Gulf families who buy in London for the children choose the district by the school before the house, and London’s independent schools reward that: the preparatory schools are local, the senior schools draw from a few districts, and a family that buys in the wrong postcode spends the school years in traffic. This map sets the schools and universities against the districts in our area guides, and asks whether to buy for a school year at all.
Residency and family
Schools and universities near the Gulf districts of London: a buyer’s map
How to choose a London district by school
Pick the district by the school: prep schools are local and the best state catchments run to hundreds of metres. Independent fees are £20,000 to £35,000 a year at preparatory level and £25,000 to £45,000 at senior, plus VAT since January 2025. A family arriving from abroad waits for an occasional place, which at the most sought-after schools may never come, so an international school is the usual first year. The firm’s view: buy for a school only once a place is offered; otherwise rent.
Independent preparatory schools take children from four to eleven or thirteen; senior schools from eleven or thirteen to eighteen. The best-known schools register children years ahead and assess at four, seven or eleven; a family arriving from abroad applies for an “occasional place” and is assessed when one arises, which for the most sought-after schools may be never, and for most good schools is within a year.
International schools in London: first school and fees
International schools (the American School in London, the Lycée Français, the International School of London, the Southbank and Dwight schools) admit through the year on a rolling basis and are the usual first school for a family that has just arrived. Fees are £20,000 to £35,000 a year at preparatory level and £25,000 to £45,000 at senior, plus VAT since January 2025.
State school catchments and their effect on house prices
State schools admit by distance from the home and are free; the best of them (the Holland Park, Grey Coat and Cardinal Vaughan kind) have catchments measured in hundreds of metres, which moves house prices.
Schools near Kensington and Knightsbridge
Preparatory: Hill House, Knightsbridge School, Garden House, Sussex House, Falkner House, Glendower, Kensington Prep, Thomas’s Kensington, Eaton House Belgravia, Wetherby Kensington. Senior: Queen’s Gate, More House, Francis Holland Sloane Square, Latymer Upper across the river, St Paul’s in Barnes for boys and St Paul’s Girls’ in Hammersmith. International: the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, the largest French school outside France, with English-section options.
Universities in Kensington and where to buy nearby
Universities: Imperial College in South Kensington, the Royal College of Art and the Royal College of Music beside it. A family with children at any of these should look at Kensington and Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Belgravia or the Hyde Park Estate, as our area guides describe.
St John’s Wood and Marylebone
Preparatory: Arnold House, Abercorn, St Christopher’s, North Bridge House, St John’s Wood Pre-Prep, Devonshire House at the Hampstead border. Senior: Francis Holland Regent’s Park, Queen’s College Harley Street, Portland Place, South Hampstead High, University College School, City of London School for Girls at the Barbican by the Metropolitan line. International: the American School in London on Loudoun Road, the reason many families are in St John’s Wood at all, with places usually available during the year. Universities: Regent’s University and the London Business School beside the park, University College London twenty minutes away. Our St John’s Wood and Marylebone guides serve these schools.
Hampstead
The densest cluster of schools in London, and the district most families choose for them: University College School, the Hall, Devonshire House, Lyndhurst House, St Anthony’s, Heathside, Sarum Hall, the Academy, South Hampstead High, Highgate, Channing, and Henrietta Barnett in the Garden Suburb for girls, with King Alfred for a progressive school. Universities: UCL by the Northern line, King’s College London across the river. A family that will be in London for the school years and wants a house with a garden should read our Hampstead guide before any other; a family that will use the house only in summer should not buy for a Hampstead school it cannot use.
Schools near Bayswater and Notting Hill
Preparatory: Wetherby, Pembridge Hall, Chepstow House, Connaught House on the Hyde Park Estate, the Hampshire School, Norland Place. Senior: the Notting Hill and Ealing High School, Latymer Upper, and the Kensington schools by the Central line. International: the Southbank International School in Kensington and Westminster, with an International Baccalaureate route favoured by Gulf families who may move again. Universities: Imperial through the park, UCL and the London School of Economics by the Central line. Our Hyde Park, Bayswater and Edgware Road guide covers the district.
London universities and the districts that serve them
The main universities and the districts that serve them:
London universities and the districts to buy in
| University | Where it is | Districts to buy in |
|---|---|---|
| Imperial College | South Kensington | South Kensington, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Bayswater |
| University College London | Bloomsbury | Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia, Marylebone, King’s Cross; Hampstead or St John’s Wood for a family |
| London School of Economics | Aldwych | Covent Garden, Bloomsbury, Southwark riverside |
| King’s College London | Strand and Waterloo; Guy’s at London Bridge | Southwark, Bloomsbury, Pimlico |
| Queen Mary | Mile End | Canary Wharf, Wapping, Bow |
| London Business School | Regent’s Park | Marylebone, St John’s Wood |
| Regent’s University | Regent’s Park | Marylebone, St John’s Wood |
| SOAS and Birkbeck | Bloomsbury | as UCL |
| University of the Arts | King’s Cross, Chelsea, Camberwell | Bloomsbury, Chelsea, Southwark |
Source: Imperial College London and UCL campus pages; the firm’s area guides, October 2026.
Our guide on buying a flat for your child studying in London sets out the purchase, in whose name, the stamp duty effect of a UK-resident child, and what the flat does after graduation; our Edinburgh guide covers the one university outside London that Gulf families have bought for since the 1960s.
When it makes sense to buy for a school
The firm’s view is that a family should buy for a school only when it will be in London for most of the school year, when the school has offered a place, and when the district is one the family would choose anyway; otherwise it should rent for the school years and buy where the family wants to be for twenty. A Hampstead house bought for a school the child leaves at thirteen is a Hampstead house, which is fine if the family wants one and expensive if it does not.
Buying a London flat for a child at university
For a child at university, a flat in the district that serves the university, in the child’s name where the stamp duty and the family’s plans allow, let to other students afterwards or sold, is the usual pattern and our student-child guide sets it out.
London school term dates compared with the Gulf
Term dates, by the way, are the opposite of the Gulf’s: the schools are in session from September to July with three terms, and a family that is in London in July and August is in London when the schools are closed.
Sources: Independent Schools Council: school search · VAT on private school fees (GOV.UK) · Imperial College London: accommodation and area · UCL: campus Figures verified 14 October 2026.
Frequently Asked
Questions about schools and universities in London
Sometimes, with an occasional place and an assessment, and more often at an international school first for a year while the family waits for a place. The schools with the longest lists (Wetherby, Hill House, the Hall) rarely have one; the many good schools around them usually do.
Catchments are hundreds of metres and change yearly; a family relying on a state place should buy within sight of the school and check the council’s admission distance for the last three years. The firm would not buy for a state catchment from abroad.
South Kensington flats let readily to graduate students and postdoctoral families and hold value; a Bloomsbury flat near UCL the same. Both are better held than sold at graduation, as our student-child guide explains, provided the lease and the service charge were right when bought.
Fees are £20,000 to £35,000 a year at preparatory level and £25,000 to £45,000 a year at senior level, plus VAT since January 2025. State schools are free but admit by distance from the home, and the best of them have catchments measured in hundreds of metres.
The international schools: the American School in London, the Lycée Français, the International School of London, and the Southbank and Dwight schools admit through the year on a rolling basis. They are the usual first school for a family that has just arrived, while it waits for an occasional place at an independent school.
Imperial is in South Kensington, with the Royal College of Art and the Royal College of Music beside it. The districts that serve it are South Kensington, Kensington, Knightsbridge and Bayswater, which is through the park. Our area guides cover each of them.
UCL is in Bloomsbury, so Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia, Marylebone and King’s Cross serve it for a student on their own. For a family, Hampstead by the Northern line or St John’s Wood, twenty minutes away, works as well. SOAS and Birkbeck, also in Bloomsbury, follow the same map.
The American School in London on Loudoun Road is the reason many families are in St John’s Wood at all, and it usually has places available during the year. The district also has Arnold House, Abercorn and St Christopher’s at preparatory level, with the London Business School and Regent’s University beside the park.
The opposite of the Gulf’s: schools are in session from September to July, in three terms. A family that is in London in July and August is in London when the schools are closed, which is why the firm advises against buying for a Hampstead school the family cannot use.
The firm’s view is to buy for a school only when the family will be in London for most of the school year, the school has offered a place, and the district is one the family would choose anyway. Otherwise rent for the school years and buy where the family wants to be for twenty.
