Where in London is the best place to live for grammar options (boys and girls) and good state school fall back options.

[TuttleTree]

Please help! We are house hunting and torn between London and Chelmsford. Ideally, we would like to stay in London for work, travel, culture, things going on. Etc etc all the usual. However fully aware that as kids are involved we have to prioritise in the right way.

We live in East London at the moment and have great grammar options but not good state options. Feel like with Chelmsford there might be some good state back ups there? But before we do anything drastic and leave the big smoke, wondering where else in London we could go that have the option of both.

@TuttleTree Tiffin you have to live within a certain proximity to get in & yes highly competitive.

In S London you could look at the Charter schools, Dunraven, Kingsdale, Graveney. For example.

To get into Graveney you need to live extremely close or do very well on the Wandsworth test

Which part of East London are you in? We moved away from there and secondary schools were a factor, I sometimes regret moving now though.

We did look at Chelmsford and personally I liked it but DH didn’t. It depends a lot on whether you’re looking to properly leave London or not.

Do you have girls or boys? If girls then Barnet struck me as a very good area for both grammars and comps.

No way for Tiffin. It is over 15 miles away. You probably meant Slough grammar.

Yes v definitely agree with this. The same is also true in Essex most schools are good and above national average for results. KEGs and the girls high school are both super selective (although have a proportion for local catchment) so it doesn’t matter where you live and if it really mattered you could still access grammars elsewhere in the county.

In London worth thinking about proximity to the grammars and how you’d commute there (eg Barnet/Edmonton) so you could live in Muswell Hill with good back up for APS/Fortismere and still get to those schools. Finchley/Southgate might also work.

@20thousandleaguesunderthesewage ok this is actually really helpful and a very good point. Going for an area that has good non selective comps and aiming for grammars that are commutable. I guess it quite tricky to have everything in one place. A few people have mentioned Bromley, Bexley areas but if I could stay east or maybe north that would be ideal as we are familiar with the area here. So maybe we will look into muswell hill, Finchley or somewhere like that.

@coralpinkandyellow Chingford. 1 boy and 1 girl!

Yes, but I am saying the OP could live close (extremely close) to a good comprehensive and get in rather than be reliant in the stress of the 11+. Charter and Dunraven also have tight admission areas. But if you live close you will get your place.

Kent.

If I wanted a bright but not genius child get to grammar I would probably move to Bucks or Kent. In London parents send kids to intense tutoring from year 3. In year 5 children often have two tutors - a group tutoring and 1:1. They skip holidays because they are so focused on getting in. They move houses to live as close as possible to the school as possible. And then they still may not get in. It is absolutely crazy. And those grammar school often have very mediocre teaching and are underfunded.

Grammar schools and high attaining comprehensives don’t often co-exist. By their very definition, grammars take the most able children so the comprehensives don’t end up with a true mix of academic ability. It changes their character, and ultimately their outcomes.

In Kingston it does. There is Tiffin and nearby is Grey Coat and other good schools. Grammar schools have large catchment

Round Tunbridge Wells way, grammars and very good state schools co-exist. But it's very dear to live there.

What? W5 (same postcode as Ealing Fields) is part of the designated area for Tiffin Girls' and about 5 or 6 miles away.

Bromley & Kent

I thought Chingford had decent comprehensives.

I'm quite near you (E17) and have one child at a grammar school and one child at an outstanding comprehensive.

Yes, but I am saying the OP could live close (extremely close) to a good comprehensive and get in rather than be reliant in the stress of the 11+. Charter and Dunraven also have tight admission areas. But if you live close you will get your place.

Most people want their dc to be in the upper streams of Graveney though & that's stress & the catchment is much smaller than Dunraven with even more expensive house prices.

Just checked 8-10 miles via car in heavy traffic. It is 1 hour in an ideal situation without traffic. Commuting in public transport could be much longer. Insanity

What? W5 (same postcode as Ealing Fields) is part of the designated area for Tiffin Girls' and about 5 or 6 miles away.

Is that the same for the boys?

I don’t know Chingford too well but do know other local schools. Depends where you are I suppose but Trinity is not far away, is well regarded and often a first choice for Catholics. Woodbridge is highly thought of if you’re close enough. Highland park has a good ofsted but I don’t know too much about it. You may be in catchment for both Redbridge grammars and Latymer. Bancrofts is obviously private but pretty close. So I would be cautious in assuming the grass is necessarily greener elsewhere.

Absolutely far too far

Move to E17. Same grammars but more choice of state school.

@Stokey which grammar? Overall, E17 is better than E4 for secondary comps. There is still time for things to change a bit (my kids are in year 1 and Nursery) I'm only thinking about it now because we are house hunting and I would like to make this move the forever move if possible.

@wannabesilverfox yeah. Could do E17 but that would take out out of Redbridge grammars. Such a tricky decision... we might have a shot at E17 comps given we are in Chingford but I don't know many people who do. That's not to say it doesn't happen but maybe I'm not in the right networks! Seems that Most kids go to the comps locally to here. I expect the E17 schools re oversubscribed so would get in from up here...

Does in Sutton/Epsom. Cheam High is outstanding and the rest are good. Plenty of options. One of mine is at grammar abd the other (who has some EBSA) will be going to epsom abd ewell whose mental health facilities are amazing.