Few things drive London property decisions like schools. I’ve seen perfectly rational adults lose all perspective the moment they hear the phrase “good catchment.”
Suddenly, the leaky roof, the dodgy wiring and the neighbour with a drum kit don’t matter — because an Ofsted report does.
But here’s the catch: that golden badge doesn’t exist anymore. Schools no longer receive a single overall grade.
Reports now break performance down into separate areas. Which means the days of circling “Outstanding” on a map and calling it job done are over.
For buyers, that’s a blessing. You can’t pay through the nose for yesterday’s gold star; you have to dig deeper.
Buy well within the catchment area
Still, logic goes out the window fast. I once had buyers who maxed out their budget because last year’s catchment stretched over 300 metres. The following year it shrank to under 200 — and they were suddenly out.
Imagine dropping an extra £100k only to realise you’ve bought the right house on the wrong side of the street.
The lesson? Don’t just look at last year’s map. Check the data for several years to see how the catchment is shifting — and always buy with a margin for safety.
Don’t try to fake your address
But schools are getting wiser. They now track sibling applications — if the first child gets in but the family moves out, the second may not follow.
I’ve even seen families cram into a one-bed with three kids and a labrador to make the paperwork look watertight.
It might have worked a decade ago; today it’s a gamble, and the consequences can be brutal. If an application is judged fraudulent, your child can lose their place — and that’s not a risk worth taking.
Don’t buy for schools when your child is a baby (or foetus)
Then there are the super-organised. I met one couple who bought with a six-month-old baby “to get ahead.” By the time their daughter was four, the dream school no longer suited her.
They were stuck in a house they didn’t like, all thanks to a toddler’s hypothetical school run.
Which is why buying too early can backfire — families change, jobs change, children change.
Before you pin everything on one school, think about whether the house itself will still fit your life five years down the line.
Does it have enough space if you have another child? Would you still love the location if your commute changed? These are the questions people forget to ask when blinded by catchment fever.
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What about the secondary school?
Too many parents also forget about what comes next: secondaries. It’s easy to pour all your energy into primaries and tell yourself you’ll “figure out the rest later.” Bad idea.
Good senior schools are even more competitive, whether it’s grammars in Surrey or popular state newcomers like Bolingbroke and Emmanuel.
For those with the means, plenty of families end up sending their kids miles across London to independents such as Dulwich, Whitgift or Trinity.
It works — but only if you fancy packed lunches at 6am and years of small talk with Southeastern Rail.
If you know you won’t want that, start factoring secondary options into your property search from the start.
Don’t underestimate the school run
And even if you go private, you’re not off the hook. I’ve seen families swear blind location “doesn’t matter” because they’re going independent.
Fast forward a year, and they’re back in my office — grey with exhaustion from two school runs in rush hour, begging to move closer to the gates.
Turns out convenience often beats cachet. If you’re weighing up two houses, always ask yourself which will make your mornings easier.
A shorter walk to school may be worth far more than an extra bedroom you’ll never use.
Would you still want the house if the school got downgraded?
And then there’s the reputation obsession. Every year, families pay over the odds just to be near a “name” school, ignoring the fact the headteacher is retiring or the Ofsted report is creaking.
Twenty years ago, Honeywell in Battersea was the holy grail and Belleville was shunned. Now Belleville is just as coveted.
Schools rise, schools fall. Houses don’t always rise with them. When weighing up a premium, ask yourself whether you’d still want the house if the school’s star faded.
The families who get it right are the ones who keep calm. They don’t panic, they don’t overpay for hype, and they don’t let a league table dictate the biggest purchase of their lives.
They buy the house that actually works — the one they’ll still love when their child is a moody teenager, not just a starry-eyed five-year-old.
Schools matter. But your sanity — and your home — matter more.
Geoff Wilford is founder of Wilfords London