The schools are New Malden's best argument. Every graded school in the borough is good or better. Eight are outstanding. Primary maths results are strong and secondary results hold up. The hard part is getting a place.
There are six state primaries in the area, and their pupils average a scaled score of about 107 in the end-of-primary maths tests. Burlington Junior School, King's Oak Primary School and Malden Manor Primary and Nursery School are among them, spread far enough across New Malden that most streets have a primary within walking distance. Maths tends to be where a weak primary shows up first, and New Malden's primaries don't have that problem.
There are four state secondaries in the area, and their pupils average an Attainment 8 score of about 57 at sixteen, a pupil-weighted figure across all four. Coombe Boys' School and Coombe Girls' School both carry the name of Coombe, the hill where the larger 1930s detached houses went up. For most families that is as close to Coombe Hill as they will get. Richard Challoner School is also in the area.
Ofsted has graded 22 schools in Kingston upon Thames, and all 22 are good or outstanding. Eight of them hold the top grade, and none is rated requires improvement or inadequate. Another 24 settings across the borough have no published grade yet, which says nothing about their quality either way. A clean sheet like that changes the question parents ask. They stop asking which school is good and start asking which one will take them.
Kingston upon Thames council allocates places by its published admissions rules, so living near a school does not secure a place there. The council publishes the rules and the details of how past places were allocated, and they are worth reading street by street, since one side of a road can do better than the other. Look up how each school's places went in recent years, then go and see the house. A house that overlooks the playground has never yet counted as an application form.
Schools are one of New Malden's real strengths, and the strongest competition comes from other parents.