ARTICAL FROM
THE LONDON EVENING STANDARD
Featuring Samuel Watson - Director at Cromwells
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, parents who want their kids in the right
classroom come September next year need to get moving
now.

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.

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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.

Great outdoors: 143 acre-Beddington Park is in
Wallington, Sutton, which is only 11 miles south of central
London (Alamy Stock Photo)

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.