Hi, hoping to get opinions from the hive mind. We are a family of 4 (4yo and 6yo) and we are planning a move from Streatham Hill out to SW of London for more garden, more green (grew up in Barnes and Yorkshire Dales), better state schools and easier commute to Kingston Hospital (need to be able to pitch up within half an hour out of hours) but also still need to be able to get into London quickly and easily. Neither of us work from home so school pick up logistics from stations is a major concern for us.
We love SH, great community, loads of extracurriculars, affordable house prices good commute into London and lovely primary schools. But it is starting to feel quite urban and unless we go private (£££), secondaries all feel quite urban too.
We’ve been looking at the loop around Kingston- Sheen, Surbiton, Thames Ditton, Hinchley Wood, Esher, E Molesley, Twickenham and Hampton. But we are going around in circles. And wonder if we have missed any other good areas? Budget is 1.5M. We also considered Weybridge, Epsom, Cobham and Walton, but were a bit concerned about the ability to get to Kingston Hospital within 30 mins from there on weekends.
Alot of the naicer places above have some compromise- no good state schools, long double drop off distances, slow/infrequent trains, stations miles from schools, raceday traffic, boring, flooding risk etc. Although agreed some factors are more important than others.
We are also getting our head round the idea of having to drive around everywhere. We live in a LTN currently and walk to school and then on to the station. The school drop off in a car is a major mystery to us. Do the schools have parking areas? Or drop off zones?
Similarly which of the stations are best for access to London whilst having adequate nearby parking? In case where we move to/schools is not within walking distance to stations.
We gather secondary state schools are the main issue in the area. And we are working out the whole feeder school system. Hinchley wood school keeps coming up for us. But would be interested to find out which other schools to consider? We are certainly impressed by the green playing fields on google maps. Also wondering about Esher COE High and Esher College?
We are hoping birth rate decline will play into our favour in terms of catchment areas. But also we are aware there may be an impact from private school VAT which may counter that effect.
We’re kind of hoping someone will come up with somewhere we’ve missed that is the answer to all our problems. 🤩 But also aware that likely we will just have to work out our priorities. We’d really appreciate any opinions from other parents that have made or are considering similar moves. TIA!