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reviews about schools in whetstone/ woodside park/ north finchley - N12 & N20

9 replies

a4apple · 22/03/2013 00:35

we are looking at whetstone/ woodside park / north finchley area to move to in the barnet borough and have been looking at finalising the location based on proximity to outstanding/good schools for our son. We are in process of knowing more about the community schools in these areas... in particular we are are looking at these schools :
Northside Primary School
Moss Hall Infant & Junior school
Frith manor Primary School
Wood ridge Primary School

Northside and Frith Manor have an outstanding ofsted rating and wood ridge & moss hall have a good ofsted rating.

It would be very helpful for us if any of you cud share any reviews/ experiences regarding these schools... especially northside primary.

Thanks !

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PseudoBadger · 22/03/2013 09:43

Come over to MN local barnet :)
I live right next to Frith Manor and I went there too.
As far as I know all those schools are great.

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daphnebubbles · 22/03/2013 18:59

Northside is great. Lovely school - not pushy but gets the best out of most children and really encourages kind and thoughtful behaviour.
It's a small school so there is a friendly and warm atmosphere and younger children know the older children and enjoy interacting with them. There are buddy schemes for children struggling and also a strong anti-bullying ethos. I think the SATS scores are getting better year-on-year but it's definitely not a school obsessed with results... they really try to get the best out of each child.

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pudding25 · 22/03/2013 19:08

Moss hall just got outstanding from their ofsted the other week. I know a teacher there and taught there a long time ago. Fantastic school. Really well run but think you need to live on the doorstep.

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a4apple · 26/03/2013 00:10

thank you to all of you for sharing your reviews and info about these schools.. it is very helpful to get a first hand review of a school from someone in addition to what the ofsted reports have to say. we will also be visiting these schools to get a good idea about each of them. i am hoping it will be helpful to us to make up our mind about which school would be suitable for our son. thanks again !

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LapsedPacifist · 26/03/2013 00:34

DS went to Moss Hall. It's a very good school and convenient for public transport too! Quite a few of his friends went on to selective/grammar schools such as Haberdashers, QE Boys and Dame Alice Owen.

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a4apple · 28/03/2013 00:17

many thanks for your guidance LapsedPacifist .

Just visited moss hall infant school couple of days back.. the infant school is great ! very good atmosphere and all the facilities were excellent ! it rightfully has an outstanding rating by ofsted. the head teacher's vision for the school was very impressive and i truly thought that I would deifinitely like my DS to learn in this school... but I am a little concerned about how good the moss hall junior school is. it has a grade 2 rating by ofsted and its new head teacher has started just a year back.. so it is not clear which way the school performance will go in the coming years. also schools like northside primary and frith manor have a much better performance at KS1 and KS2 levels as compared to moss hall junior. so as of now am not convinced about the junior school. i am going to visit the junior school after a couple of weeks and hopefully it will be as impressive as the infant school and help me make a decision of whether to go for moss hall as our first choice.
currently i am quite confused .. moss hall infant seems great but junior doesnt, northside is outstanding as per ofsed but it is small with not much outdoor area and frith manor is outstanding but location wise way too inconvenient in terms of commute ! all my hopes are that moss hall junior school is as impressive as their infant school.. so that I can confidently choose moss hall for my DS. Otherwise probably I will have to go with Northside...

In the meanwhile if any of you have any info regarding moss hall junior or any of these schools to share, it will be great and hopefully will make my task of choosing a school for my DS easier...

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a4apple · 28/03/2013 00:20

pudding25, many thanks for sharing the info... in your post you mentioned, moss hall got an outstanding ofsted rating the other week... is this for the moss hall infant school or junior school ?

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daphnebubbles · 29/03/2013 19:21

It sounds like your heart is with Moss Hall so if you feel it's right for your child, then go for it! Even if it's not outstanding, if you feel it has the right atmosphere and ethos for you and your child, it probably does.

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a4apple · 31/03/2013 00:34

daphnebubbles, u r right in saying that... am really impressed with the moss hall infant school in terms of quality of education and overall atmosphere and also the conveneince of location interms of daily commute... but my main concern is the junior school...i m gonna visit the junior school and am hoping it helps me make a decision about opting for moss hall...

i do really like northside in all aspects except that i think it is a small school with intake of only 30 per yr and also sought after ( which means we will have to live on the doorstep of the school to guarantee admission) and it lacks open environment and outdoor spaces as compared to schools like moss hall and frith manor. but if i dont like moss hall junior then i think its better to go for northiside as its reviews have been excellent.

hoping to make a decision soon :)