London properties near good primary schools: where to find family-sized homes with educational staying power
Parents need sharp elbows and strong nerves to manoeuvre their children up the education ladder.
Finding a place at a top-performing primary school is notoriously tricky, and catchment areas around the most popular options are often tiny.
And it’s getting worse. According to procurement specialist Scape Group’s annual School Places Challenge 2019, by 2021 more than 385,000 extra pupils will have entered the primary and secondary school system, creating a “bulge” experts fear many schools won’t be able to cope with.
Councils are increasingly working with developers to incorporate new schools into major new homes schemes, but there is no magic solution to the fact that right now there are more kids than there are places in high-performing schools.
Many families move house in the hope of getting their children into a particular school.
But for parents who want to minimise the risk, a more sensible option is to pick an area where all the schools are good with a house they can afford.
Where to buy for up to £600,000
Forest Hill in south-east London is a double treat, with an impressive cluster of Ofsted “outstanding” primary schools and some surprisingly affordable housing.
Parents move to the area for the chance of a place at a top-performing school such as St George’s CofE Primary School, Eliot Bank Primary School, or Kilmorie Primary School, and all the other primaries have at least “good” reports from the schools watchdog.
Forest Hill is also better value than more fashionable neighbours such as East Dulwich and Honor Oak Park, and it has great commuter links, with a trip to London Bridge taking from 15 minutes. But families will still need to get to know its streets to find the best value.
Daniel Yuill, associate director of Pedder Estate Agents, warns that those who aspire to live near the Horniman Museum and Gardens will need to spend £800,000 to £850,000 for a three-bedroom Thirties semi. However, the eastern side of the area is cheaper.
With a budget of £600,000 parents could buy a three-bedroom Victorian terrace, or a four-bedroom Fifties property.
Another plus point for families is the quantity and quality of green space in this area, including Crystal Palace Park, Dulwich Park, Horniman Gardens and Peckham Rye.
The downside is that there’s not a lot going on in Forest Hill, other than a few shops and local restaurants around the station.
“East Dulwich is obviously more buzzy,” admits Yuill. “But the pubs have had a huge regeneration and gone gastro over the past five years. The Signal, The Dartmouth Arms, and The Hill are all really popular now.”
Where to buy for up to £750,000
Lovely, leafy Earlsfield scores high on the primary education front. Earlsfield and Wimbledon Park primary schools are both rated “outstanding” by Ofsted. Also local, Beatrix Potter Primary School is rated “good” and is hugely popular with parents because the roll is small by London standards.
This is an area with educational staying power, because the local senior schools are also uniformly excellent.
Joe Schifano, manager of Jacksons Earlsfield, has worked in the area for 11 years and has seen it change from a renters’ neighbourhood into a south-west London Nappy Valley, full of young families.
But a key difference between Earlsfield and the nearby options of Wandsworth Town, Balham, Clapham and Wimbledon is price. With a budget of £750,000 buyers could comfortably acquire one of the area’s good-quality red-brick Victorian terrace houses.
It also passes the green space test. Wandsworth and Wimbledon Commons are close and Wimbledon Park is just to the west.
Commuting is a breeze. Earlsfield is in Zone 3 and a trip to Waterloo takes about 15 minutes.
Local life revolves around Garratt Lane, which has a decent array of shops — although there are some empty units lurking — plus enough cafés, bars and restaurants for mums and dads who still have the energy for a social life.
Where to buy for up to £900,000
Finchley Central, an otherwise unassuming corner of deepest north-west London, is a bit of a state school gold mine. There is not a sink school to be found, and primaries St Mary’s CofE and Manorside are both top-rated by Ofsted.
What is more, the area is an easy commute to The Henrietta Barnett School, which is selective, one of the UK’s top-performing state schools and the holy grail for parents of bright girls.
A budget of £900,000 would be enough for a four- to five-bedroom detached house or Thirties semi. One of N3’s quality three-bedroom Edwardian terraces would be about £700,000 to £750,000.
In exchange for great schools, peace and quiet, a safe atmosphere, and decent transport links — Finchley Central is on the Northern line in Zone 4 — the downside is a suburban atmosphere.
By no means can Finchley Central be classified a chichi London village. However, the shops are comprehensive, the neighbourhood restaurants good — La Rugoletta is as good a local Italian dining room as you will find in London — and the area is immensely popular with parents as well as couples just thinking about children.
Jeremy Leaf, principal of Jeremy Leaf & Co, says the area’s schools exert a magnetic pull on parents. “Barnet as a whole is known for its schools,” he adds. “Its education record is second to none and the schools are also in pleasant residential areas.
He agrees the area is “not particularly thrilling” but feels that, in property terms, that can be a good thing. “It means low crime, little antisocial behaviour and you feel you can walk about safely, which is important to families in particular.”