Nutfield - some fair points, but a bit too idealistic for my taste I'm afraid.

Just to be clear, I'm not yet a parent, although I hope to be. We're trying to plan for the future, in a loose way.

And thanks very much to all who have helpfully pointed to bits of info.

But to return to Nutfield's points, I certainly mean to help any child of mine - natural biological or adopted - as much as I can. The reality, however, is that a good school can make a big difference. Although you may be right in saying there are no bad schools in SE23, that's relative. I'm acutely aware that I was lucky to go to good schools, and that helped me a great deal in life. My wife didn't go to good schools, and although she's a professional success story we don't want her to go through what she did.

In other words it's not just a question of sharp-elbowing through, although life in London sadly is a competition much of the time (good luck not battling at work for example), it's also being concerned that a child has a good and fruitful time at school - atmospherically as well as academically.