The schools in Chiswick are very good, and that is the easiest part of living here. Every graded school in the borough is rated good or better. None is rated below that. Parents here argue about which school is better than good, because a weak one is not an option. That leaves house prices as the thing to worry about.
Ofsted has given a published overall grade to 39 schools across Hounslow, the borough that covers most of Chiswick, and all 39 are rated good or outstanding. Eight are outstanding and 31 good, and Ofsted has rated none of them requires improvement or inadequate. Another 25 settings in the borough have no published grade yet and are not counted in either figure. That clean record covers the whole borough, so it tells a buyer that the system is in good shape, though it says nothing about any one school's results. In Chiswick the arguments are over outstanding against good.
Hounslow council allocates places under its published admissions rules, and it applies them to every application the same way, whatever the buyer was told at the viewing. Living a short walk from a well-regarded school makes a place likely, though it does not secure one, and a sibling or a faith criterion can matter as much as the distance. Find out how far from the school gate the last child was admitted last year, from the council's own allocation figures for that school, because one popular primary can fill up within a few streets. A buyer who checks those figures first is negotiating with real numbers.
At primary level the choice is wide. Strand-on-the-Green has an infant and nursery school and a separate junior school, both named after what was a fishing hamlet until the late 18th century. The William Hogarth Primary School takes its name from the painter whose house is one of the district's best-known buildings, and Grove Park Primary School and St Mary's Catholic Primary School serve the south of the district. Belmont, Cavendish and Southfield primaries cover the rest. Chiswick School is the district's own secondary, so most children can move up without leaving W4. Families paying fees have Heathfield House School and Orchard House School close by, and ArtsEd runs a day school and sixth form for children who already know they want the stage. Falcons Pre-Preparatory Chiswick has closed and is no longer an option.
Schools are one of Chiswick's real strengths. The open question for most families is whether they can afford a house close enough to the school they choose.