Sydenham's schools are very good, and the hard part is getting into one. Nearly every graded school nearby is good or better. The nearest primary is about a seven-minute walk. The local state secondary takes girls only. Parents of boys get to know the bus network sooner than everyone else.
Ofsted has graded 35 schools and settings across Lewisham, and 34 of them came out good or better, which is all but one. Four of those are outstanding, one requires improvement and none is inadequate. Another 41 settings in the borough have no published grade yet, so they sit outside those counts altogether. The figures cover all of Lewisham, so the borough's results stand in for Sydenham's own.
The primary choice inside Sydenham is wide. Adamsrill, Eliot Bank, Haseltine and Kelvin Grove are among the non-church primaries, and St Bartholomew's and St Michael's are the Church of England options. Lewisham council allocates places by its published admissions rules, and buying a house near Kelvin Grove gets you the walk past it, which is a different thing from a place in it. Department for Transport modelling from 2019 puts the nearest primary about seven minutes away on foot, which is close enough that the school run barely counts as an errand.
Secondary is where the map narrows. Sydenham School is the area's state secondary, and it takes girls only, sharing a sixth form with a neighbouring boys' school. A private girls' school is also in the area. The same 2019 modelling puts the nearest secondary about 13 minutes' walk from the typical home. Lewisham publishes the oversubscription criteria for each school, and they are worth reading for the one you want, because distance rarely settles it alone. Sydenham's only state secondary turns away every boy in the postcode, so families with sons start comparing commutes at age ten.
Sydenham's schools are one of the best reasons to live here, provided the child in question fits the school on offer.