr Challoner's

If you were choosing on just schools then I would say NW / N London offers some of the best choice in London.

Why not go back to Greenwich? Tate Modern is at London Bridge; I would imagine overland train journey to London Bridge from Greenwich would be about 15-20 mins.

Btw, 30 minutes commute door to door is a very short commute in London. You would need to live pretty centrally to achieve that, and prices will be even higher than average London prices.

Greenwich is great except maybe for state schools (?) and for getting to Oxford/B'ham?

How about Blackheath?

Or somewhere on the northern section of the Thameslink line - trains go through to Blackfriers or London Bridge, short walk over the bridge to Tate Modern. You would be on the right side if the city for trips to Oxford & Brum. Even from places like St Albans or Harpenden it is only a 30 minute train journey.

Dulwich
Wimbledon
Epsom (about 30mins to Waterloo) - actually Surrey but pretty good train route.

Lots of great places in SE and SW to Waterloo. I think the school part might be a bit trickier though

St Albans, it's 30 mins on Thameslink to Blackfriars and then your North of London so easier to get to B'ham & Oxford.

Kent - still have the 11+ and its only 35/40 mins to London Bridge, Waterloo East or Charing Cross where you can walk along the river to the Tate modern in less than 15 minutes.

Best schools are West Kent, Always at the top of the league tables Staying within the M25 Bromley has St Olaves boys grammar, Newstead for girls and the comprehensive is very good too. Tonbridge has Judd grammar for boys, Tonbridge Girls grammar and Weald of Kent grammar with 2 single sex high schools with results above the national average. Also has the public school one of the most expensive in the country.

Tunbridge wells (not so many direct trains)has 3 grammars and 2 church comprehensives which outstrip the national average. The high school there though has changed its name several times over the past 15 which is a bit telling and is now an academy. If you are not churchy or 11+ material then avoid Tunbridge Wells

Sevenoaks has the public school and 2 good girls independents. The prep schools there are very good too. Children travel to Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells for the grammars and church schools as they are "in area" There are 2 high schools both single sex which are said to be merging to form an academy.

Heading towards Maidstone the non grammars tend not to be so good and the railway line goes into Victoria which means you are doubling back on yourself to go to Tate Modern.

At the end of the day do you suit city life or suburbs or countryside and how long a commute can your DH tolerate?