hopdad123, its great that you are trying to educate yourself about schools. I suggest that you take some time to visit your local schools to see what they are like. I think you will be impressed. You should be able to arrange visits quite easily. The set up in most classes these days is not one teacher talking to a full class, the approach is much more modular. A teacher normally has a lot of support from a variety of sources and the lessons tend to be fluid. For instance children often leave a lesson to have music lessons. As for your concerns re: non-English speakers, crime, poverty, lack of social engagement, you need to accept them as part and parcel of living in London (although I have never seen crime nor lack of engagement as an issue in my children's education). If you can't, then you need to leave to the 'safe' sanctuary of the shires. x-post with LondonMix