secodary schools hackney or near by

[bumptobabies]

might be moving to london fields hacney need to find good school for dd private or state it dosnt matter though not one that will be too tough on her after all school should be fun.
ive looked on various sites but theres nothing like word of mouth.

[goldenoldie]

Interesting choice - most families I know move out of Hackney (if they can) when kids need to go to state school.

If you can afford private, St. Paul's Cathedral has a small pre-prep, and prep school. Very nice. Easy to get to from Hackney - right beside Cathedral and just down the road from Bank.

At senior level, City of london School for Girls is always popular, and seems to turn out very well educated young women.

There are lots of private schools to choose from in Hampstead/Highgate, but difficult to get up there and back everyday from Hackney - traffic up the Holloway/Archway road often solid.

For state primary schools in the area - have a look at the league tables. If you find any you like the look of it is worth trying to find out how many children they lose at age 7.

My experience is that lots of middle-class families talk up the school till their child is old enough to move to prep/senior school, at which point a mass exodus occurs.

Or the less honest ones just move out of the area/London to access better schools, but say it is because of crime/pollution/quality of life issues...........

[bumptobabies]

gn thanks for that, i must be mad i know,well i live in tottenham at the moment and take my daughter to schoolin bounds green as i wouldnt send her to school there either. its just that i need three bedrooms and im desparate for somewhere to read th sunday papers and i quite like the vibe there not in hackney just london fields.as turns out not sure if well take the house saw it last night and it needs alot of work even though dh is a builder it caused a big row and were not talking.
is it better to live somewhere do it up have the cafe culture looking for and drive far for schools as im doing anyway?

[goldenoldie]

Bump - good luck, this is a hard one. Once the kids don't go to the local school they don't have any local friends and life becomes a round of taxing them to and from. Sad, but they never have a collection of kids on the street/nearby just to hang out with or pop in and see on the off chance.

With regards to the vibe in London fields, if I were you I would pop back there after 9pm in the evening and see what the atmosphere feels like then.

To my knowldge there are no good secondary schools in Hackney - of course that is my definiation of good, ie. where at least half of the kids come out with 5 GCSEs, grade a - c. Not a single secondary school in Hackney can offer this. Anyone that gets qulifications is in a minority in the school. Not the sort of environment I want my kids in.............