Outstanding state co-ed school in South London/ Surrey direction

[Lightbulbs]

I currently live near Dulwich but I am looking to move as we can't afford private and are not in the catchment of any very good/ Outstanding primary's and secondaries. We'd also like a slightly bigger home/ garden.

I have 2 children, 8 and 6 and so secondary schools is my top priority.

What I would love in an ideal world:

Top budget: £900k
An outstanding Co-educational state secondary school. Plus if there is also an outstanding primary that would be a bonus.
4 bed, with a study as my husband works from home.
Commute no more than 1 hour into central London.
Areas I am keen on: Bromley direction
Family live in Oxshott, Surrey but I feel it's quite expensive. Family also live in Ladywell.
A country feel....not too remote but village feel.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The nicer areas of Croydon? Sanderstead, Shirley, West Purley?

Nice bits of Sutton, Wallington, Banstead. Not sure about the co-Ed secondaries, but single-sex grammars, co-Ed at sixth form.

Bromley area: that might work. Good co-ed secondaries in east of borough. Pm me for more info.

Are you Catholic? St John the Baptist in Woking and St Peter's in Guildford are excellent

Or St Andrews in Leatherhead if Catholic

Kingsdale Foundation School must be near you, and will have designated feeder schools (6 I think) by the time your children would apply, so also worth considering if you do stay in the area and your kids are in one of the proposed schools. I'm not sure the numbers per school they will take, still in consultation I think. I guess if your child was at a feeder school you might know this already.

Good luck.

Bit further out but look at Liphook area and look up Bohunt secondary (top 20 state schools). Primary schools there are good too and your budget would fit. Down side is it’s on the slow line to Waterloo (about an hour) but some drive to Haslemere station (50 mins and more frequent)

Chislehurst. It's not comes but Bullers Wood is a split site boys / girls with a comes sixth form

I love Chistlehurst :)

I am indeed in the catchment for Kingsdale and I know they are currently in consultation because my children are in a feeder school. I still feel it is not guaranteed because of their admissions policy and it is still a huge secondary.

It is still an option but I am done with the crime around where I live. It's so obvious and the foxes!

We're not Catholic and are looking for a non faith or C of E school

Thank you all for your input and suggestions so far. You have all been really helpful. X

For Chislehurst, there is also co-ed Darrick Wood, but that's nearer the Petts Wood end of Orpington.

Farnham? 50 minutes to London? Weydon was ranked 6th in the country for schools without a sixth form. All the primaries are very good too.

Cheam in Sutton SM3 has outstanding Cheam Park Farm Primary and Cheam High School, and Glenthorn High (also SM3) is available via banding test . A decent sized four-five bed for that budget.

sorry but SM3 is very surbuban not country at all so not in your bucket list

How C of E are you?

You could consider St Bede’s in Redhill. You do need to commit to church for quite a while to meet the admissions criteria (read the small print carefully).

There are houses around Carlton Road/Windmill Way or Earlswood/South Reigate that might meet your criteria. Depending on location you could consider Wray Common/Priory/Sandcross or Earlswood for primary. You could also look at further out, Bletchingly, Nuffield, Buckland or Betchworth if you want more of a village feel. Distance was 12km from the school last year to get in (assuming you meet religion criteria) so quite a few options.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions so far. A fantastic starting place and lots of food for thought.

I would look at Woking. There are a number of excellent schools and I think you could probably buy for that sort of money.

Epsom/leatherhead could also work I think. Epsom's co-ed is Blenheim which is on track to make outstanding but not there yet, but has two outstanding single sex schools. I believe Leatherhead has an excellent state co ed as well as an outstanding catholic state co-ed school.

Have a look at Esher. A bit cheaper than Oxshott. Fast train to London and good school choices.

Where is outstanding state Co-ed secondary schools in Surrey?
We are after min of 4 bed house,
our budget is £1.3m
good commute to London
ideally non religious school.
our kids are 9 and 6

thought about Hinchley Wood but cannot find good house in catchment area. I think we need it asap in order to be in feeder school in Year 5, but then where else I could look for. No idea. Ideally Not far from London.

Please help? Thank you.

Reigate- st bedes or reigate school.

You might find it better to start your own thread. But at that price, you should be able to buy a 4 bed house pretty much throughout Surrey. According to Parent Power on Sunday Times, these are the best mixed secondary schools in Surrey. Some are private though. My earlier comment to the OP suggests that looking at Woking might be a good choice of rher too.

Haslemere, Godalming, Farnham, Guildford (if you prefer a city).

Have you looked at the Ofsted criteria for an outstanding school? For example, in primary it essentially means tests at the end of every unit from Y1 up. Increasingly I think Ofsted Outstanding and what parents actually want from a school are very different. My child's school has just been downgraded after 10 years as Oustanding - I literally could not ask for a better school, I think it is perfect. As a teacher who is increasingly pessimistic about state schools, I didn't think that would even be possible but it is genuinely wonderful. Also the majority of Oustanding schools that are being reinspected at the moment are being downgraded so there's no guarantee it will stay that rating.

Surrey is tricky for mixed non religious state secondary schools because of the number of Catholic secondaries and the grammars around Sutton. It's beyond your budget but it's worth reading the Orleans/ grey court / Richard Reynolds thread that is currently active to see an area with many mixed outstanding comprehensives and consequently high house prices. I agree moving towards Reigate / Horsham may help.