Moving to Tooting - Help!

[AnnaCK]

Hello
Planning on moving to Tooting this autumn where 6 year old daught will be starting school. I don't know the area at all - any advice/info will be much appreciated. This will be a BIG move for her as we live in Brighton where she is v settled. Am considering Franciscan primary which seems very nice - but so hard to tell. I am erring towards living in east dulwich instead (near my sister) but partner really wants to be on a tube line.
Any inside info on schools, astmosphere, the common cafe, child-friendlyness etc please!
Anna

[bigdonna]

i think it depends which part of tooting u are moving too!There is a tube station at tooing bec or tooting broadway,i think franciscan road is near amen corner there is a main line station not far.As you say the common cafe.Iworked in tooting as a nanny and found tooting common very friendly indeed,lots of sociable mummies and nannies,and a nice little park.

[AnnaCK]

Thankyou! Yes, we are looking to live on one of the streets between those two tubes not far from the common so i imagine I'll be making use of the cafe and playground.
If anyone else out there has any info on schools/other activities please let me know...

[Stepmaman]

Franciscan has a very small catchment area. If you're Catholic, you may be able to get your daughter into one of the great RC schools in the neighbourhood: Holy Ghost or St Anselm's. Holy Ghost has a small catchment, too, though. St Anselm's is good and you might come within their catchment. Many of the schools in that area are not great. You may want to consider another area. Richmond has the best primaries in the country. Also, even if you make it in a catchment area, coming into Year 1 rather than Reception may mean all spaces are full. Sorry to be a downer, but thought you should know before moving. Check out www.wandsworth.gov.uk and look under schools. It shows the catchment areas. Also, check out the league tables for Wandsworth (which Tooting is in): news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/league_tables/default.stm

[AnnaCK]

Thanks for that - I really liked the feel of Franciscan when I went around and the sats are fine - but all the kids in the houses we've looked around get bussed up to ravenstone in balham or sent to the RC schools regardless of religion!!! I'm pretty confused. Can't help but wonder if there's some sort of racism at work (we're a white family as have been alot of the residents of the houses we've looked around, whereas Franciscan appears to be a predominantly Asian school...)I'd feel pretty confident and happy about daught starting there if only I could meet some parents of kids there who could back me up on this hunch!Thanks, Anna

[janinlondon]

AnnaCK I doubt that there could be a selection policy on racial grounds. I think the catchment (which I use for want of a better word - these don't really exist and vary from intake to intake) is extraordinarily small. Same thing for Furzedown I believe. Some years you just won't get in unless you have a sibling already there or live literally next door. Have you asked the school what distance they accepted from in the last year's intake?

[Sari]

I've lived in Tooting for five years or so. Both my sons went to nursery here, the youngest is still there but the oldest is now at school. From the nursery children have gone to just about every school in Tooting and I've never heard anyone say anything bad about any of them. I think there is a general consensus that all the primary schools are fine. That said, the Furzedown schools and Sellincourt tend to be more popular than Franciscan although I'm not really sure why. We live by the mainline station so are about 200 metres into Merton which means ds1 is at Links. We're very happy with it.

I love living in Tooting - find it very safe for pottering around with kids, very friendly and a great mixture of people.

Let me know if there's anything else you would like to know.

[AnnaCK]

Thank you Sari! Just spent a very nice day looking at some houses in sunny tooting/furzedown and feeling really positive about the move. Looked around Penwortham school too so may apply to both that and Franciscan and see which has a space/is closer to the house we buy nearer the time. As daught is going into year 2 it seems that 'catchments' don't really apply. I'm moving from Brighton where I've been for 10 years so the 'big city' seems a little daunting - it's very encouraging to hear you find it nice and friendly.

[Eaney]

I live in furzedown. You could look at Eardley school. It was rated in the top 300 schools in the country a couple of years ago. It's just round the corner from Penwortham.

[Twiglett]

moved to east dulwich from tooting bec and it is a far far nicer place to bring up kids IMO - big community feel around here - but tooting is also pretty good - I think the best schools are around furzedown (but no tube line there)

[AnnaCK]

Hello Twiglett - yes, we've also been thinking about east dulwich and have had a look at Goodrich School. Where do your kids go? My partner is not keen on the idea of the transport in East Dulwich... how do you find it?
Thanks, Anna

[Twiglett]

depends where he works really

DH works up in the city (aldgate) and there's a bus that goes virtually door to door but tbh he like lots of others cycles to work. The train line is pretty good and goes to London Bridge (tube's jubilee and northern). the buses have got much better recently I believe (I am a car girl though and don't really 'do' public transport )

Primary schools worth considering

if Catholic: St Anthony's
if Church-Going: St John's & St Clements
Goodrich IMO rests on its laurels, and has a retiring headmaster - good school historically though
Heber School is very much up and coming and seems to be going from strength to strength
Dog Kennel Hill School also very good

total dearth of secondary schools though, unless going private

HTH