Schools around Brixton (Leander Road)

[leanderche]

Hi there,

We've recently moved to Leander Road in Brixton. We have a 1-year-old and as many parents do I'm sure, we have started to think about schools in the area. I am a teacher myself and work at a school in the borough. It's a great school, but we live too far from it to send our son there - both in terms of the distance to travel for my son, but also in terms of being out of the catchment area I am sure.

I am thinking about schools in the area and am getting worried. Sudbourne, Rosendale and Corpus Christi seem to hold fantastic reputations, but we live too far from all of them to get in (inexplicably as in reality we are so close to two of them). It seems Jubilee is the closest, but I'm dubious about it after looking at their previous levels of children reaching ARE at the end of year 6.

Does anyone have any advice about schools in this local area? I know I have two years before my son even starts nursery, but it is very much on my mind at the moment.

Thank you for your help!

[tinastreasuretots]

Hi Durand academy is fab all my kids go their an they take from a wide area :)

[CarveHerNameWithPride]

Have you looked at St Jude's? A mate on the other side of Brockwell Park is v happy there, but I don't know what the catchment/religious requirements are.

[thomsc]

I live at the top of Leander, behind Elm Park. My two DSs are at corpus, one in Y1 other in nursery. It's a great school and we are very happy there. Both corpus and Sudbourne do get massively over applied for, as do most of the schools in the area. Obviously, as a catholic school, Corpus takes mainly from the congregations of the two churches it is associated with. Sudbourne is not religiously affiliated but is very heavily over subscribed. You may be close enough, depending on which end of leander you are, but probably not.

Jubilee has had some good reports recently and I have heard good things from friends with kids there.

You are most likely too far from St Jude's (a CofE school).

Holy Trinity is at the top of the hill, on Upper Tulse Hill. Also CofE. As is Christchurch on the South Circular.

Fancy a coffee? I have a DD who is not quite 2. Great coffee shop at the top of the hill.

[thomsc]

You should ask at your school, I know a couple of teachers who have persuaded their employers to find a place for their children. Easier drop-off!

[BrixtonMortar]

Teachers at state schools?
That's not legal, unless they comply with the admissions criteria. Or even possible under the PAN LOndon application system.
Unless schools are fiddling the waitng lists for in-year admissions.
I can't see how a school would risk that in this highly regulated ofstedded environment and when other parents are watching to see where they are on the waiting list and who gets in.
Some state schools have teachers children as a criteria, I think Graveney does. And some private schools prioritise teachers' children and give a discount.

[thomsc]

Erm...

Love the nick BrixtonMortar. There used to be an estate agents in Brixton with the same name. Always made me chuckle.

[Brixtony]

All the people I know in Leander Road with school age children either

• rent a flat near Sudbourne or Rosendale and move back once their child has started there (it is highly unlikely to get into Sudbourne living in Leander Road - I know nobody and have lived in the road for 10 years)
• go private (several families send their children to Oakfield/Rosemead)
• are (or become) catholic (and try to get into Corpus Christi)
• try and go for Holy Trinity (near Holmewood Gardens) - seems to be a good school, but not the middle class school of choice
• try for St Judes - but then again, I do not know anybody in the street who managed to get into St Judes.

Unfortunately I have not heard great things about Jubilee.

best of luck

[BrixtonMortar]

I wonder if the new Judith Kerr school in Herne Hill and the new Dunraven Primary will extend any of the 'catchments'? I don't know what the admissions policy is for Judith Kerr.

You can look on Lambeth's website at the admissions booklet and see how far the last admitted distance was for each school.

St Judes and Corpus Christi maintain strong faith criteria.

[Coco48]

I'd appreciate any current &/or first hand advice about Jubilee Primary. We live on Helix Road & DD due to start primary in September.
I want to like Jubilee: it's the closest, it is a nice space. I don't have to pretend to be a Catholic or pretend to live somewhere I don't in order to get a place.
But, the results seem to be awful year after year which scares most parents "like me" off. I am not concerned about getting into an Outstanding school, Good or trending Good is good enough for me. My key worry are the many accounts I've been given of bullying & taunting amongst different groups of kids, set-tos between parents in the playground & frequent turnover in staff. I also know several parents who have pulled their kids out of the school due to frustrations over poor teaching, who feel their faith & support for the school has not been rewarded.
I believe the school has (yet another) new head. Anyone out there with recent experience of the place?
Thanks all

[missl1]

hi there leanderche (and anyone else),
just wondering if you managed to find out any more about jubilee primary? i live in helix road and like you i have a daughter who'll be ready for primary in a year or so, so starting to think about the options. corpus christi is the nearest school to us but i'm not catholic nor prepared to pretend, so jubilee seems like our only option. i've heard good things about it, but then posts like coco48's worry me. similarly i'm not bothered about an 'outstanding' primary but no one wants to put their kid into a bullying environment... i also think parent involvement in a school matters just as much as ofsted ratings so maybe this is alive and kicking at jubilee?
any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[BrixtonMortar]

Go and have a look round, see what you can glean from frequent walks past the playground, if they advertise a Christmas Fayre, go, as well as the official open day tours and visits.

It may also be worth having a look at the newly re-built and re-managed Fenstanton.

Jubilee has a disadvantaged demography on average, and that is possibly reflected in the overall stats. But that does not mean that the education per se is not good or that a well supported bright child (from any background) will not do far better than the average for the school.

The main thing in the early years of primary is that you believe your child will be happy in the school.

The Lambeth / Southwark population has a high degree of mobility so if you are not happy after a year or two it is much easier to find in year places in alternative schools than finding a place in Reception.

[KittyScruff]

I never post on MN but this is a topic close to my heart. Are you certain Leander isn't in the catchment - I know a family who were on Leander who got in. I have 2 kids at Corpus - it's perfect for the academic one but the less interested one has struggled - but has now finally settled thanks largely to the amazing women in the after school club who are a bit more 'relaxed' (it is play time after all, I suppose). Their special needs / SALT etc side has really kicked in. My research led me to believe it's the best school in the area. As for pretending to be Catholic - there are worse things you can do for the sake of your child's education. I am by no means religious (I am a baptised Catholic), but the respect and kindness they insist the children demonstrate makes me feel I made the right choice - you're not going to see much bullying here - and clearly they're academically outstanding. It's a tough gig this school thing - if you can bear it and you think Corpus is right for your child, I'd recommend sucking it up and heading to church... it's an hour a week - your kids are worth the effort and the community vibe has surprised a cynic like me. Getting them baptised at the church clearly helps. Good luck.

[missl1]

neither myself or my other half is baptised catholic which is one of the criteria for being able to have your child baptised at corpus. if your child's not baptised catholic, then they don't get in the school. if one of us had been baptised catholic we wouldn't have a problem with it as we wouldn't be pretending. but as it is, neither of us has a claim on catholicism so we can't get our daughter baptised.

[KittyScruff]

I believe they do have to take in non-denominational children, but you're right that priority is given to baptised children. Yes there are hoops but it is possible - www.catholic.com/quickquestions/may-i-have-my-child-baptized-in-the-church-if-im-not-yet-catholic
I feel for you - it's tough!

[BrixtonMortar]

'Any other children' is criteria priority no 10 in the Corpus Christi Admissions Policy, and the school is highly over-subscribed. It also specifies that the length of time a family have practised Catholicism will be taken into account. Catholics from a very wide catchment attend Corpus Christi. I would be very interested to know how long ago a child was admitted who wasn't from a family that have attended weekly mass since the birth of the child! It isn't the distance that is the barrier from Leander Rd, it is the faith admissions criteria.

KittyScruff, I imagine you dusted off your catholic childhood and started attending mass regularly in order to get your kids in? Harder if the parents are not baptised Catholics, I would have thought.

You need to be realistic about this.

[smile4emy]

Hi - My son just turned two and will need to go into a primary school in 2018. He was baptised in the United States but we haven't been good about attending church here in the UK and aren't registered at any of the local parishes. Is there any chance that he'll be able to get into Corpus Christi if we were to start attending mass now? We live on Mandrell Road, so are quite close to the school. We're debating whether we should move out of London if it's unlikely he'll get into Corpus Christi because of the cost of sending him to a private school in the area.

Any tips on what we can do to improve our chances would be much appreciated! Thanks for your help!

[CarveHerNameWithPride]

Have you checked the entry criteria in minute detail smile4emy? It looks like you'd be right at the bottom of category 4 criteria, so you need to get in touch with them and find out whether they admitted anyone from category 5/6/7/8/9/10 in previous years - if they did then you're definitely in with a chance, if they didn't then you're less likely to be lucky.

[BrixtonMortar]

Corpus Christi , private school or moving out of London seems a bit drastic! There are other schools that educate happy children and do a good job!

[LuluInLambeth]

Can't add much to this, except to say that Lambeth's community schools do now have an admissions category for children of teachers; you'll need to check your school's oversubscription criteria carefully for the precise terms.

[LuluInLambeth]

Whoops. Only just noticed how old this thread is.

[LocalEditorLambeth]

Hey, don't worry LuluInLambeth - I think school threads are always helpful and relevant. My daughter starts reception in September but I am sure we were thinking about which schools to see this time last year!

[Coco48]

Forgive the lengthy post, never mind that this is a really old thread, but a recent contact has suggested, rightly, that I should update my old question/comments about Jubilee Primary (I'm afraid I'd forgotten I ever put them up here) as they are apparently still contributing to negative debate about the school and I want to try to correct that. My rather panicky post reflected comment from neighbour's and local scare "stories" passed on as I asked around about schools. I should have known better than to continue this by putting my fears in print!

Anyway, after getting a grip and finally talking to several current parents at the school, we did choose Jubilee for our daughter 3 years ago - put it second on the list below Sudbourne, knowing we'd get Jubilee. Afterwards I didn't bother to stay on Sudbourne's waiting list. It has turned out amazingly well. My daughter is so happy at the school. The environment is nurturing, supportive and aspirational and she is doing really well.

I think we have benefitted hugely from the fact that our time at the school has closely coincided with a new headteacher, who is outstanding, and the resulting new regime. The recent Ofsted result is a tribute to the school - a clear Good in every category. Staff turnover has dropped from 80% to 20%. Results are unrecognisable from the position a few years ago: The governors got a grip on the school after those SATs and it hasn't looked back. I don't know whether there was ever any real truth in the tales of bad behaviour and bullying - all schools have the occasional incident to deal with - but we haven't experienced any of it and Ofsted praises behaviour at the school.
The lesson I've learned from my experience checking out schools is that local opinion can be slow to catch up with current situation. A huge amount can change in a couple of years. Visiting the school, talking to current parents and skimming the latest Ofsted is more reliable.

[Brixtonish]

Hi,

I'd appreciate an update on this thread if anyone has some more up-to-date information. We're in Leander Rd too, and it seems like we have an option of one school (Jubilee), unless we're prepared to get religion in a big way. Barring a burning bush in my back garden tonight, I don't think it's going to happen.

Jubilee looks less than inspiring, but the last post on here sounded quite positive. We're loathe to do the Dulwich superschool shuffle, or even just move, so would appreciate some advice on our options from those in the know.

[missl1]

We did the primary application last year and live on the next road down. In terms of Brixton, non-faith schools you are in the catchment for:

Hill Mead (Ofsted outstanding)
Stockwell, Jubilee, Richard Atkins, Fenstanton (all Ofsted good)

You're also in the catchment for Jessop in Herne Hill - also Ofsted outstanding.

You're best to visit all of these schools and see which you like best. They are all very different. I'm sure there would be one you like. Brixton primary schools tend to outperform the national average, even the ones that don't seem quite as appealing. It's worth bearing this in mind. My friend in rural Somerset didn't have anything like the choice we have here.

We visited Jubilee and put it second on our list below Stockwell. We preferred this school and it fitted in with our youngest's nursery and travel to work, but we would have been happy with either.

No need IMO to send your kids to school in Dulwich when you live in Brixton.

Good luck.

[Brixtonish]

Hi, thanks for your reply missl1. We've heard good things about Stockwell, but we're just a bit concerned that we're so close to Jubilee, and so far comparatively from all the rest that it's pretty much a foregone conclusion where we'll get offered. We'll check all the rest out of course, but I'd still be glad to hear from anyone that's currently got kids in any of those on your list. I know it's all pretty subjective, but it's hard to glean much insight from the ofsted reports.