Best London commuter areas for schools: four spots with outstanding primary and secondary education within 45 minutes of the capital

1/12
Anna White29 May 2019

Due to the exodus of young families from London out to the home counties in search of space and value for money, the South-East now faces an acute pupils-to-places crisis. The region is expecting a 5.5 per cent rise in the number of school- age children over the next two years.

In the school year 2021/22 local authorities will have to create 70,000 additional places, equal to 568 new primary school classrooms and 1,737 new secondary school classrooms, according to a recent report by efficiency experts at the Scape Group.

Early years movers

More than 202,400 children aged under five moved with their families to a different local authority district last year, compared with 136,400 aged from five to nine.

“This suggests young families are choosing to move home before their children start at primary school to avoid disrupting their education,” explains Lawrence Bowles, analyst at Savills.

New data from Savills shows the average price of a home within two kilometres of a state primary with an “outstanding” Ofsted rating in the South-East is £684,912.

According to mortgage broker Jonathan Harris, the stamp duty burden and cost of moving is pushing more buyers to go straight to their forever home.

“With mortgage rates so cheap and property prices now stalling or falling, they are pushing themselves to buy the forever home. The typical age for these borrowers is 35 to 45, clearly coinciding with children coming on to the scene.”

Homes near outstanding schools within 45 minutes of London

Those investing in the “forever home” will want to find commuter hotspots that boast the best primary and secondary schools with quick links into London.

Analysis by Savills reveals that the three local authority areas with the highest proportion of “outstanding” state primary schools and the highest proportion of high-performing state secondary schools are Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, Hart in Hampshire and St Albans in Hertfordshire.

They all have commuter times of under 45 minutes from local train station to major London transport hub. Windsor & Maidenhead in Berkshire is also good for primary schools.

Living in Epsom

The average house price in the market town of Epsom, 14 miles south-west of London, is £496,885 and the train takes 37 minutes from Epsom station to Waterloo.

It’s just four miles from the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a farmers’ market takes over the town once a month.

From £262,500: new two-, three- and four-bedroom houses at Princes Chase in Leatherhead near Epsom, are in the catchment for an “outstanding” secondary school

There are 12 new three- and four-bedroom houses being built by Shanly Homes at Nower Place, just a 10-minute drive from the centre of town. Prices for the four-bedroom homes start from £890,000.

For further information, visit shanlyhomes.com or call 01737 904170.

Nower Place is close to Epsom Downs Primary School and Warren Mead Junior School, both of which are rated “good” by the government education watchdog.

Rosebery School in Epsom, for girls between 11 and 16, has an “outstanding” Ofsted rating and Epsom and Ewell High School is rated “good”.

There are two-, three- and four-bedroom houses available at Princes Chase, a Berkeley Homes development which is in the catchment for St Andrew’s Catholic School in Leatherhead near Epsom, a secondary school with the “outstanding” rating.

Prices start from £262,500. Visit princeschase.co.uk or call 01372 364 560 for further information.

Living in Hart

The local government district of Hart in Hampshire has the cheapest properties in Savills’ analysis. The average home costs £427,178 and the train journey takes 44 minutes to London Waterloo.

Fleet High Street is a pretty dreary shopping experience but beautiful surrounding villages include Church Crookham.

A new Berkeley Homes scheme, Edenbrook in Fleet is opposite Calthorpe Park School, All Saints Junior School and Tavistock Infant School, all rated “good”.

It’s also a four-minute drive from Elvetham Heath Primary School and an eight-minute drive from the “outstanding” Fleet Infant School. Court Moor is also considered one of the best state secondary schools in the county.

Edenbrook has three-, four- and five-bedroom houses and is set on the edge of 82-acre Edenbrook Country Park, a mile from Fleet town centre.Prices start from £570,000 for a four-bedroom home.

For more details, visit edenbrookvillage.co.uk or call 01252 750 877.

Living in Windsor & Maidenhead

The local authority with the highest number of “good” primary schools, still under an hour’s commute, is Windsor & Maidenhead.

The average house price is £522,637 and there are two new-homes schemes under way. Watermark by Countryside is a regeneration scheme in Maidenhead that will deliver 229 homes, a café and restaurant on the banks of the canal.

It’s a short walk from Oldfield Primary School, which is rated “outstanding”. Call 01628 876134 for more details.

Prices for two- and three bedroom homes at Thameside Apartments in Windsor by Shanly range from £575,000 to £1,325,000. Available through Savills on 01344 626162.

Living in St Albans

Businessman Mariano Gomide de Faria bought a four-bedroom townhouse at Gabriel Square in St Albans, where he lives with wife Sabrina and their six-year-old twins Bento and Maria.

The Brazilian chief executive of tech company VTEX, he has lived around the world but settled with his family in the Hertfordshire commuter hotspot for proximity to London and its “outstanding” schools.

“With the twins growing up so quickly we wanted to offer them a world-class education in a perfect setting for family life,” he says.

St Albans: Businessman Mariano Gomide de Faria with wife Sabrina and their six-year-old twins Bento and Maria
Jeremy Banks

Bento and Maria attend the St Alban & St Stephen Catholic Junior School, just a three-minute drive from Gabriel Square.

The train journey into St Pancras International is a super-fast 19 minutes from St Albans City station.

And the average St Albans house price is £629,768, while 40 per cent of the city’s primary schools get Ofsted’s “outstanding” rating and there are five high-performing secondary schools.

According to the website schoolguruhertfordshire.co.uk Beaumont and Sandringham are the two most sought-after secondary schools, while popular primary schools include Bernards Heath, Fleetville and St Peter’s.

“St Albans is a fantastic option for Londoners moving out,” says Savills’ Nick Ingle.

“As well as great schools it offers sporting facilities such as golf courses and tennis clubs, and Verulamium Park offers great appeal with its 100 acres of beautiful parkland close to the city centre.”

Gabriel Square, comprising 52 town houses and 28 flats, is the first garden square development in St Albans. There are play areas for children and enclosed courtyards with picnic area.

Prices for the four-bedroom townhouses start from £965,000. Visit gabrielsquare.com or call 01727 226881.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in