Houses near London's best secondary schools: how to find a well-priced family home in the right catchment area
London parents face a double whammy of challenges if they need to buy a family home while simultaneously finding a great school for their children to study for GCSEs or A-levels.
If private schools are not an option and a money-saving move out of the capital to the home counties is not on the cards, parents need to know where they can afford a home near a top-performing London state school.
With summer flying by and the admissions deadline of the end of October just three months away, parents who want their kids in the right classroom come September next year need to get moving now.
In the first of a new series on where to find fantastic schools plus quality houses at a variety of price points, Homes & Property seeks out top locations with potential for parents of secondary school-age children.
Where to buy for up to £600,000
Unassuming Wallington, 11 miles due south of central London, possesses perhaps the capital’s most concentrated collection of high-achieving senior schools.
The grammar school system is alive and kicking at London’s border with Surrey, with Wallington County Grammar School and Wilson’s School, both for boys, and Wallington High School for Girls all enjoying top marks from the Ofsted schools watchdog and producing stellar exam results.
All three scored perfect or near-perfectly at GCSE, for the number of pupils getting at least five passes at A* to C grades. Wilson’s sixth form followed this up with three quarters of A-level pupils getting at least two As and a B.
Samuel Watson, director of Cromwells Estate Agents, estimates that around 70 per cent of the houses he sells are to families seeking proximity to Wallington’s schools. Many come from trendier Streatham, Balham or Clapham. “They are selling a two-bedroom flat and they are amazed at what we can give them for the same price,” says Watson.
A budget of £600,000 would buy a three-bedroom Edwardian or Victorian semi to the south of the town centre, or a four-bedroom Thirties semi in the centre of town.
The compromise is that Wallington is ultra-suburban, with none of the nightlife and vibrancy that more central Londoners might be used to. But Watson says investment is coming. Wallington Square, a small mall plus apartments, is a recent arrival, and new shops and cafés are popping up on the High Street.
Trains from Wallington to London Bridge take from 26 minutes, and an annual season ticket costs £1,820.
Where to buy for up to £750,000
Tottenham Hale is probably best known as a regeneration zone. Argent Related, the firm behind the spectacular rebirth of King’s Cross, has now turned its attention to north-east London with plans for more than 1,000 new homes, shops, offices, a health centre and open spaces.
The six-year, £500 million project will give this tired area a massive boost, and family-sized three-bedroom flats at its latest phase, 1 Ashley Road, start from £685,000. The development is in the same road as Harris Academy Tottenham, an all-through school rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.
Last summer its first group of A-level students were celebrating impressive results, with 40 per cent going on to Russell Group universities, while 74 per cent of its GCSE students got five or more passes at Level 4 or above. Another local Ofsted “outstanding” option is Gladesmore Community School.
Tottenham Hale has some streets of period terrace houses. Expect to pay £500,000 to £550,000 for a three-bedroom property. One health warning: this area has yet to have its Farrow & Ball revolution, so buyers might need to do some cosmetic upgrading. But to compensate for evenings spent doing DIY, the City commute is super-fast, with trains to Liverpool Street in just 14 minutes. An annual season ticket costs £1,020.
Where to buy for up to £900,000
Lower Clapton, with its fast train links, period houses, proximity to Hackney Downs, Hackney Marshes, Stoke Newington and Hackney Central, also has a duo of cracking Ofsted “outstanding” senior schools, in the form of Clapton Girls’ Academy and co-ed The City Academy. All Clapton Girls’ students passed their A-levels last summer, 85 per cent at grades A* to C, making it among the top performers in England. At The City Academy students progress quickly; more than one in four of last years’ A-level candidates went on to a Russell Group university.
Clapton has no Tube station but it is well served by the London Overground. Depending on which side of Lower Clapton you live, the nearest stations are Clapton to the north or Haggerston to the south. Both are in Zone 2, with particularly good links to Canary Wharf.
Clapton has changed almost beyond recognition. Ten years ago, Upper and Lower Clapton Roads were known as “murder mile” thanks to the number of fatal shootings. Today, Caribbean supermarkets sit beside new coffee shops, Chatsworth Road is lined with restaurants and cafés and the area feels almost village-like in summer when locals converge on the Downs. If you’ve the energy to walk a bit further, there’s Victoria Park. A budget of £900,000 would buy a three- or four-bedroom period terrace house on streets which are mainly pretty leafy.
“There has been a ripple out east generally over the last 10 years, and the schools have definitely created a buzz around Lower Clapton,” says Joe Earnshaw, associate director of Savills.
“Hackney has got really good green spaces, its schools have come on in leaps and bounds and it is a more affordable option.”