Battersea vs Finchley?

[Puene]

Hi everyone,
We are moving in to London from abroad with two kids entering year 8 & 9 and will be basing our choice of location on school availability. After some looking around we are somewhat intent on either somewhere in Finchley or around Battersea. We have never been to either area and am wondering how comparable they are, firstly schoolwise (availability of good schools), and secondly, as places to live? Would be really grateful for any feedbacks as we are rather clueless at the moment. Thank you!

Battersea without doubt as a place to live in terms of location, but can’t comment on schools availability

Finchley is a good location if you want to try for state grammar schools- QE boys, Henrietta Barnet, Laytmer, DAO.

There are some very well regarded state secondary schools too.

Battersea is a lot closer to the centre of town.

There's Thomas's, don't know much about other schools.

Finchley is a different type of place from Battersea. Are you jewish?

Battersea is a nicer place to live, I suspect Finchley is better for state schools but it's rather dull and suburban. Are the dcs boys or girls?

Thanks all!
Our kids are boy (entering year 9) and girl (entering year 8). I get the sense that Battersea is closer to Central London but seems to have few choice of good schools compared with Finchley (not considering independent schools now). Rents for both places for a family of this size seems comparable with Wandsworth having lower council tax apparently? Living-wise Battersea seems to have an upper hand, but availability of good schools is somewhat putting me off at the moment - should it be so? 😅

OP, as you clearly know nothing about London, how exactly have you focussed on Battersea and Finchley? They are pretty different!

Apologies I read this initially as you have a 8 and 9 year old. For yr 8 & 9 entry, your preferred schools in either of these areas are likely to be oversubscribed and you will not get allocated a place, so be prepared to be allocated a place at a school you might not necessarily want!

@Puene , the London secondary school application system is so complicated, I would focus on getting to grips with that. For example are you Catholic, do you want single sex or mixed, do you want them to study a particular foreign. Language ie Spanish or French? What schooling system are they in at the moment and do you plan to stay for uk universities in 5 years time. The U.K. uni application process is very results based so your year 9 dc needs to choose GCSEs that they will do well in etc. Best of luck.

For Battersea, phone Wandsworth council pupil admissions teams and ask which schools have spaces. There are plenty of good state secondaries in Battersea area (Wandsworth council) eg Bolingbroke Academy, Chestnut Grove, St Cecilia’s, Ashcroft, Graveney to name a few. Whilst some of these are not technically in Battersea, kids do go to them from Battersea area. If you’re in north Battersea, you could also look at schools across the river in Chelsea etc. You don’t need to look at the nearest school necessarily but would depend on where there is space.

@tennissquare We are coming in from Asia on a completely different schooling system, but hopefully will want to stay in UK for uni. Language can be French. Mixed preferred but not must. Don't mind Catholic schools (not Catholics but they go to a Catholic school now).

@London1305f It's unfortunately been years since I last lived in London so am pretty clueless about how it is now. We basically have been looking for places balancing between catchment, budget (say ~3000) and access to Central London. These two are basically distilled from various opinions we have heard plus a bit of research so far. But obviously desktop research cannot beat comments of real people who know the place!

@Puene , I would subscribe to the good schools guide and try and find someone who can guide you through the system to find a school that is well regarded but has space for Year 8 and Year 9 in Sept.

I would also consider moving much further out of central London and enrolling your dc in a private school, for example Hampton Court House and living in Teddington.
Finally maybe read the thread on secondary schools in Twickenham / Richmond - there is a state school in East Sheen with spaces called Richmond Park Academy. It gives you an idea of the challenges.

I am in Balham not far from Battersea - my brother is in Fulham. Battersea has less good schools - new one was built Bolingbroke as it had so little provision. It's a good school but your only choice - the boys catholic is not so great. You may be better off in Balham. Battersea is also more expensive.

Fincheley is cheaper, much further out - but I don't know too much about the schools

Barnet has plenty of good secondary schools. Very suburban feel - think Victorian terraces and 1930s semis with gardens. Northern line is horribly busy in rush hour but reaches into London well.

I’ll pm you.

There is bilingual primary state education available in Battersea (Wix, co-located with Wix primary (state) and the Lycee. But it's very heavily oversubscribed.

The (English language) Wix primary has joined the Belleville group, and so counts as a feeder school for Bolingbroke (though it's a little further away than the other feeder primaries, and I don't know where distance cut off tends to happen). AFAIK, Bolingbroke is the only secondary in Wandsworth (the borough which Battersea is in) that uses a feeder system. Others are distance (though a couple use the Wandsworth test for superselective places or fair banding)

They are two very different places!! Finchley is a bit further out but has a tube, Battersea is close to the river and has a train station. I wasn’t overly keen on Battersea when I lived there, I was by the park and it’s a very mixed area, I never felt a strong community there. Have you thought about Harringey? Much better state schools and good transport links and some nice village type areas.

There are no decent state secondaries in Battersea, but plenty of private options in the South-West. So between these 2 I'd choose Finchley but in the catchment for good secondaries,or you'll have to move again soon.
Or Wandsworth closer to Ashcroft academy. It has a reputation as a strict school, extremely diverse and not really favoured here but with good results.

We live in Fulham and nothing decent here as well except for Lady Margaret and London Oratory, but you have to prove your church attendance for these 2.

And they learn French as foreighn language in Ashcroft btw.

I didn't notice your kids are Year 8&9, not 8 and 9 years old :) anyway, if you choose a popular school, you should move really close to get in, like few hundred meters, but if the classes are full there's still no guarantee.