Commute to Hampton Boys ( If avoiding coach)

[mrDoubt]

Hi Parents,
I would like to hear from parents whos DS is at Hamptons boys and do not use the coach. ( Thats an extra 2K). Any areas to live where the DS can take the public transport or Dad drives for 15 min ( occasions where Dad needs to drive for events and afer school sports). We got a few suggestions like

Teddington / Strawberry hill - These arears might not have a lot of life - might be more rural someone said.
Can DS commute from Kingston or Richmond using TFL. People said Kingston or richmond have a bit more life due to their town centres.

We will be relocating from Canary wharf. So its a big East to west move.

Young couples use to move to the Twickenham area, now out to towns like Woking/Dorking.

You can see the impact on the prep sector - The Mall and Kings House now co-Ed. The preps know it's not down to marketing spend, facilities etc, there are simply not enough young dc in the area to fill the school places state or private.

According to the FT, London house prices have underperformed the rest of the UK for the past eight years.

The market in Richmond has been falling down less than in London because only 2 percent over a year. The price sensitivty relates more to upper market as the average family housing price holds the price pretty well.
I bought my house in that dip in 2010 on the graph and it more than tripled its value by now.

We are going again into recession

Dorking is not cheaper than Richmond Borough. The father of my child sold the house there last year. Woking maybe....

Just FYI, Hampton Juniors recently had Ofsted in and they finally got the Outstanding grading they were hoping for when the inspectors visited last year 👏

And that is very interesting @Meredusoleil because they had one in 2023 and were graded Good and just one year later they had another one and were graded Outstanding. It suggests that Hampton Hill Juniors will have Ofsted also in 2024. Will the new leadership deliver in time for Ofsted visit? The deputy head, headmaster and head of pastoral care plus a couple of teachers is leaving and the new headmaster is just joining.

That's because when they came in 2023, the result was good but with some outstanding features. So that's why they said they would return within a year or so.

Under the current Ofsted framework, good and outstanding schools only get a short inspection to confirm their grade. If the short inspection indicates that the grade may need to go down, the visit is extended and, if it may need to go up, they get a full inspection within 2 years. If there is a change of Head in that time, the timeframe will probably be extended to within 2 years of the new head joining.