anyone moved to Beckenham?

[millsa]

hallo, we have been trying to move for the last year (!!!) but having lots a dream house once we can't manage to find another one, and the prices around ED have gone up again in the last six months. We will either have to compromise on the size of the house (NO) or location (NO again, but the size of the house wins), so need to work out WHERE to move. I remember reading some nice things about Beckenham on the forum ages ago but can't find the thread. ALSO if it is horrible please let me know and I will reconsider :)

Has anyone have any recommendations for Beckenham?

If so - where is Beckenham is good (what are the nicest roads?)

Is it good for a family with young kids and why?

any good playgroups?

what schools are good or outstanding?

And is it easy to adjust to the area having lived in ED for years (we have since 2004)

Any recommendations would be much appreciated, many thanks!

[hellosailor]

Langley boys and Langley girls are outstanding I believe

[crescent]

Have you done a search on the forum on this topic - some useful feedback the last time someone considered a move to BR3. We moved to our current location of Sydenham Hill from Penge in 2006 - and were trying to move to Beckenham :o). At the time, all my NCT group were there, and spent life at various baby/ toddler activities, M&S and Waitrose (I'm such a stereotype, sigh) so it seemed the natural direction to move. Good primary schools also factored heavily.

However, house prices reflect all of this...so we ended up going for semi-detached in SE26 rather than smaller terraced in BR3. And a few of my NCT group have since moved to West Wickham and Hayes - good primary schools AND state secondaries. The Park Langley schools have quite small catchment areas, and the surrounding house prices reflect their strategic positions!

Re your questions:

1. Roads around Kelsey Park are lovely, e.g. Manor Road. And near Beckenham Spa, like Cedars Road etc. But best thing might be to look at catchment areas for schools you like, and work around them...

2. It's very similar to EDF, very Nappy Valley, cafes full of Phil&Teds, Bugaboos and conversations about school catchments :o)

3. Lots of playgroups: church halls, beckenham spa has soft play, see above.

4. Re schools - controversial of course, but to get an idea, you could look under Bromley borough schools at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16188584. Balgowan, Clare House and St Marys (Roman Catholic) are all very popular. Can be looked up on OFSTED website.

5. Ease of adjustment? Think everyone is different - you can always drive the 20-25 minutes up the road for a reviving cup of coffee on Lordship Lane...

Hope this helped a bit. Good luck with the move.

[lucyA1308]

Beckenham is lovely. I live in Sydenham, so pretty much in between Beckenham and East Dulwich. I would say East Dulwich might win for shops and cafes, but Beckenham might win on family necessities (I am sure there will be others who will contradict me though).

[prickle]

It has a Waitrose and an M&S :)

[smarties]

Hi, I moved to Beckenham last year from North Dulwich and love it! My daughter started school in September 2011 in Langley Park Girls School which is a fantastic school and she is getting on very well. We got a lot more for our money here and have no regrets at all, would highly recommend it.

[mothergoose]

We moved from East Dulwich to Penge 2 years ago to get loads more space for our big family. It is not quite Beckenham but there is still the very reassuring 176 or 197 back to East Dulwich, as well as really good trains.

We love it here and it is really good value although a little pride was swallowed it has to be said. I still favour ED over Beckenham any day for shops/restaurants etc but there is no denying that Beckenham has got great houses.

We moved one child to Alexandra Junior School despite ropey SATS and Ofsted. It is a fabulous school with acres of grounds and music teaching and a really caring feel and my daughter has been making loads of progress. We still have a child in a very popular ED primary and will be moving him there hopefully. The infants is Outstanding but the catchment is shrinking alarmingly, so you would have to look at houses within 1/3rd of a mile to guarantee a place for reception. I think the Infants is technically in Beckenham whereas the Junior is Sydenham.

I would love Langley for secondary schools but it is just too expensive. Where we are secondaries remain a gamble but not any more than East Dulwich. We are in the catchment for the Bromley grammars which would be a long shot, likewise Harris Crystal Palace. I'm still investigating...

[Beagle]

Likewise we are now on Penge / Beckenham borders after being priced out of Dulwich, and love it!

AS other posters have said Balgown / Langley catchment areas are the roads that seem desirable in Beckenham area and West Wickham is lovely.

Great connections into London too.

Am sorry I was resistant to the move for so long.

[mothergoose]

I haven't looked back either!

As for preschools, my youngest is at Holy Trinity on Lennard Road which she absolutely loves. There is also Cator Park Montessori which is meant to be great too.

[Townleygreen]

The streets in west Beckenham have some lovely houses, most with big gardens, and they are a little cheaper than many nearer central Beckenham.

Good roads are Reddons, Aldersmead, Barnmead, Kings Hall, Lennard, and Kent House.

[Beagle]

Was thinking about this on the way home and on a more practical level I have found the medical centres ( a major bug bear for me in Dulwich) a lot better round here and our car insurance came down a decent amount (!)

Mothergoose, I have my eye on Trinity preschool for my daughter in a years time so may have to pick your brains as am completely lost when it comes to procedures for applying !

[mothergoose]

I'm so impressed with the GP centres as the Beckenham Beacon. Having a GP 7 days a week makes such a difference and I've found it so easy to get appointments. The receptionists are always helpful too. It is a much better system than the one I had in ED. I also find blood tests/x rays etc in situ so much easier than queueing forever at Kings.

Having said that in a real emergency I'd probably drive back to Kings as the A&E at Farnborough just seems scarily far.

Beagle feel free to PM me for info on nurseries but if I were you I'd get you child registered asap to guarantee a place.

[Fmm]

We are currently looking in west Beckenham for a house, in those rds mentioned above actually, it seems nice and well connected. However we are concerned about secondary schools. I presume this area is not in the catchment for the Langley schools, so what are the other options (we have a boy and a girl)? Are the only grammar school options the super selectives in Orpington or is there a non-super selective that is accessible? Advice appreciated.

[millsa]

Nice to see my thread being renewed, I remember saying big thanks via PMs to your responses and thanks again to those who I might have missed, your advise was invaluable. We ended up in Sydenham so quite nicely in the middle between Dulwich and Beckenham which works great for us. If anyone wants to get together in Kelsey Park etc please get in touch :)

[Townleygreen]

Fmm,

I think you are definitely right that in West Beckenham you'd be outside the Langley catchments. That said, Harris has taken over the schools which serve that area (Cator and Kelsey) so they'll probably be improving. Worth investigating.

There are other grammar schools - eg in Sutton (Wallington, Wilson's, Nonsuch, Sutton) - not sure how you'd get there! Maybe the Croydon Tramlink which stops nearby?

The Harris City Academy near Crystal Palace gets brilliant results and is quite close. The BRIT school is another option? Archbishop Tenison's CofE school near Croydon is said to be good (a friend's daughter went there).

[borderpaul]

Many people consider the BR3 part of Eden Park as West Beckenham which is within the Langley Park catchment area. It is expensive but the other side of Eden Park has the less expensive houses. Eden Park is a bit unloved but you will have access to the secondary schools and still be close to Beckenham. The compromise is that you will need your car for most things and the train service is slow and not so frequent.

[Fmm]

Thank you all for the info. We are actually heading over to the Eden Park and West Wickham side of things in the next couple of weeks, as the secondary schools situation seems preferable (and the primary schools are still ok i think). We are also looking at Park Langley, more towards Shortlands, but the trains arent nearly so good.

[Townleygreen]

Fmm, you need to live within a few hundred meters of the Langley schools if you want to get in AFAIK.

borderpaul, check your geography!!

Eden Park is DUE SOUTH of Beckenham. West Beckenham is the area near Kent House/New Beckenham/Cator Park.

[Fmm]

Thanks Townleygreen, I understand you have to be within 0.9miles of the Langley schools to get in, but that includes bit of west wickham i think? I'm unsure if this is 'as the crow flies', which I think the distances are for primary schools. What is AFAIK (sorry if I'm being a bit dense!)

[borderpaul]

TownleyGreen, geography has nothing do with what an area in London is called. According to the local residents association it is West B, check out their website http://www.westbeckenhamra.org. I am sure their opinion is as valid as yours.

West Beckenham Residents? Association (WBRA) supports residents in Eden Park, Elmers End, Clockhouse, Penge and Cator on many local issues, including:

Langley Park schools put their address as Beckenham but the nearest station is Eden Park which confuses people even more.

[Townleygreen]

Thanks for clarifying Paul - all those places you list are west or south west of Beckenham centre APART from Eden Park, which, as I say, is south. That's the only one your original post mentioned!

As for postal addresses, these places are all in BR3 (Beckenham). No reason to put Eden Park. That's just a sub area.

[Townleygreen]

Fmm, AFAIK - as far as I know

Yes of course includes a bit of W Wickham

[Smiler]

Townley, those grammars are all super-super selective, would need a non-selective back-up plan! And they are single sex.

[Fmm]

Yes thats the problem with the grammars - the Sutton and Orpington ones are all super selective, so am not considering them as options.

[Townleygreen]

Well I don't believe the Sutton ones are as demanding as the Orpington ones. They are of course single sex.

If you want a child to get in, then a tutor would give them a good chance for the year before they sit the entrance tests.